D108: KINGSWEAR to TOTNES
Sunday 24th September 2023
Today miles: 11.8 Total miles: 1821.5
Following the long and exhausting previous two days I’ve decided to keep today fairly short. I’m hoping to be settled in Totnes by four o’clock. My beloved Newcastle United are playing today, it’s live on Sky Sports and I’m desperate in be sat in a pub with a pint in my hand before the kick off.
I made my way back to Kingswear and after crossing the steam railway line I’m quickly walking along the Dart Valley Trail. I can see the impressive Royal Navy Britannia College perched high on the hill overlooking Dartmouth. As I passed the higher ferry point, as always, I’m tempted to jump on board and skip the additional eleven mile walk around the estuary. This would be a recurring theme over the next eight days and I have to say I gave some serious consideration as too whether I should break my own set of rules. I haven’t, yet. The route diverted slightly inland through Long Woods before returning back to the estuary and running adjacent with the Dartmouth Steam Railway. At Greenaway the route takes me onto a variety of minor roads and here I’d stay for the next four miles. The route wasn’t particularly interesting but it was quick.
It then began to drizzle fairly heavily and the traffic along the narrow road was a lot busier than I had expected, this made the walking miserable and potentially quite dangerous. I was pleased to finally leave the road behind near Aish. At Aish the route changed to rough stony country lanes. At one point I heard the loud rumble of motorbikes in front of me and thirty seconds later several off road motorbikes came roaring past. I was forced to stand to one side and then walk through the muddy ground which they’ve just churned up. A mile or so later I heard several voices in the distance and was surprised to see a large group of people, adults and children next to a large house. Not going to make any judgements here but I’d be close to the mark calling it a hippy commune. It was shortly after 2pm when I arrived on the Southern edge of Totnes and around 3pm when I arrived at Dartington Hall campsite.
I had an awful time trying to find out where to camp and ending up telephoning the campsite. There’s a huge marquee and dozens of family sized tents in the camping field, it’s apparently some sort of socialist event/rally. I was deliberately antisocial and ended up pitching my tent (in the heavy rain) far away from the others. Unfortunately I didn’t get to watch the first half of the Newcastle game. I did eventually get to ‘The Lord Nelson’ public house in Totnes and was pleased to bump into a fellow Geordie. We watched the second half of a great game of football together, with Newcastle winning 8-0. I arrived back in Dartington with the continual rain still hammering down on the sides of my tent. I’m not particularly hopeful of a great sleep tonight, despite feeling utterly exhausted.
Werewolfandflump UK Coast Path 