“I must go down to the seas again
To the lonely sea and sky
I left my shoes and socks there
I wonder if they’re dry.”
~Spike Milligan ~
There are times when the urge to coddiwomple takes over and February is one of those times.
This time we chose to head west to Devon, where I had booked us a three night stay at “The Potters Mooring” guest house in Shaldon, situated on the westerly edge of the Teign estuary. What follows is a glimpse of our adventures with a gallery of images at the end. I hope you enjoy the read!
Our journey commenced in bright sunshine in Kent on Sunday morning with a delicious breakfast stop at “Lulamae’s” cafe in Arundel (we hadn’t tried this one before, I can thoroughly recommend it.)
Our route to Devon took us along the south coast and through the New Forest. However the further west we headed, the darker, wetter and windier the weather became! Undaunted, we pitstopped in Exeter and attempted a walk along the quayside in the driving rain, but soon aborted that idea and found somewhere for a Cream Tea near the Cathedral. It appeared to be the weekend that parents were visiting their university student children as the cafe was full of happy reunions. We would’ve explored more of the city but the weather wasn’t on our side, however we enjoyed what we did see!
When we woke up on Monday morning the clouds had parted, the sun was shining and we were able to enjoy a good walk up over the coastal path out of Shaldon. We stomped up over the cliffs and towards the back of the village until a flooded path caused us to abort our original route so we headed back down towards the village centre.
Along the way we saw and heard various birds of prey, heard our first Skylark of the season, saw some spring lambs and met a bird photographer trying to capture the rare Cirl Bunting (he showed us a photo’; we might’ve seen one but they look similar to female sparrows!) The ground was very wet and slippery, poor Tim took a mudslide! As for me, I was very grateful for my hiking stick to help keep me upright!
We couldn’t believe our luck with the weather, as by the end of our walk we had stripped down to T-shirts!
It was lunchtime by the time we had finished and as we’d walked about 5 miles of lots of uppy-downy stuff, sustenance was called for and we took a trip into Totnes.
We liked it there a lot. It reminded me of a cross between Glastonbury and Brighton as it has a very new-age, hippy vibe as well as lots of historic buildings and quirky, independent shops. Tim actually thought he could live there as it consists of a vast array of cafes and tea rooms! We might go back there for an overnight stopover when we do an intended trip/tour down to Cornwall.
Surprisingly, the area is already very busy with traffic despite it being out of season. We don’t think we could handle it during the height of the tourist season, you wouldn’t be able to move.
We had certainly packed a lot into our first day and were very happy that we only needed to walk to the pub next door for dinner. (The London Inn)
Once again, we were lucky enough to wake to blue skies on Tuesday, although it was a tad cooler. Our destination for that day was the gorge walk along the Teign at Castle Drogo (owned by the National Trust). This is reached via a series of very narrow lanes, making it an interesting trip out!
The gorge walk is a “proper” 4.1 mile circular walk consisting of moderate descents, stunning views, rocky paths and steep steps. Once again I was so grateful for my trusty hiking stick as hypermobile joints and a mild fear of heights can make for unsteady progress!
View from Sharps Tor:
It’s a steady descent down to the river at the base of the gorge. We made it to Fingle Bridge and followed the course of the river passing rapids and small waterfalls. There were distinct signs of spring life bursting forth and the air was fresh and cool. The sides of the valley were coated in lush green grasses that were silky soft to the touch.
My breath was taken away at the sight of the sun glinting on the water rushing over some rapids, causing diamond
I would’ve liked to have stopped a while and sketched but a) I didn’t have my materials with me and b) that’s not possible when I’m with Tim as he likes to keep moving and he had the map!
Diamond rapids:
https://youtube.com/shorts/yyggh32cdU4?feature=share
Something to always bear in mind with a steep descent is the climb back up to the top! The last few hundred yards seemed to drag on forever and we could feel the effects of the steep steps and inclines by then. Thank heavens for the cafe!
We figured we might as well visit the “castle” while we were there, but to be honest, we were rather underwhelmed by it. To me it smacked of being built by someone who had too much money and was a bit of a pompous arse! The “living” rooms were cosy enough, but there was so much wasted space full of “non rooms”, and the outside reminded us of a prison. We were glad we’d gone there for the walk, but not made a specific visit just to see the castle.
By then it was early afternoon and our next port of call was to head back to explore Teignmouth. The pretty town is a lot bigger than we first thought, sprawling over the east side of the estuary, with a beach and harbour. There’s plenty to see and watch, plus we discovered a traditional little tea room for a Cream Tea “Naughtea But Nice”. There is also a pier and we couldn’t resist losing a few 2p’s on the machines! The outside of it is being repaired and renovated ready for the new season so it was closed off.
As much as we liked Teignmouth we decided we preferred the smaller, quieter village of Shaldon where we stayed. In fact our restaurant for our last evening could’ve been situated on the Med’. We ate at The Ness, looking over to the harbour towards Teignmouth. The sea was like a millpond, lights and reflections twinkled on the water and the skies were clear. It wasn’t a cold evening either, more like a cool late summer’s evening, perfect for our short stroll back to the Potters Mooring before we headed home (in the rain) the next morning.
A three night break is a perfect length to feel like a proper break, especially in somewhere as beautiful as that. We could’ve stayed a bit longer!
