Weather: Fine and hot Distance: 20km (12.4 miles) Total Distance: 1503 miles
I caught another early bus from
Kingsbridge this time to Dartmouth. The school children on this
trip were particularly noisy and kept badgering the driver. A short walk along the front in Dartmouth bought
me to the Navy College. I tried to find
a way around the estuary side but it was all labelled MOD property and well
guarded. Rather than risk imprisonment I took a long climb up the
main road out of Dartmouth before turning into a housing estate which led to a
country lane loosing the height I had recently gained. A couple of water company trucks were finding
it hard to manage the sharp bends on the very steep decent.
I cut down a lane which led to some boat yards and then discovered that a path through some woods to the right had a stile and arrow into them appearing to indicate a right of way. The trek through the woods was very difficult and overgrown in parts as well as seeming longer than it was on the map! The last mile was a steep hot climb through a dense path. I came out on a country lane.
A strange metal platform looking like a ships crows nest overlooked the estuary from here - it was labelled as a fire beacon. A path then led down through some corn fields and some small woods. I must have lost the official path because I came out on a track and when I asked the way from a man there I was informed that the path did not drop that far down. Anyway, he did not appear upset so I continued on my way and was able to direct a couple of walkers heading in the opposite direction, the correct way to go. I told them about the walk through the woods down at Old Mill Creek, and they sounded like they were determined to head that way - I wondered at the end of the day if they were still in the woods - not only was it tough going but it was not very well signposted in the opposite direction to the one I had walked.
Dittisham was another very pleasant
looking village. The estuary villages always look nicer than those on the
coast around here. Out of the village
and down by the creek, I saw a heron and a buzzard within a minute of each
other. I sheltered in the shade of a
farmhouse at East Cornsworth to have a drink.
The walking had been quite tough and it was now very hot. I was another mile of road walking before I
cut off down a path to the estuary again.
It was along this section that I got badly bitten by horse flies. There was no breeze and I had to keep walking
to stop them biting me even more. I am
not badly effected by horse fly bites, unlike some people are, but they did
make my calf muscle tight and uncomfortable the following day.
I had decided to call into the pub I
saw marked on the map at Tuckenhay to cool off a bit and rehydrate. I was shocked to find it was the Maltsters Arms, Keith Floyd's
pub, originally called Floyd's Inn. It took a while to dawn on me where I was
and even when he first walked past and said hello, I was not convinced! It struck me as amusing that people had
obviously travelled for miles to visit the pub and I had just stumbled upon
it. I don't know how appreciated I was
stumbling in, all hot and bothered, and in my walking gear. He is a charismatic fidgety man who chain smokes and
but likes to be completely involved in the running of his pub. I was disappointed to hear hime say that he tends not to recall the places where he goes on his trips aboard, they
are just a place to go to film. I
sampled his Exmoor Ale, and discussed my coastal path walk with his
barman. I did not eat there since even
his pork pies were £2.50! Had a couple
of words with him about his recent trip to Ireland before setting off on the
road again to Totnes.
 |
| Keith Floyd |
The next part of the walk was through
another quiet village of Ashprington and then down through fields to the
river. I could hear the commentaries on
the pleasure cruisers going up the river. If I had gone on such a trip I think I
would have wanted it to be silent not commentated on all the while.
The walk into Totnes itself was
disappointing; not up the edge of the river but behind a timber yard and then
next to yet another marina type development being constructed
I went to the Tourist Information
Centre where I had arranged to meet my wife. I took the opportunity to ask about the route
the following day and about buses from Brixham on the last day. I was relieved to find that there was a
regular bus service between Brixham and Kingswear.
My wife was late in the end because
my son had been slow in getting off the beach at Thurlestone Sands and the TIC
was not well signposted. I sat on a
bench in the shade opposite and watched the people go by - it was still too hot
to do much else. When they arrived we
had a drink outside the pub next door in the courtyard before walking back up
the main street. We called in a good wood turners exhibition and bought a
light-pull for the bathroom. Totnes
looked a pleasant town but it was too hot to explore it in full.
We drove back to Kingsbridge calling in
the supermarket on the way to buy tea.
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