Sidmouth Walk

 Today was the start of Joyce's Weekly Walks trip to East Devon - 4 days of fun beckoned. This was the invite.

"As I write this email, there are 12 of us venturing on the road trip. I appreciate you trusting me with an idea like this. The only requirements are: have fun, don’t lose me, be kind and look out for each other. We should have a great deal of fresh sea air, fun and exercise.

Monday Oct 4th: I’ll leave you to make your own journey timings but please don’t worry if you/we are stuck in traffic or protests …we will get there eventually and most timings can be adjusted. I’ll make a Whatsapp Group for communication purposes.
If you miss the 1.30pm meet up at Drakes Avenue in Sidmouth then head to Peak Hill Road, Sidmouth EX10 8RZ and meet us there or walk towards us. You should enjoy the leg stretch and capture the wonder of Sidmouth. After our take away drinks (and cake) from The Clock Tower we can enjoy them under the shelter in the Connaught Gardens. Then a walk back to cars and check into accommodation. Premier Inn EX14 1BQ. There is a Lidl, Aldi, Tesco’s and Marks and Spencer Foodhall nearby.

I have booked us in for an evening meal at The Otter Inn – Honiton, Devon which is 5 mins drive away at 6pm. You really don’t have to join in and are free to make your own arrangements – I am not offended at all."

Well it wasn't quite Marbella, but we were looking forward to a few days away in some lovely countryside, villages and town, with some walking in countryside that is a little hillier than Suffolk.

Even though we weren't meeting until 1:30pm, I set off early at about 6:20am as I had agreed to meet Julie who was arriving my train in Honiton at about 12:15pm and give her a lift to the afternoon walk. And I had an interloper to meet up with too - my sister Kirsty was planning to join us for the first couple of days (more of that anon).

I made good time and had a little explore of Honiton before collecting Julie at the station and driving to meet Kirsty, who had parked at the Manor Road Car Park. We set off from there to go and meet the others.

This was our route.

Here are a few of my photos.

The weather was lovely on the way down.. until the last 7 miles. Here is a view of Honiton from the station during a brief shower.

Julie, Kirsty and I got to walk along the Sidmouth sea front first.
 

There is a science festival this weekend, with a World Record attempt. Alas we will have gone home by then.

We took a route towards where the others would be meeting and walking from. Here we crossed The Ford across the River Sid via the footbridge...

...and continued up through The Byes.

Look who's coming the other way? We had got most of the way to where they had started.

We returned through The Byes. Here was a chance of a group photo....

...and a chance to watch some cars drive through the ford.

The cliffs of the Red Coast, the East Devon section of the Jurassic Coast, are spectacular.

What is Miranda photographing?

I think it is a sparrowhawk. Does anyone know any better?

The Clock Tower Cafe was, unfortunately, not open.

We saw some workers inspecting the cliffs.

The hydrangeas in Connaught Gardens were impressive.

On the stage was a lone juggler on a unicycle.

This is his bike...

Still in the gardens, we passed a lovely show of cyclamen.

...and this colourful bromeliad.

Looking at the view before we descended the Jacob's Ladder steps (Use the link to gain control of the webcam)....

...to the rows of pastel coloured beach huts.

We found somewhere else for our afternoon cuppa - the Fort Cafe.

It was a bit rainy and blustery when we left. Julie, Kirsty and I had less far to go to our cars than the others....

...so Julie and I were first to the Premier Inn in Honiton, where we were staying.

Then it was on to the Otter Inn for our evening meal...

All 13 of us, including sister Kirsty.

 That was a lovely day. I'm looking forward to more tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday

 You can find more details of our route here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr.