DAY 4 DARTMOUTH TO BRIXHAM

Although I’ve shared a few tales of woe to date; bad weather, injuries, getting lost, to name a few, my outlook has generally been optimistic, both before and after the walk.  But it’s fair to say I was seriously concerned about today’s leg-it was over eleven miles to Brixham, [one of those sections we just couldn’t shorten] on our first stretch of path that was rated “expert”.  [Expert?  We’re a couple of moderately fit retirees bumbling our way along!]  The going would be tough and steep, and my blister was troubling me.  I wrapped it up in padding and zinc oxide tape in an attempt to cushion it as much as possible.

The day began with our second ferry crossing over the river Dart, on a much larger boat this time!  We also had a good view of the car ferry in operation.  The weather was cloudy and overcast, a welcome coolness on a what promised to be a strenuous day.  Moments later, we were walking through Kingswear, a nice tarmacked start, but before long we were into woodland as we traversed the opposite side of the river mouth.  There were a series of steps, up and down, twisting and turning, not very relaxing walking as your rhythm was constantly being broken.  It was over two miles before we emerged into a more open area.  Here we made some good progress on more even ground before we hit more woodland featuring steps up and down again.  I took some painkillers at this point, as the blister was not feeling good.

Once into open headland again, it was a steep downhill section that challenged my legs and knees-although the poles were a great help in taking the strain, the handles dug into my palms.  At least the ground was dry, otherwise it would have been treacherous.  After this, we decided to stop for a sandwich.  Rather than one major rest, today’s strategy was to eat like Hobbits-first lunch, second lunch and afternoonsies, with drinksies scattered throughout!

Next, at Long Sands, we faced the first of three expert rated ascents; here, I had to swallow my pride and hand my rucksack over to Paul, so I could focus on climbing with my two poles.  I have to confess my language gets rather fruity at these times, especially when you round one peak to discover you’re still nowhere near the top!  Also, Paul started feeling a twinge from his left little toe, very unusual, he hadn’t had any foot issues since he changed his walking boots early on in our adventure.  We were only half way at this point, but we were both ready for second lunch, a pretty decent pasty.  I was debating whether to check out my own toe, but decided to leave be for now.

A brief cliff top walk was followed by another steep zigzag descent.  My previous knee issue was centred on pain at the front of the joint, but this time it was more like a muscle strain behind the right knee.  As I tackled the stone steps leading to the beach at Man Sands, I felt a twang as I took a steep step down onto my right foot.  We took a break here so I could assess both knee and blister.  I decided to wear my knee sleeve for extra support, and checked that my blister covering was intact.  Paul deployed the zinc oxide tape for his dodgy toe.  The next expert ascent was directly ahead of us, hence the need to regroup and refuel!  Luckily, my knee wasn’t really a problem going uphill.  Paul took my rucksack again and we faced the inevitable!

It was an absolute killer hill!  I don’t even have a photo to show you, because Paul had two backpacks and I had my two poles and it was all just too exhausting.  Still, we made it, and were rewarded with a nice level section [my ability to walk on the flat is really quite good, I could cover much further if it weren’t for the hills!] for a while.  There was one more uphill zigzag then after we had passed St Mary’s Bay we had a choice: stay on the path all around Berry Head to the harbour, [around two more miles or so] or peel off inland with just a mile to our accommodation.  [Readers, I think you can guess our route, after all, discretion is the better part of valour!]  So, I confess that is the second headland we have cut out, purists we are not, but we had taken enough punishment for one day.  Apart from the beautiful scenery, it was arguably the least enjoyable day of the Walk so far, but we knew there would be some really difficult legs, and this one is behind us now.  Here are the stats for the day:-

Walking time: 3 hours 41 minutes [not including breaks]

Distance: 9.39 miles 

Pace: 2.5 mph [it’s usually higher at 2.7-2.9]

Ascent: 1725 feet 

Descent: 1700 feet 

I probably should have included the statistical information before, hey, this is a work in progress!