Log No 283. Sun 13th Apr 2014 - Bigbury-on-Sea to Salcombe, 21 miles (4321 miles walked)

I could get used to this, waking up to a sunny day, we were packed up and ready to go by 07.35.

Last night's campsite was pretty basic in a farmer's field, there was one shower which cost £1 for 7 minutes of luke warm water and no other hot water. No one came round the site to collect any fees so we can't complain.

We went along the road to Bigbury then made for the Tidal Road along the side of the River Avon.
Karen had told us low water was at 11.45 and when we got there 3 hours before that the road was passable.

Crossing the river at Aveton Gifford we followed the footpath signs for the Avon Estuary Walk to get to Bantham, just across from Bigbury-on-Sea, at 10.00.

We had a break there and got chatting to Bill & Jo, they said the locally made ice cream in Salcombe was really good and gave us £10 to buy some and put any change into the donations.

Back on the Coast Path it was a good grassy path by the side of the golf course to Thurlestone.

There were excellent views along this coastline.



After rounding the sandy bay we were redirected inland by Outer Hope because of erosion.

We also had a second diversion in Inner Hope because a short section of the path was now unstable.

We stopped for lunch on a bench in Inner Hope. It was fine and warm when you're walking but as soon as you stop you need to put a jacket on because it was a cold wind.

After lunch the path went round Cove Bay and up to Bolt Tail.

The good path continued and there were a lot of people on the 5 mile stretch from Bolt Tail to Bolt Head.

This section was a good bit more strenuous with its up and downs.

From Bolt Head the path went low along the slopes into Salcombe but we kept to the high ground going to Sharp Tor before descending into Salcombe.

Salcombe had its share of climbs between the two small sandy bays, the road was single track and very steep.

Getting into Salcombe town centre we sampled the local ice cream, courtesy of Bill & Jo, there was a great variety of flavours and all the ice cream shops seemed to be doing a roaring trade.

We opted for the "Salcombe Supermix" in a tub rather than a cone with it being so warm and we had to agree it was very tasty.

Time was marching on, it was 4 o'clock and we needed provisions, the only food shop we found was expensive so we only bought the bare minimum for tonight and headed for the campsite 2 miles outside Salcombe.

It took us a bit longer to get there than expected as we went to the wrong place first, Ilton Castle Farm instead of Ilton Farm. We eventually had the tents up by 17.30.

The phone signal is a bit hit and miss here.

21 sunny miles.