South West Coast Path 27/03/25

Day 7. Thu 27th Mar

A grey, misty and rather chilly morning as I happily left Dawlish and made my way to Starcross on a rather boring route following the railway line.

Over the footbridge to the sea wall at Dawlish

The ferry to Exmouth doesn't start until April so I had to get a train. It would have been a lot easier to catch the train for Exmouth from Dawlish but the Coast Path goes to Starcross so I did as well.

A reminder of one of Brunel's early railway ideas.

Exmouth is a bustling little town that has spread a long way east along the beach but has stopped before reaching the Geoneedle that marks the start of the Jurassic Coast.

A dinosaur roaming in the centre of Exmouth 

There is a huge caravan park behind the Army firing range at Straight Point and the sound of firing followed me all the way to Budleigh Salterton.

Misty view looking back towards Exmouth 

The Caravan park 

There was a very pleasant detour through the wetland at the mouth of the River Otter up to the bridge. It was the wrong time of year to see many birds but there were a few Egrets, Herons and Curlews.

River Otter

The walk from there was more like a countryside ramble with few climbs an an occasional view of the sea when the path went close to the precipitous, crumbling cliff edges.

Caravan park at Ladram Bay dwarfed by the scenery.

The wide, grassy way down to Sidmouth takes you to Jacobs Ladder and a concrete walkway under a vertical cliff around to the sea front.

Descent to Sidmouth 

Under the cliff

I found a very reasonable D,B&B price at the Riviera Hotel and it turned out to be amazing value and I even felt young sitting in the Dining Room. Decadence.

Riviera Hotel 

17 miles walked 750 meters ascent. Plus train journey.