Weather: Fine Distance: 21 km (13
miles) Total Distance: 1427 miles
This was to be the first part of my
coastal path walk that I was backpacking.
It just seemed to make sense; hitching was becoming more difficult and I
was having to walk long distances at the end of the day sometimes. There was little public transport on this
section and I was not keen on the bike and car option.
I had very much enjoyed planning this
holiday; the accommodation and the travelling by train. I had bought my train tickets from Coventry
to Plymouth, Plymouth to Ireland via Holyhead and back to Coventry for £102 (a strange route you may think but I was combining this walk with a holiday to Ireland).
The first part of the days walk was a very early start to walk to
Coventry station. My son was not awake
when I left the house before 7 o'clock.
In Birmingham it soon became evident why I had had to reserve a
seat. The train was absolutely
full. I sat next to an elderly couple
from Derby. He was a retired steam train
driver with some interesting tales. We
passed over the M5 at times where the traffic was stationary on this busy bank
holiday weekend. I had to laugh when at
the end of a very smooth journey and arriving in Plymouth 8 minutes early, and
having to wait outside the station for a couple of minutes, someone started
complaining that BR run the trains with plenty of slack in the timetable in on
purpose so they have less chance of having to pay out compensation.
In Plymouth I took a shuttle bus into
the centre and then managed to catch an earlier bus than I had planned to
Knighton, even though I forgot the name of the place I wanted to go and the bus
drivers looked at me very strange when I got my map out!
The first part of the walk was on the
road, but it was not long before I was stopping to change from my daps into my
walking boots to take to country paths.
This part of my planing worked well - changing into daps to do the road
parts saved my feet getting sore. I say
daps but they were in fact Nike -Air Cushion; my first proper pair of trainers
for many years; expensive but very comfortable.
I had spent a small fortune a couple of weeks previously on a visit to
Olympus sports shop on the outskirts of Leicester to get a good anorak and over-trousers, daps and a rucksack.
The path dropped down through some woods, and then across farmland. I got a little lost coming into Combe and had to backtrack a bit, mainly because I has misread the map - not a good start. I passed some picturesque parts, past a guide camp but was then thwarted going down a path towards the river; I made it a couple of hundred yards but then the path disappeared. Back up into Coombe, I bought a pasty for lunch but it was not very nice; and neither was the next section along the main road. That is the disadvantage with backpacking, it is much harder to jump into the hedgerows. Once off the main road, the remainder of the walk to Newton Ferrers was along minor roads, of minimal interest. It was a shame that there was no path along the estuary to have saved me this road section.
Coming into Newton Ferrers I stopped to
buy a drink and food and the owner helped me find my way through the
village. The walk through the top of the
village was again not all the impressive but I soon dropped down to the river
through a little wood to return eastwards along the road. Part of the path itself by the estuary was
closed because of a collapse so that is why the walking I was along
the road. I passed the International
Paint testing station; one of the smaller parts of the Courtaulds empire. I thought it was ironic that the paint on the
sign was all faded.
The tide was out so I was able to walk
over the stepping stones to Noss Mayo. It was a larger place than I had
imagined, so I stopped at the post office to ask the way to my
B&B, but they were new arrivals and did not know. I walked up the river and
asked again. By this time I was only a short distance away. My B&BB was a modern type house perched
high above Noss Mayo. The owners were
working in the garden enjoying the sun. I put my stuff in my room and then went
down to have a cup of tea. I did not see
much of the owners all my time there, they kept themselves hidden away.
It was still fairly early, so I decided
I would walk around the headland, taking advantage of not having to carry my
backpack. After walking back into the
village, a walk through a nice wooded area than bought me out onto the
headland. There were good views across the different rivers and then over
towards the far side of the river at Plymouth, towards Kingsand. The grass on the headland was very lush. It
was like walking through a meadow rather than on a coastal path.
I kept wondering whether to cut back to
Noss Mayo shortening the walk, but in the end walked all the way around to
Stoke and back on the minor roads. I had
a shower and then went down to the pub for dinner. It was heavily populated by the Birmingham
Navy (as Princess Ann calls them) - those people who jam the M5 on a Friday night
towing their boats. The Good Pub Food
Guide had recommended it, but it was very ordinary as far as I could see. I did not stay too long and went back for a
another cup of coffee which the landlady offered me and early an night - it had
been a very long day.
No comments:
Post a Comment