Teignmouth to Exmouth  13km
Ascending 148m  Accumulated ascending 1384m

We are back in the groove. As in our previous long distance walks it takes until the third day to really relax and get into the groove of knowing all you have to do each day is walk from A to B. Keep the sea on your right and follow your nose. The days become very simple: eat, walk, sleep, repeat. Actually eat, walk, shower, sleep, repeat!

Today was an easy day compared to yesterday.  A couple of steepish climbs between Teignmouth and Dawlish but the rest was absolutely dead flat. It was all on hard paving so a bit tough on the feet. Basically we were moving between two fairly large seaside towns flanked by a coastline of high red cliffs at one end and a marshy sand bar at the other. Often we were walking alongside possibly the most scenic part of Brunel’s Great Western Railway from London to Penzance. The railway embankment forms the sea wall on which we walked for much of the way, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was the greatest of the 18th century Victorian English civil and mechanical engineers. He built bridges, steamships, tunnels, viaducts and railways.

At high tide and with an onshore wind the embankment we walked on can be very wet  with waves crashing into the seawall and up and over the promenade on which we walked. There are signs warning of this and there is an alternative inland route through suburbia. High tide this morning was 10.30am, not good timing, but we decided to give it a go anyway. At one end of the promenade the path descends steps to pass under the railway and then up Smugglers Lane. For an hour either side of high tide these steps become impassable.

We made good progress along the embankment. High speed trains whooshing past us at regular intervals on our left and dodging the spray coming from the wave on our right. We were a bit smug until we got hit by the spray of a monster wave that drenched us right through from head to foot. All we could do was laugh although I was a bit worried because my camera was soaked in salt water. It was another hot sunny day so eventually we did dry out.  At smugglers Lane the tide had turned just enough for us to time our  run through the passage under the railway.

From Smugglers Lane there was one of only two climbs today and while walking along a lane we met an elderly lady collecting blackberries. We stopped to have a chat and she was very friendly, telling us she was out this morning collecting berries for a blackberry and stewed apple crumble. She directed us to a seat at the top of the climb where there was a great view looking down into Dawlish.

The red cliffs we have been walking under today are from the Triassic Period (from 250 million years old) and as we move further east the rocks will get younger and younger, unlike us who each day just feel older and older. Near the end of today’s walk we reached Dawlish Warren at the mouth of the River Exe and the cliffs had flattened out to a wide marshy estuary with large sandbanks. At the river there was another cute ferry to catch and it was important to get this ferry. The ferry is seasonal, doesn’t run October to April , and runs every hour at ten past the hour. We had made good time and comfortably made the 2.10 ferry. The last advertised ferry today was 4.10 but due to the tides this had been cancelled so the last ferry was 3.10. If you miss the ferry there are two options. Option one an additional 25km walk via the first road bridge. Option two catch public transport, train or bus,  inland to Exeter and get another train or bus back down the river to Exmouth.

The little blue ferry was very cute and was £5  each for about a twenty minute crossing. It wasn’t a straight crossing but snaked around shallow channels between sand banks. From the Exmouth side of the Exe we had about a 15 minute walk to our guest house. We hate it when the B & B has the word Hill in its address and today the Swallows address was Carlton Hill Road, but only number 11 so not too far up the hill.

PS for Owen. I looked up yesterdays City to Sea results.
Half marathon 105 finishers, 8 hour cut off time, fastest time 2:05, slowest 6:25.
Marathon 175 finishers, 10 hour cut off, fastest time 3:24, slowest time 10:15

For each race the last 10km was more like mountain running and they had a few extra rules. Every entrant had to carry a phone with emergency number of race organiser. Every entrant had to start with 1 litre of fluid and it was cupless, which means if you want a drink at the drink station you had to bring your own cup.