Branscombe to Sidmouth (SW Coast Path 23)

Looking west towards Sidmouth

Day 3 of our Coast Walking trip to Devon. We drove to Branscombe, where we left off yesterday, parked outside the church and climbed up to rejoin the coast path. We fairly soon emerged out of the woods, passed a couple of parked cars (how did they get there? should we have done the same?) and reached the open cliff top (Berry Cliff) with the first, rather hazy, views towards Sidmouth - today's destination.

A bit further on, the view became a little clearer, and we could make out the long sweep of coast from Sidmouth down to Otterton Ledge and the mouth of the Axe beyond, with Torbay further in the distance.

There followed a flat grassy section above Littleton Shoot, with more mysteriously parked cars, and the we could see the pebble beach of Weston Mouth, the first major descent on the walk - and the equally major climb waiting on the other side. The birds in the photo are ravens, which roost in the undercliff. We saw one quite close up sitting on a fence post and were impressed with its size.

The path takes you down right to the back of the beach, across the mouth of a pretty stream ...

 ... and through fields up the edge of the opposite cliff. We were very pleased to emerge a bit later on to Lower Dunscombe Cliff, a pleasantly undulating area, with hillocks covered in wild flowers and butterflies. The cliff itself was rugged and eroding.

After a short detour inland at Linchcombe, Higher Dunscombe Cliff was flatter and more agricultural than its Lower neighbour. The first clear view of Sidmouth opened up as we approached Salcombe Mouth, the second major descent/ascent.

This time at least it wasn't necessary to go right down to the sea before beginning to climb again. The view looking back to Higher Duncombe Cliffs and the shoreline below from the hill west of Salcombe Mouth was dramatic. It is a bit puzzling that this dramatic viewpoint doesn't seem to have a name.

Now we walked along Salcombe Hill Cliff and emerged to find a simply wonderful viewpoint over the town and its two bays.

A final winding, but quite gentle, descent, by comparison with the others, brought us to Sidmouth esplanade. The terraces with their verandahs date from 1837.

The Sidmouth Folk Festival was on, unbeknown to us, and the town was very busy. It look a little while to find a quiet pub for a recuperative drink and we decided to put off exploring until next time.

Conditions: cloudy for the most part, but warm.

Distance: 5 miles. Distance covered now 103 miles.

Map: Explorer 115 (Exmouth and Sidmouth).

Rating: four stars. Arduous, but rewarding.

Butterfly of the day

Quite a good day for butterflies. Lots of Meadow Browns and the odd Admiral, white and Fritillary. The signature butterfly however was the Gatekeeper. The photograph doesn't quite do justice to the intensity of the orange.

Seaton to Branscombe (SW Coast Path 22)

Haven Cliff at the east end of Seaton Bay

Day 2 of our three day walking trip to Devon. We are staying in a small hotel right on the sea front at Seaton, so we started today's walk by simply turning right outside the front door. A first! We walked along the fairly uninteresting sea front and made a slight detour to get a closer view of the clock we had noted last night. It is another Jubilee Clock from 1887 (we have seen others recently in Usk and Margate).

At the end of the sea front, there are red cliffs (iron ore) and beyond them chalk cliffs. There was clear evidence of the recent landslips which have affected this area.

We then walked up the road towards Beer, passing the well-named Check House, a residential home. A helpful blue plaque explains that it was formerly Calverly Lodge built for Sir Walter and Lady Trevelyan; Lady Trevelyan was an important patron of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and had a celebrated salon at Wallington Hall in Northumberland.

Further along the road was closed as the result of another landslip, necessitating a detour, but eventually we reached the cliffs at Seaton Hole and enjoyed a spectacular view across the bay.

A short cliff-top section led to the the pretty village of Beer.

At dinner last night I saw a (very poor) photograph of some Almshouses in Beer, so we decided to make a detour into the village in search of them. The first thing of note was a lovely pair of thatched cottages at the head of the main street.

The almshouses were difficult to photograph - although I am not trying to sell my picture - and seem to now be privately owned. They are of an unusual design with lovely arched gothic doorways and windows. Pevsner says they were given by Lady Rolle in 1820.

After a break for coffee we resumed the path at the back of the beach, walked up the road and made our way to Beer Head, with fine views in both directions. This is the view west: Sidmouth can just be made out at the point at which the coast bends. The high ground is Hooken Cliffs.

The path descends steeply to follow another undercliff - Under Hooken - behind three fingers of chalk, on the left in the photo above.

This path continues through a caravan park, rather incongruously located in this otherwise wild and isolated section of coast, to descend to Branscombe Mouth, where the restaurant and shop were doing a good trade.

We made the steep ascent of West Cliff and enjoyed another fine view back over the pebble beach.

A bit further on we took a path to the right leading down to Branscombe Church which we had identified as the place to end today's leg. We did not fancy trying to do the full 10.5 mile Seaton to Sidmouth section in one go and this was one of the few possible places to break the walk. The church has a Norman tower (except for the very top according to Pevsner) and nave, while the chancel is 14th century. Inside there is a fragment of a 15th century wall painting.

The rather spread-out village also has an old Forge and a Bakery owned by the National Trust.

We now hit a slight snag. Neither of our mobile phones (on different networks) had a signal and the lone telephone box was "not commissioned", presumably some new euphemism for not working. (Surely BT must know that this is precisely one of the few places in modern Britain where a phone box is still a necessity?) Happily we were generously allowed to use the phone in the Bakery tea shop to summon a taxi back to Seaton.

Conditions: mild, but quite cloudy - and wet while we were in Beer.

Distance: just over 5 miles. Distance now covered 98 miles.

Map: Explorer 116 (Lyme Regis and Bridport) and 115 (Exmouth and Sidmouth).

Rating: four stars.

Flower of the day

We saw quite a lot of this yellow spiky flower, but I have been unable to identify it.

Lyme Regis to Seaton (SW Coast Path 21)

Lyme Regis

Our journey along the South West Coast Path enters a new phase today: we are making a three-day visit to Devon, based in Seaton, to do three successive stretches of the coast path. We pick up the route at the famous Cobb in Lyme Regis and almost immediately are in Devon.

We walked west for a short distance and then began a long climb to reach Ware Cliff, with a lovely view across Lyme Bay.

This would be the last view for some while, as soon you descend into Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliffs National Nature Reserve. The undercliff is the result of landslips, the most famous one being at Bindon, towards the western end, where in 1839 a section of cliff 1000m long, 100m wide an 50m deep "tore free from the mainland" (to quote a helpful information panel). The area has since been colonised by trees and is now described as "one of the most important wilderness areas in Britain".

It is hard to capture the somewhat claustrophobic atmosphere, but we were very struck with how like walking in the brush in New Zealand it was, especially our walks around Lake Kaniere and parts of the Coromandel Walkway. It is hard work too with constant changes of level and large numbers of tree roots and stones in the path.

After Ware Cliffs the next landmark is Pinhay, where there is a clear sight of the chalk cliffs through the trees. Unfortunately, the earlier blue sky had given way to a grey one, so there is little contrast.

Further on the path opened out for a bit and was briefly more like a normal walk in the woods.

But it soon reverted to a denser version, with helpful steps to ease some of the burden.

Just above Charton Bay the path goes through what was part of the estate of nearby Rousdon House and the remains of a pump house can be seen. The flora is a bit different too with plants which escaped from the house's formal gardens. You can't see the house unfortunately - nor can you from the Lyme to Seaton road, the A3052. It dates from about 1880 and Pevsner describes it as being "in a rather grim Franco-Flemish C16 style". The Francis Frith website has a photo from 1900, which bears this out. It was later a school and seems to have recently been redeveloped as luxury flats.

At about this point we chatted to a somewhat hippyish fellow walker who said he had just been down to the sea at Charton Bay. Although there were signs forbidding this, we could see that there was a well-marked path and so we took the unusually lawless step of descending the steep path to have a look.

The bay was pleasant, with nice views to the east ...

... but a more enclosed outlook to the west. It was great to be out in the open though.

The path continued through a virtual jungle for another couple of miles to eventually emerge on Haven Cliff, with a fine view of Seaton Bay: Beer Head is the point on the left and the beach of Seaton is just visible to the right.

We climbed and headed inland to walk beside fields and then cross a golf-course to descend into Axmouth, crossing the Axe at low tide over the modern bridge.

Beside the new bridge is the Axmouth Old Bridge. According to a blue plaque it was opened in 1870 and closed to traffic in 1990 and is the oldest concrete bridge in the country.

Conditions: mild, sunny then clouding over.

Distance: just over 7 miles. Distance now covered 93 miles.

Map: Explorer 116 (Lyme Regis and Bridport).

Rating: three stars. Interesting, but to be honest, not really enjoyable for the most part.

Christchurch

The Priory

The second day of our weekend with Chris and Jill and time for a tour of Christchurch. We walked along to the Quay - where the river Stour opens out into the harbour. A very pretty sight with a large grassy area on one side of the quayside path and boast and swans on the other.

It was a commercial quay from the thirteenth century until the early 1900 but is now dominated by leisure craft.The grassy area is known as The Quomps, a name recorded from the sixteenth century, which is often historically used to denote a marshy area.

An impressive feature was the late Victorian bandstand. Apparently it is a listed building.

We passed Place Mill, which straddles the mill stream at the quay. It has medieval stonework and Tudor and eighteenth century brickwork.  The mill was used for both fulling (cleaning and thickening cloth) and grinding corn until 1908.  It was then used as a boatshed for 70 years before being purchased by the council and restored. Its current use is as an art gallery.

From here we passed into the Priory grounds to see the rather wonderful statue commemorating its 900th anniversary. Each face depicts activities from a different period up to the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It is the work of Jonathan Sells a self-taught mason and sculptor, based in Corfe Castle.

Now it was time for our first glimpse of the Priory. The Priory was begun in 1094 on the site of a Saxon Priory and in its initial form completed in 1150. Further major developments took place in the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. What first caught the eye was the Norman north transept, with its arcading and Norman arches.

I was very entertained to look in Pevsner (for Hampshire) when I got home and find his comment that "The N transept is the showpiece of Christchurch".

Continuing through the Priory Gardens we came to the Perkins Mausoleum. A fear of being buried alive led Mrs Perkins to request that her body should not be interred, nor her coffin lid screwed down. Instead it was placed at the entrance to the priory's school so that the pupils would hear if she revived. When her husband died 20 years later, in 1803, her body was removed, the structure was sold and re-erected in Priory Gardens.

Nearby in the Priory gardens there was a wonderful flower garden, using annuals for an effect much like wind flowers. A far cry from the rigid formality of most park planting.

We then passed the remains of the Norman castle: a rectangular keep, built on an artificial motte (or mound).

We emerged into Castle St and passed the King's Head Hotel (which Pevsner thinks was "probably the most attractive building" to arrive a the Constable's House.

It is a domestic Norman dwelling which was built within the original castle bailey (enclosed courtyard) in 1160, earlier than the existing stone keep. It includes a rare example of a Norman Chimney (one of only five in the country according to English Heritage who now look after it).

We now crossed the very pleasant bridge over Christchurch's other river, the Avon ...

... and walked along the charming and very quiet Bridge St.

At the end, we retraced our steps to the end of Castle St and then passed the west end of the Priory, where we were struck by the extraordinary porch - "splendid" according to Pevsner - which dates from the 13th century.

We were frustrated in our desire to see the interior - not open to visitors until 2.30 on a Sunday, so we walked next along nearby Quay Road past the Red House Museum, housed in a Georgian building on 1764 which was once the town's workhouse.

We left left at the end to stumble on Sundial Cottage and soon return to the Quomps and thence to Chris and Jill's for an excellent lunch.

Conditions: warm and sunny.

Distance: about 2.5 miles.

Rating: four stars. Varied and full of interest.

Mudeford Quay to Barton on Sea (Bournemouth Coast Path 3)

Mudeford Spit from Mudeford Quay

About the walk

Two years ago a weekend visit to our friends Chris and Jill in Christchurch opened our minds to the joys of Poole and the rest of Dorset. It feels very appropriate to now be continuing the Bournemouth Coast Path with them. We parked at Avon Beach and walked along to Mudeford Quay to pick up the route.

Two things struck us strongly. Firstly how wide the mouth of Christchurch Harbour is compared to Poole Harbour. And secondly all the people avidly fishing for crabs. They seemed to be using fish bait in a loosely woven bag - presumably the crabs get their claws entangled. Chris told us that the end of a session the convention is to set the crabs free and let them race to the edge of the quay.

We walked along the path behind the beach for a while enjoying the view over the beach huts towards the Isle of Wight.

We were startled by the contrast in some of the houses on the landward side. The house on the left of the thatched one is also of the modern luxury sea-view type.

Soon the long sweep of Christchurch Bay became apparent.

Further along we climbed gently to reach Steamer Point. This seemed an improbable name for a spaot on the inside edge of gently curving bay, but it turned out not to be a point in the normal sense, but simply the place where a steamer delivering stone for the building of nearby Highcliffe Castle was beached in a storm in 1835. Our guide book says that it was used as a beach hut, which does sound rather improbable.

We now entered Steamer Point Woods, once part of the grounds of Highcliffe Castle, but open to the public since 1984. There was a fine view back to Christchchurch Harbour and Hengistbury Head, albeit into the sun. The shadowy shape of Ballard Down can be seen behind.

Soon we came to Highcliffe Castle and detoured to walk around the outside. There was once a house here built by Robert Adam in the 1770s, but the house you now see dates from 1835 and was built by the architect William Donthorne for Lord Stuart de Rothsay, grandson of the Marquis of Bute. We especially admired the giant north porch ...

... and the oriel window on the left in the impressive south front, which came from the Grande Maison des Andelys in Normandy, also owned by Lord Stuart.

After the castle the path descends to sea level with increasingly clear views across the to Isle of Wight.

A bit further along you come to Chewton Bunny. What a great name! A bunny is the local equivalent of a chine, a coastal valley. Here you have to go inland as there is no coastal right of way on the next section of coast, occupied by the Naish holiday park - and anyway cliff falls have made an extension to the coast path very problematic.

The route up the Bunny is wooded and meets the Highcliffe-Lymington road after a small waterfall - the Walkford Brook.

We now walked through a series of paths through a housing estates on the edge of Barton-on-Sea to eventually reach the grassy cliffside, with now a really fine view across to the Isle of Wight.

Rather surprisingly, Barton, which now looks very suburban, is famous for its 40-million-year-old fossils and rock or clay of this period is known throughout the world as Bartonian.

Distance: about 4.5 miles.

Conditions: warm and sunny under a blue sky.

Rating: four stars. Remarkably interesting and varied.