This was the view from our balcony in Salcombe the first morning
The cliff-side road to the start of the South West Coast path went past some of the most expensive real estate in the UK. This place had it's own path down to their private beach.
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Fort Charles here was the last Royalist fortress to fall to Cromwell's army
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Being the UK it was cold enough in winter for even the trees to need blankets, or so clearly thought the woodland elves
Finally, we made it to the start of the South West Coast Path
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It was unbelievably windy and pretty cold. Enough to make your hands half numb. I believe this was the good part of the UK. Everywhere else was colder...
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There were actually joggers coming down that ridge ahead. Some sort of mad fell runners. Many miles from anywhere. We were dead impressed.
We met these very cool cows en route
And some very hardy ponies as well
People have clearly been farming these lands for longer than there have been dry stone walls - the usual, and more modern, design.
Finally, after just over 3 hrs, we made the town of Little Hope, where we fell upon our vegan lunch like wolves are supposed to (I suspect they're actually far better mannered)
Finally, it was time to head back. To my horror I discovered there were no buses or taxis on this public holiday. I would have to walk all the way back... Unlike me, Jasmijn took it in her stride. Here she is, striding uphill against the wind.
Once again, we encountered these very cool bovines...
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This part was a wind tunnel. Here Jasmijn nearly succeeds in flying without artificial aids...
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At last, back in the comforts of our beautiful holiday flat! To attend to the blisters, in my case, given that I forgot my hiking socks...
The next day I refused to hike anywhere. And so we drove instead to this very cool town of Newton Ferrers, which - like most of Devon - has some serious tidal issues
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zz Newton ferris from Noss Mayo
Fortunately, we arrived at low tide, and were able to walk across to the neighbouring town of Noss Mayo - which is also very picturesque. 6 hrs later this path would have been under several metres of seawater
That night we took the ferry across from Salcombe to Portlemouth on the far bank of the estuary. This is the view back to Salcombe
We enjoyed walking the beaches at low tide. This whole area would also have been submerged several hours later
We caught one of the last ferries back
That night Storm Frank hit the UK. It seemed to come straight over our heads
The drive out was interesting. A couple of hours later and we might not have made it
