Great South West Walk

Thursday August 2

Section 4. SALCOMBE TO TORCROSS. Miles: 12.9. Grading: Strenuous

Start time and location
Could you please report for registration at the Ferry Steps just beyond the War Memorial in Salcombe at 11.30am.
The walk will commence at midday.

Parking
Plenty of parking avaialble at start points.

Bus Services
There is an excellent service, number 159, provided by the Coast Path Hopper Bus. The route is circular, and runs between Kingsbridge, East Portlemouth, East Prawle, Start Point and Beesands. This service runs from Whitsun to mid September.
Service 93 runs between Dartmouth and Plymouth via Kingsbridge, calling at
Torcross. This service runs all year.
For further details, please contact First Western National on 01752 – 402060.

Trains
Although there are no stations on this route, the use of bus services means that you can connect with the main line at Plymouth and the steam railway which runs from Kingswear to Paignton. For details of the main line services, please contact the
National Railway Enquiries Bureau on 08457 484950 (24 hours a day).

Maps
Landranger Series (scale 1:50 000) Number 202 – Torbay & South Dartmoor area
Outdoor Leisure Series (scale1: 25 000) Number 20 – Plymouth and South Devon

General Information
Salcombe: accommodation, pubs, restaurants, shops (including a chemist), toilets, car parks.
Gara Rock: accommodation, refreshments.
East Prawle: accommodation, refreshments.
Hallsands: refreshments
Beesands: very limited accommodation, pub.
Torcross: very limited accommodation, pubs, shops, car park, toilets.

FERRY
The ferry service runs between Salcombe and East Portlemouth. For details, contact the operator on 01548 842061 / 8422364, or see section 61 in the Association’s
Annual Guide.

TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE
Salcombe: Council Hall, Market Street, Salcombe, TQ8 8DE.
Tel: 01548 843927.
Kingsbridge: The Quay, Kingsbridge, TQ7 1HS
Tel: 01548 853195

The Route

Salcombe is a picturesque resort, and the mild climate makes it a popular holiday and sailing destination: it is even possible to see lemon trees bearing fruit here. Although much of the accommodation is to be found on the top of
Salcombe, the view of the town with the river behind is breathtaking.

Your first task is to take the ferry to East Portlemouth. To find the ferry, you pick up the Coast Path by following the urban seaward road in Salcombe. Just beyond the War Memorial on the right are the steps leading down to the passenger ferry.

From the ferry steps at East Portlemouth turn right along the yellow-lined road for 0.5 mile (800 m) to Mill Bay, where there is a small car park. Here the path now goes uphill on the right through the trees.

Across the estuary here lies the Bar, which provides only five feet (1.5 m) of water at the lowest tides, and which inspired the ageing Tennyson’s ‘Crossing the Bar’. This was the scene of Devon's worst lifeboat tragedy in 1916 when the William and Emma capsized with the loss of all but two of her crew of fifteen. The sight of the waves breaking on it in a southerly gale is particularly impressive.

Once around the corner Gammon Head should be visible, with the white signal station on Prawle Point just behind it, while backward glances reveal progressively more of Starehole Bay, flanked by Bolt Head and Sharp Tor. The path undulates past naked rock outcrops, hornblende schist along here, which alternates with mica schist all the way to Hallsands, although as you proceed eastwards, gleaming white lumps of quartz become increasingly common. The two schists are perhaps the oldest rocks in the county. The two paths join up just
before the Gara Rock Hotel, with its circular thatched lookout – it was converted from a row of coastguard cottages.

The stream just beyond provides access to Seacombe Sand, while the path continues around Deckler’s Cliff. After 0.5 mile (800 m) you are above Venerick’s Cove, a seldom-used beach. The route continues inland of a minor headland, the Pig’s Nose, before crossing a stream which divides the parishes of East Portlemouth and Chivelstone - both equally obscure - nothing important ever seems to have happened in
either. Ham Stone lies just beyond the stream, after which the path turns inland to cut off the jagged promontory of Gammon Head (now owned by the National Trust), which concludes the porcine interlude.

In July 1977, a skin-diving course based at Salcombe Youth Hostel discovered a bronze sword and dagger, originating in Germany about 3,000 years ago, just off Gammon Head. The surrounding area has been scheduled as the underwater equivalent of an Ancient Monument.

To continue the walk, the banks along here are sheltered from every
direction except the south, and provide a natural sun-trap and are alive with insects on hot days in the summer, while the botanist can find spring and autumn squill at the appropriate season. The sandy Maceley Cove is accessible to the adventurous via a steep path. Just beyond, the path up to East Prawle goes off, to be followed by the thirsty walker, but as you will have to go uphill to reach the village, you will be a lot thirstier
before you get there. The Coast Path hugs the shore above Elender Cove before climbing steeply, and then runs straight to the lookout at Prawle Point, the southernmost part of Devon.

PRAWLE POINT

A memorial seat has been placed some way down, from where you can look across to the Island, clamorous with gulls, and, if you are fortunate, you may see a peregrine falcon.

The lookout was originally Lloyd’s signal station, but now Coastwatch maintains the service. The view eastward is likely to interest the geomorphologist. The level inland horizon, 430 feet (131 m) high, was planed off by the sea in Pliocene times, perhaps 10 million years ago, while the crags mark the cliff-line of a more recent period. The fields are situated on what geologists call head, weathered material that has slumped down from the cliffs. During the Pleistocene Ice Age, which spread over the last 2 million years, the Scandinavian Ice Sheet reached as close as the North Devon coast on at least one occasion. This would have made the South Devon climate periglacial or tundra-like, and the ensuing freeze-thaw cycles are very effective in wearing down rocks. When the debris becomes waterlogged it literally flows over the permanently frozen sub-soil, the process being called solifluction. The resulting head deposits are up to 80 feet (24 m) thick.

Another feature of the coastline along here is the raised beaches. These are level platforms cut by the waves when sea levels were slightly higher than today. Both the 5 feet (1.5 m) and 14 feet (4.25 m) platforms become visible over the next few miles. At the maximum extent of glaciation, sufficient water was locked up in the ice sheet to cause a lowering of the sea level of some 400 feet (122 m), so the higher levels must relate to one of the interglacials or the briefer interstadials, but which height relates to which date has yet to be determined.

To resume the walk follow the path which zigzags steeply down to the fields. Officially it runs just in from of the Coastguard Cottages but most will keep close to the cliff edge, passing through gates or over stone stiles. A walk of 0.5 mile (800 m) brings you out to Langerstone Point, from where you can look back to the natural arch under Prawle Point. A further 0.5 mile (800 m) past just another ship that just did not pass in the night and you reach the track down to Horseley Cove, where earlier generations of Prawle villagers kept their boats. Go up the track briefly to get into the next field, after which more gates lead you in front of a large house and then past the glassless ruin of a greenhouse, once part of a fine market garden. Then gorse and bracken start to close in, with Ballsaddle Rock lying offshore. A brief diversion inland of the house at Woodcombe beyond which a land-rover track brings you to Lannacombe Beach, with a line of parked cars in summer. Those with an eye for landforms will note both the 5 feet (1.5 m) and 14 feet (4.25 m) beaches here. Lannacombe was placed on the ornithological map when it provided the first breeding site outside Kent for Cetti’s warbler in 1976.

Once across the stream you are in Stokenham parish. The path continues through sheep pasture, with the crags closing in briefly after 0.5 mile (800 m). One of them is marked on the Outdoor Leisure map as King’s Head Rock: probably because it looks the least unanthropomorphic. The next
feature of interest is the diamond shaped pinnacles just before Mattiscombe (pronounced ‘Matchcombe’) beach. They are composed of head and the wave-cut mica-schist base on which they stand is clearly visible.

When Peartree Point has been rounded (the origin of the name is unknown) Start Point appears with its ridge of vertebrae-like rocks leading down to the lighthouse built in 1836. The Black Stone lies menacingly offshore. The
official path crosses the ridge about 100 yards (90 m) from the right.

START POINT

The name derives from the Anglo Saxon 'steort’ - a tail, as in redstart, and a glance at the map will reveal how appropriate it is. Such a projection into the channel has of course seen its share of disaster, the worst occurring during the great blizzard of March 1891. In the late afternoon of the 9th, the steamer Marana struck the Black Stone at full speed. The crew of 26 took to the boats, but in the appalling conditions only five reached the shore below East Prawle, and two of these died from exposure shortly after. Less than twelve hours later the iron sailing ship ‘Dryad’ with a crew of 22 was driven ashore above Hallsands and broke up within minutes. Two schooners were wrecked in the same gale and in total a couple of miles of coastline has claimed 52 lives. Perhaps it is well to remember that there can be a vastly different aspect to the coast than the holidaymaker usually sees.

The path continues up the private road from the lighthouse to the car park at Start Farm, from where the whole sweep of Start Bay, past the mouth of the Dart and along that contentious piece of coastline to Scabbacombe Head should be visible. There is also a wonderful signpost here advising you that you are 449 miles from Minehead, and 164 miles from Poole!! While to
return briefly to etymology, the Skerries Bank stretches a mile offshore, and is the only Norse-derived word in the county, apart from Lundy. From the car park go over the stile and along the field, soon descending on a more or less even gradient to the village of Hallsands

It is not currently possible to visit the village, and the most recent news is that it is deemed to be unsafe. You can, however, get a glimpse of the ruins by taking the path to the viewing platform, which will not take long and is a very moving experience.

HALLSANDS

The first building in the village is Trouts Holiday Flats (and tearoom in season),
originally Trouts Hotel - built by the three Trout sisters when their original home was
destroyed. One of the sisters, Ella, was awarded the OBE for a sea rescue in
September 1917. She was out fishing for mackerel with a younger cousin when a steamer was torpedoed a mile away. By the time she had rowed to the scene it had sunk, but she was able to rescue one nearly drowned survivor.

The original village consisted of just two rows of houses, set so closely together on the 14 feet (4.25 m) raised beach that according to Fairweather’s Guide to Salcombe, written at the end of the 19th century, ‘It does not seem to possess a square foot of soil in the whole place’. He went on to write prophetically, ‘It looks as if it properly
belonged to the sea, and had only been borrowed from it for a time’.

Some ten years later in 1897, dredging for shingle on the Skerries bank for the
construction of Keyham Docks, Devonport began, it being believed that tidal action would restore the situation. When the practice was stopped four years later the beach had been lowered as much as 15 feet (4.5 m). But the currents did not replace the shingle, which had absorbed the energy of the waves during the easterly gales (just as it absorbs energy from you when you try and walk on it). In February 1903 a storm took away the outer row of houses. A sea wall was built, but when the remaining houses were undermined during a gale in January 1917 the site was abandoned. If you make your way past the gaunt ruins you can see the sorry-looking remains of the sea wall. Of the London Inn, where Walter White, autodidact and pioneer coast path walker, spent a July night in 1854, not a trace remains.

Having retraced your steps, the route winds round more ruined houses
before passing in front of the Hallsands Hotel and down to the shingle beach where there is a seasonal tea-hut.
The villagers were rehoused in the cottages looking across the valley. A willow grove along the stream provided the withies from which crab pots have been made for
generations - the art still survives despite competition from synthetic pots.

Another mile between high hedges over Tinsey Head brings one to Beesands, which has also seen its share of tragedy - bombed in the last war with several fatalities.
Virtually a single row of houses, the Cricket Inn bar has a good display of the local marine fauna. The village still houses full-time shellfishermen, but the boats now work out of Dartmouth. Shortly, the triangular Widdicombe Ley is to be seen. It was dug by the proprietor of the Torcross Hotel for the fishing, the work occupying 80 men for 16 weeks.

At Beesands cellars, where pilchards were once stored, the official path climbs steeply inland of the disused slate quarry. A glance at the map
suggests there is another public footpath seaward of the quarry, but this is not so. It is in fact two separate paths - the cart track to the quarry long since eroded by the sea, and a path out from Torcross at the top of the 100 feet (30.5 m) cliffs, with no connection between the two. However, at low tide you can follow along the shore, passing the entrance to the quarry - abandoned to nature long ago - and when past the Cove House Guest House go up the steps, inland of the two houses on the point, then bear right and down the steps to emerge on the sea wall of Torcross.

TORCROSS

Torcross is a lovely village with pretty houses lining the beach – if you are lucky enough to stay in one of them, it is a memorable experience to lie in bed and listen to the sound of the sea. The nature reserve, the fascinating Slapton Ley, Devon’s largest natural freshwater lake, is also to be found here. Another good experience here is to eat out at the Start Bay Inn, where they serve truly legendary fish and chips, but do arrive early as it can get very busy.

It is a moving experience to visit the tank memorial to the American soldiers. The
memorial was erected to honour the American GIs who trained for D-Day in the South Hams and on the beaches. It is believed that most of those who trained here led the assault on Omaha Beach.

All these features are close together, and can be found just by wandering around the village.

Torcross is on the Dartmouth to Salcombe bus route, with connections at Kingsbridge for Plymouth, but the Sunday service runs only from June to August. Out of season, apart from Sundays, we recommend parking at Salcombe, getting the bus back to Torcross and then walking and taking the ferry from Portlemouth back to Salcombe. In this way, you do not have to worry about any particular bus connection.

If you have any question on any of the above please do not hesitate to contact one the event organisers found on the Contact us page click here

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