On Tour: Visiting Devon Walks and Teignmouth

Following on from my previous post we were in Maidencombe, Devon for a break. 

We did a lot of walking, probably too much. The photo above was the starting point of a walk towards Teignmouth.

Below the path opened up to some lovely sea views, even if it did look like rain.

The path was very up and down as can be seen below. 

A couple of ships off shore, but a little too hazy to make them out properly.

Suddenly there was a touch of magic and the sky turned a deep blue with white clouds along the eyeline.

The bright blue sky soon disappeared but there was a lovely view to compensate.

A little further and Teignmouth was in view with its red coloured cliffs. You can just make out the town's pier.

Lovely open spaces and views. We actually lost track of the path we were meant to follow...

... but continued walking downhill.

Finally we reached Teignmouth and the pier.

Lots of sea!

The beaches were empty, a bit too chilly to sit or paddle.

We made our way into town for a meal - and a rest.

We eventually got a bus back to Maidencombe, where we were staying. The thatched pub was a tempting sight.

Once back at our apartment I noticed the sky had a pinkish tint as I looked out of the window.

All in all a lovely, but tiring, day out.

Moving on:

A few Torquay, Devon photos. We intended to have a day in Torquay but it rained! We still went as I wanted to see the Marina - boats galore. Here are four photos. 

Thanks for visiting my blog.

All good wishes ~ Mike.

P.S. My Previous Devon Post Here.

On Tour: The Wonderful Red Cliffs of Devon

Occasionally we sneak over the River Tamar and out of Cornwall. On this particular trip we popped into the neighbouring county of Devon. I wanted to visit the red cliffs, sand and soil.

This is the beach where we started our short walk  along the coastal path, near Exmouth.

My shadow and I thought we would walk towards Budleigh Salterton - my wife agreed. So quite a special moment!

Yes, the cliffs are definitely red in colour with the occasional green of the seaweed.

The red is from iron minerals which have weathered over millions of years to produce the colour.

There are also the remains of fossilised roots to be found. These are whiter in colour against the red rocks.

As I understand it these roots go back some 35 million years to the Triassic Period. Ancient plants grew here amongst a desert river. The roots of these plants burrowed down into the soft red sand of the desert, drawing  up any water they could find.

Minerals that were dissolved in the water grew in crystals around the roots, encasing them. As time passed the streams moved and the plants died but the nodules that encased their roots remained.

Fossil roots like these can be seen on other parts of the Jurassic Coast. This, however, is the only place where they can be seen easily.

The photo above shows the view when approaching Budleigh Salterton and below getting nearer still.

The beach at Budleigh Salterton is now in view, plus some beach huts.

A closer look at the beach huts ...

... and the pebbles that make up the beach.

Further along the pebble beach with two people fishing in the distance.

The following photo is looking back to where we had walked along the coastal path with the red cliffs.

Before we retraced our steps we wandered around the small, but interesting, town. Unfortunately I only snapped one photo. This is of the museum, previously a cottage built in 1812.

Now we are heading back to where we began our walk.

The gulls were peaceful on the beach.

To finish: another look at those wonderful cliffs.

... and home we go. Hope you have an interesting week ahead. Good wishes ~ Mike.

Five Other 'On Tour' Posts

(1) City of Bath and the Roman Baths

(2) Glastonbury Abbey, Glastonbury Tor and King Arthur
(3) Visiting Wells Cathedral - 16 Photos

(4) Visiting Cheddar Gorge

(5) Alone with the Stones at Stonehenge

Time Really Did Stand Still

A while back my wife and I wandered into, Devon which is the next county to Cornwall. It was here that I discovered that time really can stand still.

We went for a walk on Dartmoor. There wasn't another soul to be seen, so perfect for walking and forgetting the rest of the world. 

For a while we followed a path alongside a small river, which we crossed using some stepping stones. We then had to make our way up the side of the valley via some uneven stone steps. All quite reasonable and shouldn't have caused any problem ... but little did I know!

Karin was ahead of me and when we were nearly at the top she must have missed a step or slipped on the uneven rocks. Whatever happened she started to fall backwards. I was a couple of steps behind her ... and it was then that time stood still.

Thoughts started flowing through my mind ..."When Karin hits me I wall fall backwards as well ... I'll hit my head on the rocks below ...she will land on top of me but will still have a nasty fall ... what should I do for the best ..."

I was methodically working out what to do and the consequences as Karin was falling backwards, so it can only have been a second in time, if that.

I then felt my back foot being lowered to the step below and, goodness knows how, I caught her! I didn't fall and neither of us was hurt.

The point is that time definitely stood still. I couldn't possibly have had all of those thoughts and react to catch Karin in a normal, every day, time frame.

We reached the top of the steps and looked down. Karin was shaking and was in tears thinking of what might have happened to us both. She said words to the effect that our Guardian Angel must have been looking after us. I still can't explain how I caught her.

All in all a weird experience.

I have never experienced anything like this previously.  Oh, other than when I was riding a donkey facing backwards in a donkey race - and thought I was going to fall off - but that's another story!

Seriously though, there does seem to be much more to our lives than we fully realise.

Thanks for reading - will be back to a Cornwall theme for my next post.