During the early part of the so called summer of 2000 Plymouth Ramblers have been visiting various coastal locations in addition to the inland walks up on Dartmoor.

For once there really was a summers day, on Wednesday 7th June 2000, a dry warm sunny day, with light South West winds. The coastal walk in the South Hams area had been offered by John Roberts. Unfortunately due to an old war wound, he was unable to lead the walk so yours truly, who knew parts of the route stepped in with a recce consisting of a quick look at the map and a chat with John.

To best follow the route, this outline should be related to a suitable 1:25000 ordnance survey map of the area. The outdoor leisure map 20 of South Devon is the recommended map to use for this walk.

We congregated in the car park just beside the village pub and immediately below the village church.

We watched Ray M perform some impressive, high speed parking manouevres. After the demonstration I gave a quick overview of the route we were about to follow.

We set off, turning left in front of the church and shortly after right as we followed a road for 300 yards to the footpath signed to our left which took us down via muddy paths through fields and woods to Wonwell Beach which fronts on to the beautiful Erme estuary.

When the tide is out there is a wide expanse of sand across the entrance and a little further up the river it can be forded at low tide.

Not on this walk though since it was high tide, so we saw the expanse of sea water in front of us in the estuary.

If meant that we had to take the path through the woods above the beach, rather than a walk along the beach to the start of the coastal path section.

After a few hundred yards we were on the coastal path and climbing.

It should be noted that the stretch of coast we walked between the Erme and Bigbury is perhaps the most strenuous section of the south west coastal section in Devon. There certainly were plenty of climbs and descents ahead of us and some very steep.

When we reached the first point, Redcove Point, overlooking the Erme Estuary we stopped for our morning break to enjoy the sunshine and to admire the views.

After the break we had a little uphill then a downhill section followed by the first of numerous hard climbs during the walk as we made our way up The Beacon overlooking Beacon Point.

The beacon is at just over a 100 metres above mean sea level, so we had a little 300 ft + climb to get us into the spirit of the walk.

This area of the coast has suffered a good deal of erosion over the past few years and the coast path has been moved inland by quite a few yards and its rerouting marked by insignificant posts and by a mowed strip of grass about 5 feet across.

It is wise to follow the cut section as the old worn coastal section is now dangerously close to the edge of the steep cliff.

The quarter of a mile stretch of coast east of the beacon is relatively flat and we made quick progress following the minor contours.

As might be expected, the views looking in both directions along the coast were quite outstanding and on this warm sunny day we took the opportunity to enjoy them.

Inevitably the flattish section ended and we descended passing Meddrick Rocks below us and down to Freshwater.

The next uphill section took us up to Hoist Point, passing Hoist Beach below us.

This was a good strenuous uphill section but the descent to Westcombe Beach was something else.

It was by far the steepest section of the coast on the route and it is known to locals as Heart Attack Hill, doubtless for good reason.

Originally, the path had steps down to the beach below but because of erosion, the path has been moved and as yet there are no steps on the new path, just grass.

To ease the descent some of us zig zagged our way down the very steep 300 feet descent.

We arrived at Westacombe beach and had to leave the coast path in front of the beach and walk along the beach to the next section of the walk, as the original path is very overgrown.

It is worth noting that there is a footpath called Wiscombe Lane back up the valley directly to Kingston a mile and a half north of the beach.

This of course enables the walk to be cut from the 9 miles to about 5 miles should the need arise.

Leaving Westcombe Beach, we had another uphill section to a minor headland before a relatively easy descent to our lunch break at Ayrmer Cove.

In the warm sunshine, it was a pleasant 35 minutes lunch break on the beach, despite the masses of seaweed that had been washed ashore along part of the beach. One intrepid soul JS, decided to venture into the sea to test the temperature, after a quick 10 second immersion he was soon out, but had made the effort for the first dip of the season, so the prize for the first dip goes to John S.

I think I'll leave it for the water to warm up by a few degrees.

After lunch, I had three choices of route to take the group to the village of Ringmore. Two easy direct inland for a slow climb up to the village or one very steep climb up the coast path passing Toby's Point en route.

Since the latter route gave us very good views across to Challaborough, Bigbury on Sea and Burgh island I opted for the cliff climb.

I thought it was well worth the steep cliff climb and so another steep ascent for all, only 80 metres (250 ft) above sea level at the top but the views were indeed superb, in my humble opinion well worth the extra effort, if not all the group shared my view incidentally.

At the top there is an easy level footpath of just over half a mile, heading north east, to the pretty village of Ringmore.

As we approached the village, there were several beautifully thatched cottages and houses.

Part of the section of coast we had just walked was national trust owned and that organisation had positioned a large car park at the end of the footpath for those who wish to enjoy the local area of coastline.

We made our way towards the inland section of the village and to the imposing village church.

Crossing the road by the front of the church, we walked along a small road to the right of the church and soon found a signed footpath to our left which meandered north west back towards our destination, Kingston, just under two miles on.

The footpath is generally well marked and consequently easy to follow, just as John Roberts had predicted.

After crossing a couple of fields, we descended steeply to a small narrow wood and made our way along a valley, passing a derelict farmhouse and then a small field close to the stream where there were masses of yellow water irises in full bloom. The section of grassland bordering the narrow stream must be very wet for the water thirsty irises to grow so well.

Following the path through the wood, we had a steep uphill section out of Okenbury plantation to the fields above. We skirted the edge of the fields and the route then took us straight across the middle of a field of corn and then over a stile and through a field of barley.

Just before we emerged onto a narrow road we stopped for our short afternoon break with the church steeple of Kingston standing out across the fields ahead of us, for me a reassuring sight.

We crossed a stile turned left and headed down towards Okenbury for about 50 yards before turning right and making our way along the edge of two more barley fields.

Skirting the fields we turned left along the top of the second field before turning right over another stile, down through some rather large stinging nettles before emerging into a cherry orchard. The owner had allowed the orchard to develop into a real meadow, with a myriad of natural plants and grasses growing up to two feet high, a real wildlife sanctuary. The footpath was the only section of the meadow which had been cut, but it was good to see that the owners were facilitating this natural and only too rarely seen, old English meadow.

We left the meadow, passed a small farm on our left and thence to a narrow road. Turning right, we walked up a hill into the village of Kingston, turned right and down a hill before a turn left and passed the pub and immediately afterwards to the car park itself, at about 2.50 PM.

It had been an enjoyable walk in the sun and personally I was quite relieved to have returned all 14 of us back to the start without getting lost on the way. I was also quite pleased, considering the complete lack of a recce on my part. A number of us decided to celebrate by popping into the pub for a pint, to meet the only sad part of the otherwise enjoyable walk, the pub shut at 2.30 PM.

You have been warned, it you want a pint, get back before 2.30, I failed on that point. We were therefore on our way back to Plymouth rather sooner than we would have liked after our day walking in the sun.