Enjoyed a day off in Wembury yesterday.  Steve managed to get to a Park Run in Plym Valley and loved being out running again, of course proudly sported his Redway Runners shirt.  Weather a bit hit and miss but we managed to fit a couple of hours in on the beach, some cafe time, very short walk then lots of chilling back at the B&B.  Steve watched some cricket, I caught up on two episodes of Victoria.  Phil, our lovely host, let us use his washing machine and clothes line.  I know I’ve probably mentioned laundry before on this blog but you have to be a walker to appreciate the scale of satisfaction you experience when leaving somewhere with a set of clean clothes, underwear and socks!!

So today’s walk was a 14 mile walk to Bigbury-on-Sea.  It started with a 2 mile walk to the ferry, fairly easy going – the ferry took us across the River Yealm where we then started a 9 mile walk to the River Erme.  There were long stretches of wide open paths so we actually got to walk side by side for a change, even holding hands ❤️  As the day went on however, the wind got stronger and stronger and seemed to come from every direction.  When the paths became narrow and cliffside again, we held hands to minismise the chances of being blown over – two bodyweights seemed better than one.  

Passed some particularly stubborn cows at one point, they were hogging the whole path just by the gate.  Despite Steve’s verbal requests and even some gentle nudging they wouldn’t budge an inch.  We had to step off the path on the cliff slope to get round them.  What is the world coming to!?  Saw this flock of sheep laying right on the edge of the cliff – at least they weren’t in our way.  

We met some other walkers in our B&B last night, Annette and Graham – they were doing this walk today too.  We had done the ferry crossing together and had agreed to meet up at River Erme because we had to undertake a difficult operation there.  We had to wait till within an hour of low tide and wade across the river at a certain point.  By this time the wind was SO strong and the rain coming down fairly heavy too.  The four of us did it together – safety in numbers.  

Once we had conquered the River Erme wading, we thought it would be an easy 3 miles to our destination in Bigbury-On-Sea…. but oh no, it was an extremely strenuous 5 miles … steep ascents and descents and crazy windy conditions.  Some stunning views though.

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We met up with Annette and Graham again in Challaborough Bay where we had dinner and drinks – and watched the surfers – before heading up the hill to find our B&B in Bigbury-on-Sea – we were all checked in to the same B&B again tonight, appropriately called ‘Summerwinds.’