LOCATION: Plymouth to Exeter
What's happening?
Another day of contrasts with water and coast views from high and low, some ticks for food goals, a tidal crossing, a vehicular ferry, a detour to @Nigel's home town and a later push to a one night stand at Exeter and the lead up to the next England game. What a day.
The Adventure
Making every moment count as we progress further along the southern coast still following the south west coastal path.
Some of today's highlights:
Bigbury-on-Sea and Burgh Island: The warmth of the summer days definitely attracting the crowds and at our arrival time it was more about the sand rather than the water. Not too many people were swimming although some were wading across the causeway.
We could see the luxury hotel perched on Burgh Island (originally built by Archibald Nettleford - i love that name) and at $1500 a night, don't think we will be staying there, even with its private infinity pool called The Mermaid Pool. Mind you, Agatha Christie and Noel Crawford wrote from here and famous visitors included Sir Winston Churchill, Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, Amy Johnson (aviator), Malcolm Campbell (speed demon in the Bluebird) and you guessed it, the Beatles!
When the sea covers the causeway, the famous Sea Tractor takes over. It’s a tall, clattering machine that trundles through the water with passengers perched above the water - apparently there are,waves - but we havent seen any. It was a pretty gnarly old thing (actually so was it grey bearded driver) but it was doing the job when we were there although the tide was falling quickly and people were starting to attack the causeway on foot.
Did make a little detour here to get coffee and had sweeping views of the limestone cliffs of Berry Head. Significant for @Nigel becuase it has iron age origins, a magnificent lighthouse and forts from the Napoleonic Wars. He has chosen it as the place to scatter his ashes.
Slapton Ley: Sourced the obligatory morning coffee and then @Nigel, closely following the progress of the tide, suggested we take a short cut along the coastal road. It involved picking your way carefully over roads covered with tidal water. We were perhaps 10 minutes early and waited with a local at the first of a few crossings. But to make sure all was "as it seemed" we took off our shoes and rolled up our trousers and confirmed we were definitely in ankle deep water.
The destination was the Slapton Ley and Slapton. Another one of @Nigel's surprises. We had to make our entry into the town down the final slope and around the corner with our eyes closed - to preserve the view until after we had heard the story! Of course we complied with the no peeking rule.
Slapton Ley is a freshwater lagoon lying just behind the long shingle bar of Slapton Sands — a rare landscape where sea and lake run side‑by‑side. And most bizarre, this Ley stretches for 2.5 kms and because of that shingle barrier, is completely fresh water.
The A379 runs directly along the shingle bar, with the sea on one side and the Ley on the other — this was the drive we had to take but it had collapsed in the December storms of last year. Almost half of the buildings on the foreshore had taken a battering in that storm and were either closed or undergoing reconstruction. What a wild coast!
Not on our visit, just endless small pebbles and a calm blue sea that dropped dramatically close to shore.
As spectacular as that view was it wasn't actually the story here. This was
Ken Small was an American-born Devon resident who, in his retirement, became famous for uncovering the truth behind a tragic WWII event at Slapton Sands. He wasn’t a historian or a soldier — he was a stubborn, determined man who refused to let a buried story stay buried.
In April 1944, the U.S. Army held a massive D‑Day rehearsal at Slapton Sands, chosen because its beach resembled Normandy’s Utah Beach.
During the exercise, a convoy of American landing ships was attacked by German E‑boats in Lyme Bay. @Nigel recounted mistake after mistake that was made in the operation.
Over 900 American soldiers died on this beach, nore than the number killed on Utah Beach on D‑Day itself.
Small eventually located a sunken Sherman tank offshore. He spent years fighting bureaucracy to raise it, finally succeeding in 1984. The tank now stands at Torcross as a memorial. His book, The Forgotten Dead, exposed the full story and forced official recognition of the tragedy. Really fascinating and moving tragedy.
Dartmouth: Traversed more country lanes to arrive at Dartmouth (at the mouth of the Dart River - we had visited its early tributaries in the moors yeaterday) and perched above the river beside Dartmouth Castle (well. more of a military fort to protect the entry to the harbour than a Rapunzel princess castle) we got to tick off some food experiences.
Had our Devonshire Tea complete with clotted cream! Confessing I really enjoyed it - a very rich "butter" consistency to a thick "cream." I am a fan. @Mac maybe "tolerated" rather than "loved." He says he is looking forward to the old lemonade scones when we get home - with mounds of whipped cream.
Laughing, because the itinerary mentioned "River Dart cruise past maritime landmarks." Did sound a bit "posh" having a little cruise. Wasn't quite what we expected - one of those "fixer up-er" moments in real estate. We climbed down the stairs and found our cruise vessel and our captain. A bit rough around the edges, but we did make the 7 minute crossing of the river safely and met up with @Nigel on shore.
Was a 7 minute journey to the other side - Dartmouth was very "pretty"
No sooner ashore from our cruise and then we were queued up for the vehicular ferry for a dash to Brixham.
Brixham: @Nigel's home and a coastal town that he is very proud of. One of England’s busiest and most valuable fishing ports, with trawlers landing £40M+ of fish annually. The harbour is the town’s heartbeat and with a little bit of an angle park, @ Nigel was able to give @Mac access to the ice cream shop to try the vanilla ice cream coated in clotted cream. Tick number two for food today and a winner.
Rumours has it that Brixham is the place for a crab sandwich. We checked out a couple of the sandwich boards advertising the fresh catch on bread at prices ranging from £11 to £16. That was $22 to $32 a sanga. Wasn't feeling the love at that price - passed it by.
Final push of the day, was to Exeter. Just a home for one night and our accommodation conveniently located across the road from a pub. Missed our last food tick, which was a Sunday roast in a pub, by about four hours. It was the eve of the England football match and the pub was deserted. Apparently, the drinkers are saving themselves for the 1 am kick-off. Meant we had the restaurant to ourselves but the barman and the chef were both very keen to have a chat. Once we explained we were Aussies, having a little difficulty with their accent, they slowed down and kept us en̈tertained.
Went to bed, hoping that horns and chaos in the street wouldn’t wake us early. Do want England to win though - just to keep that spring in @Nigel's step for our last day of tour tomorrow .
A moment 💋 for our vicarious adventurers the @Littlens
Survival Barometer
Steps: 9 068
Weather: 18 and blue skies but a chill on the car
Can you believe that?
A little background from Co-Pilot about @Nigel's Brixham
🐟 England’s most valuable fish market
Brixham Fish Market is the largest in England by value of fish sold, landing over £77 million worth of fish in 2025 — a record-breaking figure that has climbed steadily from £40M in 2017 to £62M in 2024.
It regularly handles 40+ species, including cuttlefish, lemon sole, Dover sole, squid, monkfish, turbot, John Dory, plaice, scallops, and the famous Brixham crab
🏴☠️ Pirate Thursdays — a weekly summer tradition
Brixham leans into its swashbuckling reputation with pirate-themed events, costumes, and harbour antics every Thursday in summer. It’s chaotic, quirky, and extremely Brixham
🎶 A hymn written on the beach became a football anthem
The hymn Abide With Me was written in Brixham in 1847 after Rev. Henry Francis Lyte walked the shoreline deep in thought. Today it’s sung by tens of thousands before the FA Cup Final — a bizarre fate for a quiet seaside hymn
👑 The last successful invasion of England
On 5 November 1688, William of Orange landed here with 20,000 men and 5,000 horses, kicking off the Glorious Revolution. The stone he first stepped on is literally preserved in the base of his waterfront statue
🧱 The world’s only coffin‑shaped house
Yes — genuinely coffin-shaped. Built around 1736, supposedly by a suitor trying to impress a stubborn father-in-law. It still stands in town today and is one of Brixham’s strangest architectural quirks
"I'm ready to see the duckies in my special purple duckie walking shoes."
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