16th - 17th July

16th July day 497

I wasn't far from Paignton and Torquay where the long sandy beach is not yellow but instead red. Mary shelley who wrote the novel frankenstien after spending a summer in Geneva with lord byron also enjoyed holidaying in Torquay although when she died she was buried in my home town of Bournemouth.

As i hiked along the promenades from one town to the next i kept thinking about how far i still had left to go. It was still quite daunting. Reaching Torquay i was met head on by waves of people. I just wasn't used to it. The noise of the cars and lorries and buses. Having to dodge children and dogs. No longer could i smell the fresh clean air it was polluted by fumes and burger restaurants. Passing the giant ferris wheel overlooking the harbour i began to feel uneasy, clostraphobic i needed space.

It seemed to take a lifetime to make my way round the headland where at least i was away from the bad air and once again was able to breath. A thick mist rapidly blew in from the sea. It was nearly 4pm by the time I'd managed to feel comfortable again up on the cliffs and heading away from the town. I couldn't understand it i was feeling tired and found it hard to motivate myself to hike.
Making situations worse was the fact I'd now lost another 2" off my waist and my trousers were beginning to feel the stresses of the trek. I always kept my pocket knife in a pocket with a zip. Unfortunately the zip had now broken and somewhere along the way my knife had fallen out. Morale was starting to hit rock bottom. The day wasn't over yet though and a poorly waymarked route would soon have me flipping a coin at forks in the path to determine the way to go. Often ending up with me deep in woodlands faced with vertical cliffs. Mentally and physically i was slowly dieing.

At the end of the day i felt disappointed with the progress I'd made during the previous days. I was severely dragging and well below the mileage i wanted to cover. I felt confused and drained of energy. I wondered why i was feeling like it. I needed to get my head back in the game. I was so close but feeling defeated.

Dinner was simply rice with some chicken I'd bought a couple of days earlier and a couple of rolls  I'd picked up in Torquay. It wasn't much but welcome none the less.

17th July day 498

I woke particularly early, around 5:30am. That was quite unusual for me. I made myself a coffee and two portions of porridge conscious that i needed to try and get some weight back on. It had lightly rained during the night and parts of the outer flysheet of the tent were damp but that didn't matter. I packed up and set off immediately faced with an ascent. That was promptly followed by a descent. This continued, "who ever told me it would be flat from here on can kiss my ass" i muttered "the path can kiss my ass, the hills can kiss my ass, if there is a god he can kiss my ass, those thistles can kiss my ass...". I wasn't in my usual chirpy mood and i respect anyone who has walked the whole of the south west coast path in one go. Its a killer.

Then it began to rain. Reaching Shalden i decided to stop for a coffee and put my jacket on before heading across the bridge to Teignmouth. Just as I'd crossed the sun came out and a wave of heat swept across the town. The skies began to clear. I made my way through the town and down to the coast again. The promenade ran alongside the railway and along the coast. It was a pleasant break from climbing the cliffs. A train passed me i could smell the burning diesel and felt a little nauseous. I kept going and reaching the end climbed down a set of steps to the waters edge and through a tunnel towards a lane that eventually took me back to the tops of the cliffs at Holcombe. I wasn't far from Dawlish which meant i only had a few more miles to go before reaching the river ex.

Reaching Dawlish Warren a little way from Dawlish, but not to be confused with, i met up with martyn. Martyn had been following my progress online and was a great fan of walking himself. Having walked the south west coastal path himself martyn assurred me the I'd already tackled the worst of it although there were still a fair number of climbs ahead. We walked the short distance from his home near to the path along the sea defences to a small leisure complex where we had a couple of teas and martyn treated me to a bacon and egg roll. He was unsure about my crossing over the ex and intrigued about the next challenge paddleboarding the nile. The mouth of the ex narrows dramatically and is notorious for strong currents.

Having relaxed and refreshed we said goodbye and i headed off along the beach of the nature reserve towards the narrowest point. The tide was still going out but I knew i could use that to aid me in my crossing, a small sailing dingy was struggling against the flow of the water unable to make any progress forward. I picked a good spot to launch and set off. I paddled out from a small eddy and caught the current which took me at a good pace down the beach on the far side. As i paddled children from the local school were out collecting hermit crabs and sea weed for a school project, they waved as i passed.

After landing hoolley i packed her away and continued on to Sidmouth looking along the red sandstone cliffs at where i had yet to conquer hoping to see the familiar outline of portland bill but it  was too hazy. It was there somewhere. I'd now arrived at the jurassic coast, an ancient coastline that I'd be following until i reached Swanage.

By the end of the day i was exhausted and once I'd climbed yet another hill just beyond Sidmouth i found somewhere to pitch and had rice before bed.