Stoke Lodge Hotel sun terrace – perfect end to a perfect walk..!
We've just had the most marvellous day walking from Dartmouth to Stoke Fleming.
Living as we do in the middle of a busy town, I can’t think of a better way of relaxing and connecting with nature than a walk along the coastal path – especially as it wasn't really planned but turned out to be really rewarding and enjoyable. Nerves had been feeling slight shredded and we needed to unwind so this really did the trick - returned feeling quite refreshed and rejuvenated, I can tell you!
Living as we do in the middle of a busy town, I can’t think of a better way of relaxing and connecting with nature than a walk along the coastal path – especially as it wasn't really planned but turned out to be really rewarding and enjoyable. Nerves had been feeling slight shredded and we needed to unwind so this really did the trick - returned feeling quite refreshed and rejuvenated, I can tell you!
It was lovely to leave the hustle and bustle of Dartmouth and head for the hills – or in this case Dartmouth Castle where we took the SWCP.
We started with a gently undulating walk through sunny woodlands with the sight and sound of the turquoise sea always on our left, and followed the path around the headland with spectacular views of the soaring cliffs, craggy rocks and the sparkling sea –speckled all along the way with the white sails of a whole host of boats by courtesy of the Classic Sailing Regatta, which we hadn't even realised was on that day! Very accommodating of them to arrange this for our entertainment, we felt…
The weather too was rather accommodating for us - the sun shone most of the time but we still had the pretty fluffy white clouds in the very blue sky, and a lovely sea breeze was thoughtfully provided to cool us along our way.
We saw swifts and swallows as we were walking along the paths, and on one of our many stops to enjoy the view we caught sight of some gannets, and a little further along admired the shags and cormorants on the rocks, just sunning themselves and drying their wings and - such a lovely sight to see.
We saw swifts and swallows as we were walking along the paths, and on one of our many stops to enjoy the view we caught sight of some gannets, and a little further along admired the shags and cormorants on the rocks, just sunning themselves and drying their wings and - such a lovely sight to see.
We made a short detour from the main path about half way through the walk to visit Compass Cove. Sitting there on the small, almost-empty beach – with just one other quiet couple collecting pebbles and shells – we enjoyed our simple picnic of French bread, cheeses and a bottle of chilled beer.
We could literally feel the tension draining out of us as we sat against the warm rocks, gazing at the waves landing softly on the beach and watching a rock pipit hopping in and out of – well, the rocks! Didn’t realise they were such pretty little birds and luckily we had our binoculars with us so we could see its lovely markings really clearly. We agreed with the friendly pebble-collectors that sitting quietly on this secluded beach on a sunny day watching the sea was surely the closest thing to paradise you could get!
We could literally feel the tension draining out of us as we sat against the warm rocks, gazing at the waves landing softly on the beach and watching a rock pipit hopping in and out of – well, the rocks! Didn’t realise they were such pretty little birds and luckily we had our binoculars with us so we could see its lovely markings really clearly. We agreed with the friendly pebble-collectors that sitting quietly on this secluded beach on a sunny day watching the sea was surely the closest thing to paradise you could get!
We rather reluctantly left the Cove, promising to treat ourselves to a return very soon, and continued along the path through green fields and always with within sight and sound of the sea, coming out onto a wide grassy area directly overlooking the coast where there were skylarks singing high above us.We spotted Stoke Fleming village in the distance and – more excitingly – were lucky enough to see a peregrine hunting and soaring over the cliffs.
This was our personal highlight for the day and quite a sight to behold - he entertained us with his aerial displays for more than ten minutes…and all less than a mile from Stoke Lodge Hotel!
Sitting with the aforementioned chilled lager on the lovely sun terrace overlooking the sea to recharge our batteries before catching the Dartmouth bus, we agreed that this was just about the most perfect way to end what for us had turned out to be a perfect day.
In fact so much so, I felt compelled to write and tell you about it - hence this blog post!
Guest Blogger - Nature Walker
