A slight change of plan

So I’ve ended up at a hotel. There are reasons for this. Some are probably pretty valid and others I think I’m making up to justify the decision. However, the decision was made and I’m now in a hotel room charging my internal battery and, as an added bonus, getting the battery banks back up to 100%.

Today has been a great day

I’ll pick up from the last blog post (if I can remember that far back). I think I’d just climbed a massive hill and was not so quietly congratulating myself.

First things first, I think the watch is measuring climbs in feet and not metres, so that figure I gave earlier was feet. Once the day is complete and it sends the route to my phone it then converts to metres. I’m glad Garmin made that nice and simple. So the total climb for the day was 888 metres. Which really doesn’t feel enough but I’m sure it doesn’t lie.

So from where I took the picture at the top of the hill it was about 1.5 miles to Sidmouth.  I think this was just one more big climb and then the descent into Sidmouth. Great path again and I was feeling great. This may have been due to my mistaken belief that I was a hill climbing hero but never mind.

Sidmouth is your standard English seaside small town. I didn’t see any kiss me quick hats or men with hankies on their heads but it was that type of place.

I took the opportunity here to again go and get supplies as I thought at this stage I was going to wild camp that night. So I headed off to Tesco Express to get my usual meal deal and some other snacks. Plus a punnet of raspberries. I did initially go into a coop because it was nearer but as my coop card is for the midland coop and this was not a midland coop I’d have to pay and extra 50p so I walked out. Which is mad when you consider later on I paid £3 for a can of coke. No wonder I have no money!

Sidmouth looks like the sort of place, especially if you’re female, that you could spend hours looking through all the small gift and antique shops with a few charity ones thrown in the mix. It was quite busy in the street though, lots of cars and old people in the way, so I made my way back to the seafront and walked along to find somewhere for lunch.

Being brave

This isn’t brave for most people. This is one of the simplest things in the world. But for me, going into a cafe, restaurant or anywhere really I’m not familiar with or haven’t researched to death, for reasons I don’t understand, I find a little difficult. I don’t want to be told they won’t serve me or that they aren’t cooking. This is another reason I try to do these walks as it pushes me to do stuff like that. Anyway, after that confession, today I went into a cafe and got some lunch. It wasn’t even my first time as yesterday I did the same and got breakfast. The food was nice, I had fish and chips, but the can of coke was expensive.

Back on the trail

The next part of the walk takes you over some more cliffs on your way to Budleigh Salterton. Quite a bit of climbing again and had to keep on stopping to take photos. At Ladram Bay there is a nice holiday park which you sort of walk through. It was really busy, like the height of summer. I guess the industry needed some good fortune.

I got a little mixed up here and ended up on the pebbled beach. Luckily before I started walking on those awful pebbles I realised my mistake and headed to the coast path which, again, climbed up a cliff.

I keep on seeing beaches that I vow to come back to one day, maybe on my motorbike, but I think I’ll forget where they all are. Also I’m not even sure some are accessible easily.

After a while I arrived at a building called the Brandy Head Observation Post that was right at the top of a cliff. I think you could book it out but it also just allowed you to sit and rest. I took the opportunity for a break and ate the raspberries I bought – which were tasteless and, trying to think of a word, but going to say rubbish. The berries on the path are so much better. I met a couple here who were on holiday at the park I’d just been through. They asked what I was doing and seemed really interested. Really nice couple. I think I’ve let them down getting the hotel. Another guy then came through asking me if I’d spotted and good wild camping spots on my way from Sidmouth. I said I thought so but I’m really not sure. I let him down as well.

I’m in Devon

There’s a massive detour as you get into Budleigh Salterton to get you around a river. Just as you think you’re about to hit the town it veers you off about a mile inland. Quite a bit of it’s on road but some is a path. I was quite pleased to get this over with.

I then realised I was in Devon. Have been for about a day. I had no idea. So that’s something to celebrate.

Once in the town I decided to start thinking about where I’d spend the night. I was worried about camping near Exmouth but I couldn’t push through because you need to use a boat here to get across the river. The more I looked at the map the more I worried. There is a huge (must have over a 1000 mobile homes) holiday camp just before Exmouth so it wasn’t clear where I’d stop. I started to walk toward Exmouth but when I’d got to the holiday camp without spotting anything suitable I called my support team (Jenny) to see if she could sort out a hotel for me. 10 minutes later I had a reservation.

Onto Exmouth

The walk into Exmouth is really nice. I actually saw a few decent wild camping spots so started to think I’d really messed up. I was low on battery power for my phone but I’d have been ok for a couple more nights. I was trying to justify my decision but I wasn’t sure.

I then bumped into a guy called Neil who walked me along the sea front and pointed to where my hotel was. A really lovely guy. He has five kids and his daughter, in her 30s, won’t leave home. Exmouth seems quite popular. Maybe a clean Blackpool. Nice seafront.

However, it’s now about 10pm and there’s a lot of noisy cars outside racing around and the odd shouty person. I think I’m glad I didn’t wild camp a mile away from here as I think I would have been very nervous. There you go – decision justified!