The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

The Southwest Coast Path: South Devon

Back in Devon after four years! The last (and only) time I was in Devon I completed 9 days of hiking along the Southwest Coastal Path (SWCP) from Westward Ho! in Devon to Padstow in Cornwall (see my 2018 blog post). In contrast to those 2+ days in Devon, this time I am spenting 4 weeks, with a two-fold hiking focus: completing some of the southern portion of the SWCP and exploring inland Devon, principally the two moors: Dartmoor and Exmoor. To keep the length of the posts reasonable, I have divided the hikes into two posts. The five days of coastal hiking inn-to-inn is the focus of this post; the inland walks will be the focus of the next one, hopefully published in a few days.

From my AirBnb the South Devon coast was easily accessed by train from the lovely city of Exeter. In about an hour I reached the touristy town of Paignton where I started my generally West-to-East walking adventure. That was Jubilee Sunday and my post begins there. . .

Redcliffe Hotel on the east end of Paignton, Day 1. Paignton was certainly a convenient start point, but is best forgotten.
Corbyn’s Head. I’ve always wondered where that was . . .
Thatcher Rock. The antithesis of Corbyn’s Head. The misty rain lasted much of the first day until. . .
Early evening view from my Babbacombe Hotel terrace
Day 2 started out with much better weather. Here is a view of Oddicombe Beach, a steep descent from the cliff-top town of Babbacombe.
View back towards Torquay (hidden), the main conurbation along this portion of the coast, that I had traversed (in rain) on Day 1 without taking a photo. Though it has its own odd charm, like Paignton I felt that it is best forgotten.
View towards Teignmouth, the destination of the first of two short ferries I took that day
View of colorful Dawlish with the railway going along the coast here.
On the Starcross to Exmouth ferry, the 2nd and longer (at about 20 minutes) of the two ferries that day
The Imperial Hotel, Exmouth, my home for the 2nd night. Though imposing, it is indeed every bit as tired as it looks. Note the giant beach chair. My hotel room did have a small balcony looking out towards the beach.
An Exmouth beach sculpture I saw at the start of Day 3. Unfortunately I was out of coins or I would have contributed to the artist’s fund. The town does have a large sandy beach, unusual for the south coast. It is popular with kite boarders and surfers as well as swimmers (and of course, dog walkers).
The Geoneedle at Orcombe Point. This marks the start of the Jurassic Coast. Note the different rocks comprising one side of the obelisk. They represent the almost continuous sequence of rocks exposed from the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods as one heads West to East along the coast. Truly time travel on a geologic scale!
Dew on common flax (Linum usitatissimum)
Purple Heather (Erica cinerea). As with much of southern England, gorse is out-competing heather.
Otter River estuary, a great birding area. I did not have my binoculars and the rain forced me to shelter in a bird hide for a while as I made my way on an unavoidable inland detour around the mouth of the river.
Sidmouth with mist descending. My home for the 3rd night!
A view from Connaught Gardens on the Western end of Sidmouth. The gardens are absolutely gorgeous, but after a long day my appreciation for their beauty was limited.
The Grade II listed Beacon House with a traditional thatched roof, Sidmouth
Looking back on Sidmouth and High Peak (R) at the start of Day 4. It is a lovely town although the beach is only shingle.
Cliffs near Salcombe as the sun emerges after several hours of mist and rain. This is England, after all.
I ended up herding a flock of sheep near Branscombe
Looking back on the gorgeous coastal views near Branscombe
A good view of the Hooken Cliffs (r) and limestone pinnacles (l), highlighting a giant landslip from 1790. This area is part of the 100 sq. mi. East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. This short ramble through the Hooken Undercliff was a preview for much of the following day’s walking.
The Beer Beach on the morning of Day 5. I stayed in a small B&B in Beer, a beautiful historic village. Somewhat lacking in dining options, I had pre-booked a dinner reservation at The Smugglers Kitchen, an absolutely first rate establishment.
The SWCP heading up the cliffs leaving the village of Beer
Axmouth Harbor and Haven Cliffs
Pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis). I should have gotten a better photo, but didn’t realize at the time I was looking at an orchid! Though this species is relatively common, I didn’t see any more.
The SWCP heading through the Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliffs National Nature Reserve, one of the great “wilderness” areas in southern England. With rain threatening all morning, it was nice to be walking through a woodland.
A rare coastal view en-route to Lyme Regis in the Undercliffs Nature Reserve
Red Campion (Silene dioica). I saw many of these pretty wildflowers during my five days of coastal walking.

Lyme Regis is purportedly lovely, but when I hiked through at the conclusion of my fifth day walking, I was in a hurry to catch my bus, the weather was questionable, and the tourists profuse. Perhaps for these reasons I have no photos of the town. I did manage to catch the hourly bus from there to Axminster station where I was able to connect with a train back to Exeter where my car waited for me. Stats were 56 miles and 9600 ft elevation gain over the five days. Certainly not as strenuous as some of the North Coast of Devon and Cornwall where I averaged about 3000 ft of ascent each day, but an amazingly varied geography with wonderful towns and villages conveniently located along the way. I am more than ever resolved to continue to “fill in” the sections of the SWCP that I have not yet walked.

The Vagabond Hiker

P.S. A note on the photos. I recently purchased a new mobile phone, a Samsung Galaxy A52, which I used for all these photographs. My travels make it more than ever necessary to have dual SIM capability which this international version possesses. I am still learning about the camera, though. . .

The Mediterranean Steps, Gibraltar

The northern of the twin Pillars of Hercules, the Rock of Gibraltar rises 1400 ft above the otherwise uninteresting (for walking) British Overseas Territory. Attached to mainland Andalusia, Spain by a narrow spit of land, it certainly has an interesting history ever since Greek times. I had been considering a quick weekend trip earlier in the year, before Spain closed its borders to Americans and I wound up here for two weeks instead (see my last blog post).

Fortunately, however, it does boast one interesting hike that any visitor should do: the Mediterranean Steps, the focus of this short blog. Most visitors are whisked up to the top of the Rock in 6 minutes by cable car. They miss the whole experience of the Rock.

Since this blog is notably shorter than most, I took the liberty of appending a few photos from my weekend in Venice in September.

Map of the Gibraltar Nature Reserve. It is known for its semi-wild population of Barbary Macaques, a tail-less monkey. It is also an important resting point for migrating birds. Purple lines are paths, the darker ones roads. The Mediterranean Steps start at the Jews’ Gate, on the right.
Trafalgar Cemetery and a portion of the Charles V wall near Southport Gate. I started my hike from my condo, to the north of the city near the airport. At 2.5 square miles, Gibraltar is not exactly large!
Gibraltar Botanic Garden. A small bit of green in the city. Unsurprisingly, not much was blooming in November.
The start of the Mediterranean Steps.
View from Pillar to Pillar: Jebel Musa, Morocco in the distance across the Strait of Gibraltar.
A view along the Med Steps. With the lock-down in England barring most international travel, not many tourists were visiting.
View out from one of the twin Goat Hair Twin Caves. They were given this name as they were goatherd refuges in the 19th century.
Higher on the Med Steps, the view North to East Beach in the distance, beyond which is Spain.
Paperwhite (Narcissus papyraceus), one of the very few wildflowers blooming
Looking down the switch-backed Med Steps
An unknown white flower. I was a bit desperate for some macro photography!
The gun turret at Ohara’s battery, on the highest point of the Rock. An interesting exhibit, it provided a nice rest after the climb!
Ohara’s gun, a 9.2″ MK 10. Pardon the violent, phallic imagery, but I thought it was a good photo.
View from the glass-floored Skywalk with a Barbary Macaque staring out into the mist. With some precipitation from the prevailing easterlies off the Med, I shortened my walk a bit, skipping the famous St Michael’s cave.
Mommy and baby Macaques. There are about 300 of them on Gibraltar.
The upper portion of the Charles V wall, a defensive fortification dating from the 16th century. The brown lumps on the wall are Macaques.
The Tower of Homage, part of the Moorish Castle. It was rebuilt during the second Moorish occupation in the early 14th century. The pond is populated with tadpoles, frogs, and a turtle.
View from the Moorish Castle. My condo was part of the Ocean Village complex, the tallest buildings seen here. The western end of the airport’s runway is on the right, extending into the bay. The road to and from Spain crosses the runway, and is blocked with concrete barriers when planes take off and land.
Although my second floor condo balcony only had a sliver of water view, this morning the superb sky compensated.

Although I managed to complete the Rock of Gibraltar hike in 4 hours, one could easily spend a whole day, including exploration of St Michael’s cave, WW2 tunnels (closed for maintenance), the extensive siege tunnels from the Napoleonic era (where I spent a half hour), as well as additional paths and roads in the nature reserve. Allowing one day for historical sights in the town, and another relaxing on the artificial Eastern Beach, Gibraltar certainly makes for an interesting long weekend in either the spring with the flowers out or early autumn with warmish water and the birds migrating. Summer is too hot, and the winter from November through February generally cold and wet.

And now for a few bonus photos! My time in Trentino, Italy in September was spent largely in the Dolomites. However, as I mentioned in my earlier blog, when the weather deteriorated at the end of the month, I journeyed to Venice for a long weekend. With three days to wander around the largely depopulated city, I took a number of photos, a few of which are shown below.

Piazza San Marco, about 8.30 AM on a Saturday. I’ve never seen it remotely this empty. Amazing.
Basilica San Marco
Rio dei Giardini, Castello. The gardens are just visible in the distance.
Grand Canal with Gondolas near Rialto Bridge. In contrast to the overcast on Saturday, there was great early morning light on Sunday.
View of the Grand Canal from the Accademia Bridge. The Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute is seen on the right
The Hotel Bauer (left), Grand Canal and Campanile San Marco
A canal in Dorsoduro, one of my favorite parts of the city

I returned from Gibraltar to London yesterday, a couple days early after my flight was cancelled (British Airways is down to only two flights per week to Gibraltar during the lock-down of England). As my overseas options are extremely limited, I have decided to return to the United States. My flight to Texas via Chicago leaves tomorrow. I will spend the Thanksgiving holidays with my brother and sister-in-law. Afterwards, my winter plans include the Coachella Valley in Southern California, followed by 3-4 months in St George, Utah. My very first Vagabond Hiker blog post, from December 2016, was of a hike in the Coachella Valley Preserve. In a sense, then, I will have come full circle in four years.

Which begs the question, should I continue this blog? I will stick with the vagabonding lifestyle for now, staying in the western US at least until the world opens back up. Perhaps I’ll be motivated to continue the blog from California, Utah, or points beyond. Stay tuned,

The Vagabond Hiker

The Saxon Shore Way

Last month I walked 53 miles of the Saxon Shore Way (SSW) from Hastings to Dover. I completed this section in four days, spread over a span of one week to avoid the worst weather. My original plan was to continue farther on the 160 mile SSW to either Sandwich or Herne Bay, but due to increasingly poor weather I terminated my walk in Dover.

To the modern walker this portion of the Saxon Shore Way appears a bit of a misnomer. For much of the walk from Hastings to Dover the path is inland; often the English Channel is not even visible. Following the coast as it existed in Saxon times, i.e. before Duke William came ashore in 1066, the Saxon Shore Way gives one an idea of the changing landscape over the past centuries.

Day 1: Hastings to Rye, 12.5 miles

More precisely, I started by walking out my door in Rocklands and finished by walking the 1.5 miles from Hastings train station back home. In between I tried to capture some of the beautifully diverse scenery.

Hastings Old town, where the Saxon Shore Way officially begins (or ends, depending on one’s direction).
Looking back on the Fire Hills, Hastings Country Park, in the morning light. I left home at 7 AM, as soon as I could see the path.
Fairlight Cove village, a pleasant coastal bedroom community
Descending to the Pett Levels. After this point, Cliff End, the terrain changed from the rugged topography of Hastings Country Park to a much gentler landscape.
Swans along the Royal Military Canal on Pett Levels. The RMC runs for 28 miles, following the old cliff line bordering Romney Marsh. It was constructed as a defense against the French during the Napoleonic wars.
The first Saxon Shore Way sign I spotted, at the entrance to the Camber Nature Reserve. Signage markedly improved once I reached the county of Kent.
The ruins of Camber Castle, built by Henry VIII to help protect the Sussex coast from the French.

Day 2: Rye to Ham Street, 12.5 miles

On Day 2 I resumed my walk by driving to Rye, where I left my car. At the end, I took the train back from the village of Ham Street to retrieve my car.

A gate at the entrance to the Ancient Town of Rye, part of the Cinque Ports confederation
The rolling hills and farm near Iden Village
Ferry Inn, Stone in Oxney. Sadly, it wasn’t lunch time yet as this would have made a great stop.
A renovated Oast House near Appledore. An oast is a kiln house, typically for drying hops.
An Appledore public defibrillator, a brilliant re-purposing of an old phone booth
Gusbourne vineyards near Appledore. They have about 150 acres under vine, which as a walker was a great change from crossing muddy fields.

Day 3: Ham Street to Etchinghill, 15.5 miles

After a three day hiatus, I resumed the Saxon Shore Way, driving to Rye and continuing by train to the village of Ham Street where I had left off.

The lovely Ham Street Woods, just a few minutes’ walk from the station
A couple of long-necked locals
Priory Wood mushrooms. My flower search became more problematic this late in the season, but the rains definitely brought out the fungal fruiting bodies.
St Martins Church, Aldington. The fall colors are beginning to emerge.
Royal Military Canal view near Honeypot Cottage
Denizens of Lympne Wild Animal Park
Site of Portus Lemanis (now Lympne) Roman Fort. Perhaps in a few decades the shoreline will once again extend to here!
Lympne Castle, not open to the public but available for private functions. The graveyard is part of the adjacent church.
The Tolsford Hill Ordnance Survey Benchmark. That clump of trees is shown on my map as Brockman’s Bushes. This was my high point for the day, at about 600 ft above sea level.

After the walk up Tolsford Hill, the final climb this day, I was a half hour from Etchinghill. Rather than return to Hastings, I chose to stay there to save the hassle of catching a bus to then get a train back to my car in Rye and then having to repeat the process the next day. I enjoyed a good meal at The Gatekeeper pub and a restful sleep before continuing on to Dover the following morning.

Day 4: Etchinghill to Dover, 12.5 miles

North Downs Way stone marker. For my final stage from Etchinghill, the Saxon Shore Way coincided with the more well known North Downs Way.
Tunnel entrance, Folkestone. On January 1 it will be ground zero for Brexit, featuring miles of trucks backed up for Customs to cross the Channel into France.
An unknown purple flower. I was unable to identify it as a wildflower; perhaps it’s a garden flower that escaped.
Topography from the North Downs approaching Dover
A WW2 pillbox along the cliffs. There are many gun emplacements and observation post remnants along these cliffs.
A stainless steel sculpture of a Stuka dive bomber at the Battle of Britain memorial
Coastal view back to the west, highlighting Folkestone Warren, the undercliffs seen here
A platter-sized mushroom along the cliffs
A sailing boat in the Channel
Approaching Dover from the west
Common toadflax (Linaria vulgaris)
Dover Castle

The train from Dover back to Rye was far longer than my quick train journeys of 10-25 minutes up to this point, as it required a change at Ashford. Even so, I reached Rocklands by late afternoon, completing this portion of the Saxon Shore Way.

On the last day of October, I was scheduled to fly to Lanzarote, where my plan was to spend the winter walking in the warm sun and swimming in the ocean. Alas, British Airways would not let me board the plane as Spain had closed its borders to ALL US citizens – irrespective of their point of departure – the previous day! After about 45 minutes of discussion with the counter agent, I caught the next flight to Gibraltar, where I managed to find a condo available for two weeks. So here I am, enjoying the not-so-warm sun and swimming in the condo’s lap pool.

So where to from here? The options are extremely short as the world is closing down once more. England is in lock-down until at least early December. In any case the weather in winter is incompatible with my lifestyle. Stay tuned.

In a week or so I will post a short blog from Gibraltar focusing on the climb up the Mediterranean Steps to the top of the rock. Until then, enjoy nature as much as you can,

The Vagabond Hiker

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