Before the recent heatwave we spent a week at the camping and caravan club site at Slapton Sands, South Devon – bit of a hairy trip as the road from Kingsbridge to the site is somewhat narrow in a motorhome but apparently is the best route!
We broke our journey with a quick stop at Totnes – a lovely town on the river Dart with lots of quirky buildings and tasty cream teas (!). Sadly we didn’t have time to visit the castle this time though.
During our time in this area we explored the village of Slapton. Tiny streets, 2 pubs, a lovely church and 1 odd tower – apparently all that’s left of the collegiate of St Mary.
Whilst there we had a very surreal experience – we started talking to a couple of cyclists and after a short while discovered Andy was talking with a guy from his old school in the same year as he was!!!!!
We also walked up Slapton Sands to Torcross along part of the South West coast path (yep, that one again!!) and took in the second world war history of the bay. The inhabitants were given 6 weeks to evacuate so that the area could be used for training for the D Day landings (Operation Tiger) and didn’t return for nearly 12 months. Sadly many Americans lost their lives here being hit by German e-boats and today you can see the memorial to them.
We stopped for a cream tea (oops, yes another one) at the Billy Can cafe – delightful scones and the cafe decor was commemorating the history of the area.
We also jumped on the bus to Dartmouth. A delightful town with lots of history, particularly seafaring – from being one of the ports the Mayflower stopped at before going on to America to being the home of the Britannia Naval College. After exploring the town we set off along “that” path again, past the Tudor built Bayards Cove Fort and up to Dartmouth Castle (both English Heritage). After a brief stop at the castle we struck out over the hills where we met up with a lovely couple, Steve & Emily and their dog Lyra and proceeded to have an entertaining couple of hours at the Green Dragon at Stoke Fleming!! Fuelled with some Otter Amber ale we continued onto Slapton.
A long and hard walk in places but lovely views along the way.
On some of the greyer days we meandered the trails of Slapton and Slapton Ley (the largest body of fresh water in South West England apparently and the body of water behind Slapton Sands) and watched the various wildlife.
On 4th July the wind was blowing the flags above the memorial and we caught the bus to explore Kingsbridge, a small town at the top of the estuary that runs down to Salcombe. Lovely walk along the promenade, although the tide was out! Lots of odd little alleys in the town but couldn’t resist the wonderfully named Squeezebelly Lane!!
