Weather: misty, damp and calm Distance: 11km Total Distance: 1544 miles
I was now in conference mode even
though the lectures themselves didn't start until after lunch. I wondered down and joined some of the other
delegates at breakfast. I think I should
probably have dressed a bit smarter but I very much wanted to make a quick get away after I'd eaten to get a half day walking fitted in. I mentioned to a Norwegian delegate what I was
doing and he told me later in the conference that he had taken my advice and been for a cliff walk
that morning and enjoyed it. I can't imagine it was anywhere near as picturesque as a fjord.
The weather was very damp but it was
not actually raining. Visibility was poor. This
was only a relatively short section but it was surprisingly hard going. I found the path back down to the cliff from
the hotel no problem - it was only a short walk after all. This led out onto open ground before heading
down to sea level. I had a great view of
a cormorant busily fishing off a rock just yards away.
At Oddicombe beach, I had to climb
steeply, parallel to the cliff railway, to get onto the cliff top again. The next couple of miles was through
woodland, sometimes with steep paths, where it was easy to take the wrong path
which I did a couple of times. The guidebook
said Maidencombe was an opportunity for refreshment but there was nothing in
sight, so I pressed on. And again the book
lied - it said the rest of this walk was straightforward, which I suppose it
was, but it was very up and down. The
last climb before reaching the main road was a killer and I had to stop for
breath a couple of times. Even my trick
of going into a low gear did not work this time.
The next part into Shaldon, after going
up and down Ness Ho was more pleasant and I was in a good enough mood on
reaching Shaldon to appreciate what a nice village it was. My next mistake was to buy some chocolate and
a strawberry flavoured milk. A mistake because when the bus came and drove all
over the hills I had just walked over it made me feel sick!
I got back to the hotel in time to have
a quick bath, change into a suit and go down to lunch, though I had a very
poor appetite - too full of strawberry flavoured milk I guess. The conference was good and by the afternoon
the mist had burnt off and the conference breaks were spent out on the hotel veranda.
The hotel grounds were marvellous with a nine hole golf course mainly being played
mainly by people who could hardly walk let alone hit a golf ball very far.
The evening meal was excellent if a
little formal. I travelled back the next
day having been for a tour around the Brixham Laboratories. The laboratories themselves were impressive
but they were so pressed for space that their conference room was a
portacabin out the back under the cliffs that had to be protected from
falling rocks with wire meshing.
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