Tuesday 7 October 2008 - SWCP - Salcombe to Torcross

22 km walk - 9.20 to 15.50, 1000 metres ascent.

The rain lashed down all night and rapped against the windows as we tucked in to our full English breakfasts.

We took turns at guessing when the rain would stop:

"8.50" I hazarded, that being the estimated time of departure.

"10.53" said Andrew. He was planning on walking to Kingsbridge, only 8 km away, and I assume he planned to drink coffee and read the papers in the Salcombe Coffee House until 10.53.

Sue found the question too hard!

Anyway, we set off at 8.50, and the wettest we got all day was from the salty spray slapping our faces on the ferry to East Portlemouth - the sea was rough and the ferry is a rowing boat with a small motor.

The path led through lovely sheltered woods before dumping us above the huge swell and the waves that were crashing into the coast line all the way to Prawle Point.

Even at a height of 40 metres the foamy spray was blowing past our faces.

It was a lovely bracing walk on deserted paths to Start Point. Beyond here we saw just a few people, and the sea was much calmer to the north of the Point.

There had been no mobile signal until we turned north towards Torcross, then Andrew reappeared on our radar. He'd had an eventful journey to Kingsbridge, including incidents with a farmer, a large and bouncy herd of cows, and some rather sharp barbed wire. However, he'd managed to recover the car and get to Torcross. So Sue and I continued happily onwards on a lovely afternoon, past the ruins of Hallsands village, swept into the sea by a storm in 1917, before a jolly rendezvous and the long journey home.

The above photo was taken before lunch, looking towards Start Point.

I'll add some more images from the trip in the next posting.

More photos and overview

Monday 6 October 2008 - SWCP - Bantham to Salcombe

21 km walk - 9.10 to 15.30, 900 metres ascent.

A wholesome breakfast in front of a warm Aga set us up for another windy but dry day.

Muddy farm tracks led to Bantham village, with its Sloop Inn and row of thatched fishermen's cottages, plus a picturesque boathouse just beyond.

Already surfers were plying the waves in the bay.

Luckily there were no stray balls from Thurlestone golf course, but we were nearly knocked flying by a three-legged bearded collie. Its owner was more courteous and recommended tonight's restaurant!

Hope Cove (pictured) provided today's first coffee shop. Andrew grabbed a newspaper to gain word of doom and gloom in the outside world of credit crunches and Manchester City football disasters.

After a blustery walk along Cathole Cliff, the relative shelter of Soar Mill Cove made for a suitable lunch spot, midway between the geographical extremities of Bolt Tail and Bolt Head.

More high cliffs preceded a turn north towards Salcombe, where ancient woodland coloured by blue hydrangeas provided shelter from the wind. Apparently this is a frost free zone, with one of the warmest climates in the UK.

Some hilly road walking brought us into the village, where the local surf shop was closed, displaying a handwritten note - 'Gone surfing'. Luckily the tea shop staff had not gone surfing and served delicious scones with rich Devonshire clotted cream.

A steep climb to our B&B, Rocarno, was rewarded with more tea provided by our genial hosts, Anne and Roger.

We were expected at the highly recommended Boatswain's Brasserie, having bumped into the owner earlier in the village. The food was excellent - a fishy evening involving (between us) crab, squid, scallops, brill and monkfish. A jolly place with banter between the tables and the staff, and fine food washed down with Pinot Grigio.

Next day

Sunday 5 October 2008 - SWCP - Noss Mayo to Bantham

Deep Brown Water

21 km walk - 9.30 to 16.30, 1000 metres ascent.

Rain lashed down all night. It was still raging as we dashed through the garden to the main house for breakfast. An excellent, leisurely affair.

Still raining.

Fully clad in the latest waterproof gear, we stepped bravely out onto the SWCP.

The rain stopped. The barometer and the thermometer raced each other up the scales. Our morning stroll started along a fine old carriage track fit for a king. "King George" we were told.

On to lunch beside the River Erme.

A puzzle: "How do we cross that?"

Nobody was on hand to provide guidance by crossing before us.

So it was on with the Crocs for Andrew, and bare feet for me and Sue. We chose the widest spot and had luckily timed our crossing to coincide with low tide. Deep Brown Water from last night's deluge over Dartmoor soon engulfed us. It was Fast Flowing. Thigh High. Walking poles were deployed. Short Steps....

But we made it!

On we tramped in lovely sunshine. A white-haired man with a gaudy rucksack appeared at Westcombe Beach. Colin, with unfamiliar gear that has skipped a century!

"The old stuff still works fine" he insisted, having perhaps donated it to a museum.

On to Bigbury-on-Sea. The hotel at Burgh Island is too pricey for us, and we've missed the ferry. But Vida, from Aune Cross Lodge in Bantham, is on hand to zoom us around to her excellent B&B, from where it's a short lurch in front of a lovely sunset to the Sloop Inn for another dose of Dartmoor Ale and a substantial nosh.

Next day

Saturday 4 October 2008 - SWCP - Plymouth to Noss Mayo

Modus operandi:

Car - Bus - Walk - Boat - Walk - Taxi - Walk - Car - Walk

15 km walk - 11.00 to 16.00, 600 metres ascent.

An exciting hour lurching down narrow Devon lanes on the top deck of a bus was just one of several modes of transport today.

The SWCP encounters several estuaries hereabouts, and some ferries have already stopped for the winter.

Forecast rain appeared only in brief flurries, and with a following wind we 'stormed' along.

Long refreshment stops at Monty's in Plymouth and the Old Mill in Wembury restrained us to within 45 minutes of our taxi rendezvous. Dolphin and whale rescues, and 3 vessels in trouble, proved a distraction but turned out to be training/hoaxes.

A hedge provided shelter before the taxi arrived 30 minutes early.

Sue, at Cellars B&B, kindly lifted us to The Ship in Noss Mayo, where we contributed to the upkeep of the owners' Bentley and Range Rover. Then it was back to our 'house in the garden' of this B&B, which itself is one third of the 'summer house' built in 1882 for the Lady of the Manor.

Sue is pictured lunching on 'Tuorta da nusch' (nut cake), received on Thursday in a food parcel from Markus, the kindly Austrian. Taa Markus!

Next day

Friday 3 October 2008 - A Trip to Devon

Hartland Point on 29 May 2007

For what seems like many years, a group of us have been traipsing our way around the South West Coast Path (SWCP). It has provided a most enjoyable interlude every late May Bank Holiday. Last year it was a bit of a rush to leave Montrose after the TGO Challenge and start walking in Devon the following day, so this year we have delayed our SWCP trip until now.

Having completed the north Devon and Cornish sections, today we are off to stay in Exeter before making our way to Plymouth to walk to Torcross over the next four days, staying in B&Bs.

It will be a sociable trip. My challenge is to send just one picture a day and limit the posting to 200 words. A true 'Postcard' indeed. You may even get one from Nallo Lady.

Next day

Happy Anniversary

This blog enjoyed its first birthday on 1 October.

After an unbelievable 373 postings incorporating around 1,200 images and 165,000 words.  It has been a busy year!

The purpose has I think been achieved, principally on our two long trips.  Firstly 7 weeks in New Zealand, when regular visits to internet cafés kept us in touch with home, then in the Alps when a new 'phone and the wonderful Italian telecommunication facilities kept us in daily contact with the UK.  In the meantime, the TGO Challenge proved an excellent trip on which to test 'mobile blogging', and many happy hours have been spent behind this desk in Timperley. 

The blog has enjoyed about 18,000 page loads over the year.  That comprises mainly returning 'visitors' who 'follow' the blog.  A new Google widget has provided these with a means of identification, and 4 people admit to being 'followers'.  There are currently a further 17 'subscribers' - more or less the same thing.   In the context of 'outdoor blogs' this makes the Postcard from Timperley a very minor player in comparison with people like Lighthiker, who has over 200 subscribers for his popular treatises on lightweight gear and his adventures with that gear.  Lighthiker (Roman - from Munich) also demonstrates the lack of geographical frontiers when it comes to blogging.  He writes very well in English, as shown yesterday in his observations regarding blogging as a new form of journalism.

I don't regard this as journalism.  No way!  But the blog can be a useful resource to others.  Any posting regarding gear tends to receive a disproportionate amount of attention.  So entries relating to gear should be carefully and truthfully constructed.  Poetic licence should be saved for other topics!  Incidentally, I can't see who is viewing the blog, but the statcounter widget does provide a record of the last 500 page loads - the identities of the pages the visitors have looked at, and various other information including the geographical location of their server.  Thus I know that the page most regularly viewed - Il-Quccija - A Maltese Celebration has nothing to do with the outdoors - it's just something obscure that I wrote about, that Maltese people with young children find a need to learn about on almost a daily basis. 

I know I found some useful blogs with current information when I (very briefly) did a bit of research for our Alps trip.  I don't think the postings here provide very much useful information about the detail of such trips, but I hope they give a feel for what might be expected from such things as a visit to New Zealand, an Alpine backpack, the TGO Challenge, etc.  I plan to create some further 'resource' entries, perhaps by way of separate blogs - this seems to me to have the advantage in some respects over regular web pages, in that a blog has the capacity for comments to be made in a 'forum' style, thus providing a dynamic, interactive means of communication rather than a 'timeless' web page.  But I accept that even the interactive blogs could soon get out of date.  Fun to produce though.

Outdoors bloggers are a growing breed.  Since I started a year ago there have been numerous newcomers, and my list of 'some outdoors bloggers' becomes ever greater. I need to add a few more names to that list - it's always good when newcomers like Mike Knipe  (pictured), with northern pies appear on the scene with their own brand of posting.  I owe Mike an apology - I promised a caving entry today - but have run out of time; he appears to be away for a while anyway.

Time to stop rambling, but not before:
1. Wishing Nick all the very best in his new job at Columbia's Shanghai office.  Those people who may get bored with postings about short local walks and other mundane events should bear in mind that one of this blog's principal raisons d' être is to keep in touch with people like Nick and a number of other 'foreign correspondents' and give them a picture from someone they know in the UK.
2. Saying "hello mum" to my most important reader.
3. Reminding folk that Sue and I also have a website, on which some of our future trips are noted on the programme, and archive pages have details of numerous past trips.  Outdoors bloggers are most welcome to join us - direct e-mail contact is easy via that website.
4. Finally, thank you to all readers of this blog, in particular to those who provide the comments and other feedback that make the whole process more enjoyable.  You know who you are.  Thank you.

Wednesday 1 October 2008 - Eccles Pike

View from the summit of Eccles Pike, towards Kinder Scout

It's a landmark day - the 5th anniversary of my giving up full time work. Tradition dictates a (ever shortening) walk.

It's also the first birthday of this blog, but more of that some other time. Here's my first entry, posted a year ago, when Darren was to be my first reader.


Today, setting off from the Navigation Inn at Buxworth at 12.30 meant that my lunch kit was soon on display. Together with 'winter' boots triggered by showery weather.

This view across to Chinley Churn was fine and bright though, and the sun even made a brief appearance.

Soon I was in yet another Estate owned by the National Trust.

A short, steep climb brought me to the red-rock summit of Eccles Pike, some 360 metres above sea level, with views stretching from Kinder to the north (see above), west down the lower Goyt valley, south across Coombs Moss, and east towards the limestone hills of the White Peak. There's an intricate orientation point, from which this image is a small detail. Whilst the paths were quite boggy and I was glad of the waterproof boots, the signs were very posh. The path signed below heads across the field in the direction indicated by the arrow. Coombs Reservoir is in the distance. The lush green grass showed little sign of having been trampled. I saw just a few casual dog walkers today. "Do Not Stray From The Path" or some such utterance, was the sign that greeted me on this section of the walk at Tunstead Milton! The fence soon disappeared and the path led through Himalayan Balsam, and a marsh, up to Coombs Reservoir, which appeared to be full. A fleet of sailing boats lingered, inactive, on the far shore whilst ducks quacked in the foreground.

After Tunstead Farm an indistinct path led to a boggy hollow before descending pleasantly through fields to join the old Cromford and High Peak Railway. A memorial plaque commemorates the railway's incorporation in 1825.

This fine bridge precedes a suburban section where the old railway line passed very close to workers' accommodation. A section of road through Whaley Bridge led me to the much renovated Peak Forest Canal and an easy walk back to the start, just avoiding a deluge.

Here's the 10 km route, with 350 metres of ascent, which took me nearly 3 hours at a very leisurely pace, including my lunch stop.
On display today were Ragwort, thistles, bright yellow gorse, tormentil and even harebells. Carrion crows outnumbered the jays and magpies, whilst various birds of prey kept a greater distance and blackbirds and grey squirrels scurried in the undergrowth.