7 December 2019
Just a short walk to fill in a little gap in the Torbay stretch. By contrast the return bus journey was over 4 hours in total! Torquay harbour to Meadfoot beach, a tad over 2 miles and moderate with a few steep steps both up and down. Well obviously, steps by nature are both up and down, but I mean I had to step up and down today, big steep steps for my little legs. This walk has been lurking on my radar for a while but the weather has been grotty so it was fantastic to have a dry day. Penquins don’t often feature along the coast path but today I saw several. Pic below – look closely! Lots of gulls and cormorants but not much other wildlife. For such a short walk there are several of points of interest. Some pretty coves that can only be seen from the path or the sea, interesting rock formations and flowers still in bloom. Several viewpoints and more seats than you can shake a stick at. I always read the inscriptions on the benches, some for lives cut short, others for lives lived long but all mention the beauty of the trail. One quirky moment as the path goes through the ground floor of a castellated folly. The last of the climb emerges onto Daddyhole Plain. Daddyhole has featured in my life for years but I’ve never walked either left or right from the car park. It has fantastic views of the bay and is popular all year round. In the summer there’s always an ice cream van so really no reason not to visit. In 1982 I sat with my parents watching SS Canberra steam past on her way back from the Falkland war. Bitter sweet as Tom was still down in the South Atlantic. It’s just an all round good spot for contemplation. Downhill all the way to Meadfoot, and then a beach walk at low tide, roadside if not. At the end of the beach I connected with my earlier walk from the opposite direction so I turned off the path and climbed through Manor wood to Kents cavern and ultimately the bus stop. Kents cavern, another childhood memory, is an extensive cave system of Devonian limestone formed millions of years ago. The remains of pre-historic man and the animals hunted have been unearthed. An interesting tour for anyone and the spiel is almost identical today to the one I heard when I was a small person. 109.3 and counting!
Trailing acorns 