22nd September - a miserable drizzly morning that only got worse as we set off for our new destination! We left Bude camping for our 70 odd mile drive just before 11am and as we headed for the A30 the rain became quite torrential and that lasted until we got to within about 15 miles of our new home, and then just at that point a couple of expletives ----- ------ left John's mouth 😦 as he took a wrong turn that he knew would lead us down 6 miles of narrow roads! It was a bumpy ride that followed and a few more unrepeatable words were uttered but we got to where we wanted to be, safely, in the end.
We've been on the Cofton Campsite before back in 2016 but 'boy oh boy' it ain't half grown!! It's now a massive sprawling area with hundreds of pitches, lots of statics, 2 big swimming pools, 3 eateries and a huge entertainment venue so not quite the sort of place we'd usually choose but 'hey ho' we've got a pitch high up on a hillside which is far away from most of the 'razz -a- ma tazz' so we're quite happy!
We arrived quite early in the afternoon and happily we seemed to have left the rain behind so once we'd settled in we had a walk down to Cockwood Harbour which apparently has been there since the 13th century and then onto the rather unimpressive village of Starcross from where the our view of the Exe River was almost completely obscured by The Great Western Railway line.
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| A Bit of the Harbour and The old Anchor Pub that used to be frequented by Smugglers in times gone by! |
Monday 23rd September - Well the weatherman told us it was going to rain but that didn't happen till 4ish and we were back in the van by then😃. We set off for Dawlish Warren via a very pretty woodland path that runs through the campsites private land where we found picnic sites, play areas and views of Dawlish Warren and the Exe River.
From there we eventually got kicked out into a busy area of holiday parks and then as we approached the sea front we passed through an even busier sprawl of shops, ice cream and fast food stalls before we reached a short promenade and then the beach that led us on to The Dawlish Warren National Nature Reserve and the Mouth of the Exe.
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| The original path had eroded away so much it was unsafe to use so onto the beach we went |
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| But our path became blocked because the receding tide hadn't quite receded far enough! |
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| So a quick scramble up crumbling sea defences was required to take us into The Nature Reserve. |
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| Then a trek along narrow paths through long grass brought us right up to the Mouth of the Exe |
Tuesday 24th September - a dull overcast day but no rain! Today our outing was to take us all the way around the River Exe to Exmouth from where we entered the western gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site to visit Orcombe Point. We parked near the town's railway station and then quickly down onto the busy Esplanade that fronted the sandy beach from where we could look back over to Dawlish Warren!
Along our way we also met up with the colourful Samudra - The litter dragon made entirely out of recycled bits and bobs.
Then came the red cliffs that mark the start of the Western most point of the Jurassic Coast.
From there we climbed up a steep path and then a short distance more took us to the Geo needle that is a landmark that belongs to The National Trust that represents 180 million years of the Earth's history with Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rock.
It was in this drafty lofty place that we consumed our picnic before about turning and heading back into Exmouth town to do a bit of window shopping and then into the M&S foodhall to buy goodies for tomorrows lunch.
Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th September - Not such good days! Weather wise Wednesday was sunny in the morning and rain in the afternoon and Thursday was just about the opposite but that didn't matter cos our activities were somewhat curtailed by my not being very well again🤒. I'd been poorly last week and been to a Walk In Centre where they treated me with antibiotics and by Monday (when the course finished) I thought I was better. However, by Wednesday my symptoms had returned and I felt even worse. So around lunch time I called 111 but their clinician didn't call back until 3.30 and then she advised that the local Walk In Centres wouldn't see me again because they wouldn't be able to give me a second lot of antibiotics 😟. Therefore my only other option was to go to the nearest major A/E. We set off for Exmouth Hospital around 4pm but then got stuck in traffic for nearly an hour so by the time we arrived it was well past 5pm and by the time I was seen and sorted it was nearly 10pm 😢😢. Anyway, more antibiotics for the next 7 days and then🤞I'll be be cured.
On Thursday morning I was a bit better but as we drew back the curtains he rain was torrenting down so we stayed snug at 'home'! In the afternoon the sky looked a bit better so we risked a short walk (4.5 miles there and back) down to Dawlish Warren just to blow away a few🕸️. Sunshine mostly accompanied us but when the black clouds re-emerged we scuttled home to put our feet up!
Friday 27th September - A blustery but mostly sunny day and for today's entertainment we decided to visit The National Trust's Castle Drogo which sits within Dartmoor National Park above the Teign Gorge. The castle was built between 1910 and 1930 for the millionaire Julius Drewe and apparently it was the last Castle to be built in England - age - 114 years!
The Drewe family eventually moved in a short while before it's completion but history tells that the hugely expensive building was dogged with problems from the flat roof leaking in numerous places and there had to be lots of buckets to prevent floods! Maybe that was why they eventually donated it to The National Trust!
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| They Obviously Accepted! |
One of the guides told us that in recent years extensive renervation had taken place that had required the Castle to be scaffolded and wrapped in plastic for over 5 years. It seems this had only been removed 2 years ago and the cost had been £15 million, and now it only leaks when the wind is in the wrong direction😲!
Once inside we toured the extensive public rooms, admired the antiques and glassware and read more about the buildings history. Then once that was done we stepped out into the formal gardens where we picnicked but it was a bit chilly to linger to long so we were soon ready to start the second part of today's outing! That was to be a walk along a path high up on the side of the Teign Gorge and then a long way down hill to Fingle Bridge which is an old arched Pack Horse Bridge that spans the River Teign and dates back to the 17th Century.
Luckily for us, after our long clamber down to the Bridge we found The Fingle Bridge Inn right next door so we were able to have a refreshing pint before we started our long climb back up to Castle Drogo's visitor centre where we purchased a book on walks around Dartmoor so I think we'll be heading back to explore more of it's intriguing landscape very soon!
Saturday 28th September - A mostly sunny but cool and blustery day that saw us back up on Dartmoor to visit Haytor Rocks which is possibly on of the most popular and imposing visitor destinations on Dartmoor!! Haytor Rocks are 1,491 feet above sea level and the name is thought to have come from an Anglo Saxon word meaning high!
However, we didn't head straight for the impressive mounds, instead out walk took us to the right of them where we soon picked up and followed the old granite tram lines which are part of the 19th century granite quarrying industry. Transporting the high quality granite from it's site to the shore was a problem that was solved by the Victorians building a horse drawn tramway to connect with a canal and then the sea. The tramway was unusual because the 'rails' were formed of solid granite blocks with sections shaped to guide the wheels of the horse drawn wagons. Teams of up to 18 horses pulled the loaded trucks up from the quarries and then gravity took over for the 7 miles to the Stover canal basin where it was loaded onto barges and taken to Teignmouth to be loaded onto sea going ships.
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| A Tram line with Points! |
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| As we went John would insist on singing Johnny Cash's song 🎵 I Walk the Line🎵😂 |
The tram lines eventually disappeared and then our walk took us through a wooded area and then back onto the moorland where we were greeted with some young members of the ancient breed of Dartmoor ponies!
Black Hill came next and this was where we stopped to dine!
Then next came the unusual formations of Smallacombe Rocks
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| Looks like someone might be hiding!! |
.....and in the distance Haytor Rocks loomed reassuring us that we were nearing the end of our 6 mile walk
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| I'd like to say that was one of us right on the top - but it wasn't😂 |
Sunday 29th September - Well today was more or less a write off because for once the weather prediction came true! We got up to howling 40 - 50 mph wind and that only got worse as the day wore on! The horizontal rain started soon after lunch time so apart from a quick shopping trip we've stayed snug and warm in our little 'home'
Monday 30th September - another blustery day but with some sunny spells in the afternoon! After yesterday's inactivity we decided we needed a long walk today and that the town of Dawlish would be our target. In total our this took us a little short of 7.5 miles but all on easy paths so it wasn't too challenging. We left the van around 11am and walked down to Dawlish Warren via the campsites woodland path which was scattered with debris from yesterday's high winds and then we picked up a path called Ladies Mile that would take us to within half a mile of our target. However, it has to be said that this part of our walk lacked much interest or scenery so it didn't take us long to decide that our way back would be via the much more entertaining sea wall were the rough sea would be on one side and The Great Western Railway track on the other!
In February 2014 a great storm destroyed a stretch of this track which resulted in a team of 300 Network Rail Staff needing to work around the clock, often in poor weather conditions, to rebuild and strengthen the sea defences! Apparently they were nicknamed 'The Orange Army!'
The last half mile of our walk towards Dawlish was on the sea wall and once or twice the waves sent geezers of water high into the air but luckily they all missed us so we got to our destination dry!
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After that we went on a hunt for Dawlish's iconic Black Swans which live on the Brook that runs through the centre of the town and down to the sea.
The Swans were originally native to the West Coast of Australia but were brought to Dawlish in the early 1900s by a local chap who had emigrated but returned to visit his family. It seems the Swans died out between the two World Wars but were reintroduced in the late 1940 s and have been here ever since.
We were also delighted to see a Mum and her 5 cygnets 💗
Then once we'd done admiring them all that was left was for us to make our way back to Dawlish Warren via the sea wall while watching the wild sea crashing up it! We also came across The Elephant Rock, - so named because it's supposed to look like an elephant but we could'd quite see it!
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| Maybe the Cormorant Could! |
Tuesday 1st October 🐇 - The weather was a mixed bag today, up on Dartmoor it was cloudy, sunny, windy and all with dribs and drabs of rain mixed in! Today we headed past Haytor Rocks to a carpark at Swallerton Gate to see Bowerman's Nose.
Legend tells that a huntsman called Bowerman lived on the moor about a 1000 years ago. When chasing a hare he and his pack of dogs ran into a Coven of Witches 🧙♀️ 🧹 overturning their cauldron and disrupting their ceremony. They decided to punish him and the next time he was hunting one of the witches turned herself into a hare and led both Bowerman and his hounds into a mire. As a final punishment she turned them to stone. The dogs can be seen as a jagged chain of rocks on top of Hound Tour while the huntsman himself became the rock formation known as Bowerman's Nose.
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| Hounds Tor |
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| He must have been a tall chap! |
After our visit to Bowerman's Nose we dined and then romped up the hill to have a close up of Hound Tour where filming took place in 1975 of a Dr Who story 'The Sontaran Experiment' !
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| Maybe this was K9 - Dr Who's Robot Dog! |
Scenes from the 'The Hound of Baskerville' telly series 'Sherlock' were also shot up there.
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| Was this one of hounds??? |
To the southeast of the Tour are the remains of Hundatorra - a deserted Medieval Village with the remains of 4 Dartmoor Longhouses with several smaller houses and barns dating from the 13 Century.
From there it was back to the car and a move down the road to Hemsworthy Gate for a steep walk up Rippon Tor from where we had distant views of the River Teign at Teignmouth.......
....... and most of the other Eastern Tors such as Haytor and Saddle Tor.
There were also several huge rock piles amongst which ponies and long horned Highland Cattle were roaming.
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| You wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of her! |
And that's about it from here in Devon! Tomorrow we'll be moving on to Dorset so we'll continue the next episode of our story from there! Bye for now xx
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