Every year I aim to get down to Devon for a day with my two Bristol-based offspring. We holidayed there for decades, back when we had a caravan, and still miss how easy it was to spend time there.
This year it was particularly hard to herd us all, even with the assistance of the family border collie, but at last we managed to find a day when we were all free and set off down the M5.
Smugglers Lane, Holcombe
fleabane and hemp-agrimony
Having parked in Windward Lane, we negotiated the ferocious traffic on the A379 Teignmouth Road - which Cwtch the Collie, on her first visit, really didn't like - and headed down Smugglers Lane to Holcombe beach.
I'd seen photos posted by a friend who lives locally on Facebook last autumn, after Storm Babet, noting how high the sand was at Holcombe, but it was a bit of a shock to see it for myself.
Sprey Point
The sand was still high the Teignmouth side of Sprey Point too. I don't remember seeing it like this in all my life.
After lunch at the Ship Inn, we caught the ferry over to Shaldon. Remembering how our old collie, Ted, loved these trips, and always affected a salty sea dog pose ...
... I was interested to see how Cwtch, who'd only ever been on a stationary narrowboat before, would cope ...
... and whilst she lacked her predecessor's flamboyant stance, she still seemed to enjoy it.
In Shaldon we made straight for dog-friendly Ness Beach, down through Smugglers' tunnel.
Looking north-east towards the Ness and, in the distance, Exmouth
Looking south-west towards St Marychurch and Babbacombe
There were a lot of crystal jellyfish washed up on the beach. We found a patch that was relatively free of them and had a sit-down.
Time to go!
From the far end of the beach, we wandered back up the tunnel and around the top of the Ness - always one of my favourite walks, though I prefer to do it back-to-front these days, so that the longer, steeper section is a descent.
Artist's conk
I'd watched videos of the tide surging right over the Point at Teignmouth during Storm Babet last October, and from the top of the Ness, it was clear how much sand has been lost from this end of Teignmouth beach (this photo taken at low tide). It does make you wonder how the town will fare during this year's autumn and winter storms.
Then it was back across the ferry, and ice cream with clotted cream at what used to be called Amanda's but is now something else, and back along the sea wall to Holcombe. I used the excuse that Cwtch didn't like the traffic to wait at the foot of notoriously steep Smugglers' Lane for Son the Younger to bring the car down to us. Nicely played, if I say so myself.
Not a lot of sea glass, largely because of the extra sand on the parts of the beach accessible to us with a dog, but Son the Younger did find an interestingly-shaped miniature stopper, now on the mantlepiece.
I think she likes it ... !
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