Dorset and Devon Coast Trip, Day 9 (Sun 16th May 2021)
Dartmouth:
Moving on from Stoke Gabriel, we visited Dartmouth, parking for the morning in the Park and Ride, which provides a regular service into the town centre. Our bus each way was an open-top sightseeing bus which advertised city tours of Cambridge. We didn’t get to the reason why, but we were a fair way from Cambridge.
Dartmouth is a very interesting and historic town, built near the mouth of the river Dart (unsurprisingly perhaps, I guess the clue is in the name). There are two regular ferry crossings, higher and lower, across to Kingswear and the town is built on the slopes of the valley.
There are many old and characterful buildings in the town and a stroll along the waterfront is an enjoyable experience despite the need to dodge the frequent heavy showers.
Stoke Fleming and Blackpool Sands:
No, we hadn’t nipped back to the North West for the afternoon. Blackpool Sands is a private beach nearby to the Camping and Caravanning Club site, at Stoke Fleming. We walked down from the site to the small and pretty village, which we explored before continuing downhill to the beach, which has a blue flag status for water quality.
The beach is stunningly beautiful, sitting in a bay with rocky limits and coarse sand which we found hard going to walk on. Unfortunately for our friends, no dogs were allowed, so they decided to return to the site and spend a little longer in the village on the way.
Meanwhile Alison and I walked to the end of the beach and took photographs. The waves were quite impressive as they hit the rocks and whilst concentrating on taking pictures, I managed to get my trainers completely soaked.
The weather closed in on our walk back up the site, with torrential and horizontal rain, so by the time we arrived back at the van, we were soaked through and my wet feet were an irrelevance.
"See-u-Later" 