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