It’s official – we are sick of hills.  Climbed far too many today!! 😩

Spent a lot of last night lying awake listening to the 50 mph winds crashing around the trees which surrounded our Airbnb room – amazing accommodation though and oh so comfortable bed.  We were relieved to wake up this morning to little wind, blue skies and sunshine – result!!  Our lovely host Michelle had been keeping us updated on weather forecasts, particularly in regard to the winds.  I thought I was being a bit wimpy the other day when I dipped out half way but when Caroline told me that someone had been blown off Portland Bill I felt my concerns were justified.  Michelle was able to tell us that the winds should not be a concern today and, believe it or not, there would be no rain for the next 5 days.  

We set off from Torcross full of the joys of ‘autumn’ – looking forward to a bright and breezy day.

Our journey started walking the two mile stretch of Torcross Sands – straightforward enough.  We had no sooner reached the end of the beach when the heavens opened – we got absolutely drenched.  My trousers were so rain-soaked I could hardly pick up my legs.  But within 10 minutes the sun was out in full force …. and so the day continued, switching between heavy downpours and full on sunshine.  This unfortunately led to some extremely muddy terrain – we must have walked for a mile at one point in thick mud, there was no avoiding it – going uphill in it was fun, like a mudslide, kids would have loved it.  We had to take it very slowly downhill as you can imagine – how we both stayed upright I don’t know.

Passed some stunning places on our way to Dartmoor including Blackpool Sands, Strete and Stoke Fleming.

We met up with Annette and Graham and walked with them for a section and then met another couple who we walked and talked with for a while – so many walking stories to exchange.

As we approached Dartmoor the views were to die for – the sea was so calm and turquoise – would loved to have dived in.

Arrived in Dartmoor in relatively good time, about 2.15pm and the sun was shining – found our accomodation which is a fabulously located self-contained apartment, near to the harbour and shops/restaurants.  After a freshen up we wandered down to the harbour – sat in the sunshine and watched the world go by for an hour or two, very relaxing.  Settled for fish and chips and a cuppa then back to the apartment.

Tomorrow we take this ferry to Kingswear to start the next leg of the journey.