Saturday 6 June 2026

Day 41 of walking
Dartmouth to Brixham
Distance: 17.83km
Total distance: 814.30km
Climbing: 921m
Total climb: 27.353m

Wet, windy, wild and wonderful. Maybe less of the ‘wonderful’ and more of the ‘wonder why we are doing this’? The forecast was for rain in the morning and high winds. Sure enough we could hear the rain on the rooflights in the night and in the morning it looked bleak with steady rain and a wind coming in off the sea. It was not cold though with a low of 12° and high of 15°. There is not a lot of motivation to get moving on a day like this but we know the sooner you start the sooner you finish.

The passenger ferry from Dartmouth over the River Dart to Kingswear is only about a 3 minute walk from the hotel and when we arrived there was a ferry at the pier and we were waved on. The ferry immediately took off and we were the only passengers. £2.50 each for a 5 minute crossing. Alongside the passenger ferry is a car ferry, known as the ‘Lower Ferry’ as there is another car ferry further up the river known as the ‘Upper Ferry’. The lower ferry is an unpowered pontoon carrying up to 8 cars that is pushed, pulled and steered by little tug boats.

We set off climbing out of Kingswear and there is 3 kilometres of walking in woodland. On a sunny day this would be a beautiful walk up the side of the River Dart with views down to little coves and of St Petrox Church and the Dartmouth and Kingswear Castles. Today we saw virtually nothing in the rain, and the strong wind gusting over 50km/hr was making an incredible sound in the trees. The path was a bit muddy, with puddles from the overnight rain and lots of twigs and leaves coming down off the trees but otherwise okay. We had in the back of our minds that if the wind got any stronger out of the woodland and on the exposed cliffs we may have to turn back. The wind was funnelling down the river between the headlands so we pressed on to the first of them, Forward Point, to see what it was like there.

Forward Point itself was extremely windy but once round the corner the path was sheltered and the much weaker wind was at our back. The next 10 kilometres would have been superb cliff scenery but the rain blotted most of it out and we had to just concentrate on the path. As the cliffs became higher and more open there was a lot of climbing, over 900 metres in total and I’m guessing it was a dramatic, steeply undulating landscape ending at the sea in steep cliff faces. Despite having a major town at each end, it was also a remote and lonely section. We saw only one person coming toward us and one going in our direction, and only one isolated house at a beach. There was also one lonely surfer at a beach. There are no villages, cafes or toilets on this section.

As you near Berry Head, only 2 kilometres from Brixham, suddenly there are two huge holiday camps and you are into suburbia. Berry Head was the last headland of the day and has a squat lighthouse, a Napoleonic fortified area, toilets, visitor centre, café and large car park. We spent some time there in 2019 so just stuck to the path as it passed the fortifications and didn’t walk out to the lighthouse on the point. At 58 metres above sea level it is located at the highest altitude of any British lighthouse, but being just 5 metres tall it is also the smallest lighthouse in Britain.

It was an easy short walk into Brixham. We have stayed here twice before and really like it as a long established Devon fishing area. Today it is still a major fishing port bringing in over 25 million pounds worth of fish each year. We didn’t stop long today as we were wet through and starting to get cold.

Even though our walk today ended in Brixham our accommodation was a further 15 kilometres on at Torquay. Tomorrow we walk from Brixham to Torquay. This means we have to transfer from Brixham to Torquay today and back again to Brixham in the morning. We think this is because it is difficult to get a one night booking on weekends. They could not get one night in Brixham followed by one night in Torquay, instead we have two nights in Torquay with transfers. As an additional extra Macs said they could arrange the two transfers with a taxi company for NZ$200. We baulked at this and as we have used public transport here before decided to arrange our own transfers by bus. The Stagecoach Route 12 bus from Brixham to Torquay runs every 10 minutes and takes about 35 minutes. It costs £3 each for each journey, so instead of paying NZ$200 we paid about NZ$30 (£12). Obviously not as convenient as a ‘to the door’ taxi, but good enough for us.

For two nights we are at the Devon Court Luxury B & B. It is a bit luxurious, we have a lounge as well as a bedroom and there is a swimming pool heated to 27°. We haven’t swum today but will definitely try it out tomorrow. It is a little out of the way for getting an evening meal so they offer a range of snacks up until 5.30pm. We each had a club sandwich of chicken, ham, tomato and salad that also came with corn chips and coleslaw. More than enough for us until breakfast.

Today was a milestone day in that we have now walked over 800 kilometres. It should have been a great day starting with the Dart River, some beautiful woodland, a few strenuous climbs and descents, two remote beaches, some gentle walking toward Berry Head, another fort and lighthouse  and finishing in one of our favourite Devon towns, Brixham. The weather put a dampener on it but we still felt proud of ourselves for plugging on and mostly enjoying the walk despite the wind and rain.