If yesterday was trains and boats and buses (or would have been if I'd remembered to tell anyone I'd blogged) today was walking and trains. I really couldn't come to this part of Devon and not have a look at the infamous Dawlish Sea Wall. I was ready for a bit of a walk anyway so I parked at Teignmouth (pronounced Tinmuth or they think you mean somewhere near Newcastle). I then took the South West Coast Path along the sea wall. Unfortunately with the state of the tide I had to take Smugglers Lane up to Holcombe as there was no way of continuing round the coast. I followed the road but then missed a turn back onto the path. I did finally descend back through a park at Dawlish.
It's a mix of local stopping trains and HSTs along this line so there's a little bit of variety. I did stop at Dawlish itself for a coffee and carrot cake before continuing the walk. It was getting fairly warm so by the time I got round to Dawlish Warren I settled for an ice cream and wait for a train back to the start. I was considering walking on to Starcross, another couple of miles, but the next stretch of path is away from the coast itself.
I had a particular reason to go to Starcross so drove there anyway. One of the last remaining bits of Brunel's Atmospheric Railway is there, the original vacuum pumping station. The style has been described as somewhat Italianate, which I suppose it is.
You can get the ferry from there to Exmouth and back which I'd have considered doing, but one again the tide was an issue. Low water levels had forced the cancellation of a couple of trips. There was little left to do but return to site, which I did by hugging the coast through Torquay back to Paignton, rather than just blasting along the new stretch of A380 (so new the sat nav doesn't know about it).
It's Fish & Chip van night so dinner is sorted, there's a couple of beers in the coolbox chilling away and all is well. Tomorrow it's more trains, a return visit to the South Devon railway.
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