When we started walking at 11.30 AM and the sun was out and the breeze appeared to be moderate.

It was a good job that I hadn't planned to go sailing as some idiot diver had parked his car less than 1 foot away from the boat tenders thereby blocking any chance of getting the tenders out of the rack. What an asshole, perhaps his brain has been affected by the nitrogen. It wasn't difficult to find out who owned the car as his name and phone number was marked on the side of the van. Let's hope that no-one else planned to get out sailing as if so they would have been sadly out of luck. My tender is the one next to the top and I had absolutely no chance of getting it out other than dragging it across the car which I am quite prepared to do if this continues.

You may rightly surmise that this is an irritant which plagues us throughout the summer. People don't seem to think of others at all. The bollard and the concrete slab which we had placed to deter people from parking close to the tenders had been removed.

The building continues apace at Mount Batten and currently the slip is the home of a 100 metre pontoon structure being constructed from huge hollow metal tubes. I'm interested to see just how this pontoon is going to be launched. There was absolutely no sign of any gigs in the vicinity, perhaps it was a Saturday only event and I had misheard over the radio. Anyway to the walk itself.

Leaving Mount Batten we headed south in front of the new crescent of houses under construction on the site of the old RAF Officers' Mess, they certainly have good sea views but I can imagine spray flying in a good winter storm.

There is quite a climb from the houses up to Jennycliff itself. Considering it was a Sunday in midsummer there weren't too many people about, the wind seemed much stronger up at Jennycliff.

We continued south across the field above Jennycliff. This is normally heaving with people on a Sunday but was relatively deserted today. Leaving the field and entering a heavily wooded area we soon we come upon a newly constructed section of the walk. Plymouth City Council have constructed a path which encompasses several steep wooden steps well cut into the side of the cliff.

Before that there was no path in this section and we were forced to use the road running up to Staddiscombe from Jennycliff.

After a couple of gate styles we were back on the normal coast path which runs across the top at Stadiscombe Heights giving splendid views of the Sound, Plymouth and an ever changing scene with all the boat movements.

Half a mile along a relatively flat section we were above the Diving Centre at Fort Bovisand. There were excellent views of the breakwater from this vantage point. The breakwater is 1.25 miles long but always appears much less than that from the view from the top of the heights.

There was a relatively steep descent with at least 70 steps down , not very good for dodgy knees like mine.

We descended and followed the path as it swung inland across a footbridge and behind some old coastguard cottages. From here we had good views of the nearest sandy beach to Plymouth, that of Bovisand Bay.

In the old days there were regular boat trips to take the citizens of Plymouth to this once very popular beach. Considering it was a midsummer Sunday the beach looked remarkably deserted, the strong cold wind was obviously putting people off.

As we made our way down to Fort Bovisand a smell of bacon was in the air and I remembered there was a cafe for the divers right down by the water.

Yes, half an hour and a bacon sandwich later we had taken lunch with the divers and were faced with the return journey.

The return seemed much quicker than the outward journey but the steps were equally as steep.

At Jennycliff we sampled a local ice cream from the cafe and sat in the now very strong westerly wind that was really buffeting us.

Just as we approached the car above Havens Marina the first of the rain showers which had threatened us all day came, we had been quite lucky for once and had avoided virtually all the showers that had been forecast.