Log No 284. Mon 14th Apr 2014 - Salcombe to Beeson, 20 miles (4341 miles walked)

And yet another fine day with the sun shining as we left at 08.00.

Once again it was to be a "round the rivers" walk to get by Kingsbridge Estuary and its creeks.

From the campsite at Ilton Farm we took the Old Coach Road into Kingsbridge, unfortunately this was the only place on todays route where we would be able to buy any food which meant carrying a heavy rucsac for most of the day.

We only bought food for one day but we did go overboard in Morrisons, an extra large swiss roll and a 1Kg packet of custard was probably a bit too much for the two of us.

The rucsacs were a good deal heavier, I don't know how we managed to carry food for 4 days at a time when we were in Scotland.

From Kingsbridge we walked along the main road for almost 4 miles to Frogmore, by which time we were in need of a break.

From here right to the coast we were constantly up and down steep roads going past the creek at South Pool and over other streams to get back on to the Coast Path at Gammon Head.

It had taken us 5 hours to get here and with hardly any wind to keep us cool it was very warm walking, we were more than ready for another break.

For what appeared to be a remote bit of coastline it was a popular place, there was a small sandy bay below Gammon Head which was obviously a big attraction for those that knew of it.

The footpath was easy going round Prawle Point with not too many climbs but the hills of the morning and the extra weight had slowed us down and we would finish much later than hoped for.

From Maelcombe House the easy path became a twisty rocky route but once we got to Lannacombe Beach it became easier again.

Mick had run out of water and was needing to find some soon, we still had 6 miles to go which would take us 3 hours at our current pace.

About a mile further on we crossed a small stream coming down from the steep hill, it looked okay so he topped up a couple of his water bottles.

As we were running late we cut off the last bit of the headland of Start Point.

Our campsite was a mile inland from Beesands and the roads up from the coast were steep, having had our fill of climbs we turned off the Coast Path at Hallsands. This would have given us an easier walk if we hadn't missed a turn off and ended up having to go a steep hill anyway.

We finally got to the campsite at Old Cotmore Farm at 17.15, it had taken us over 9 hours for the 20 miles.

Tomorrow is Micks last day with me as he heads back home on Wednesday and he had planned another 20 miler, luckily the campsite he hoped to finish at no longer existed (Karen has been doing a sterling job checking out all the campsites for us) so we are having an easier day instead.