January 28th 2024 - Seaton to Branscombe (and back)

Approx 9 mile walk

I was blessed with a lovely day again for this walk. This stretch of coastline is fairly local to me, I quite often do the weekly shop in Seaton Tesco, which is built on the site of an old holiday camp. I parked my car just at the end of the estuary near the bridge as its free to park there, though parking along the promenade is free over the winter until March.  I walked over the oldest standing concrete bridge in the UK, through the harbour area and on to the Pebble beach. This is not an easy beach to walk on, (I have though, spent many hours over the years sitting on said beach eating fish and chips and can vouch for it being a comfy one to sit on) so I walked along the Promenade.

The promenade is approximately a mile long and as you get to the western end there are three choices for the coast path, leave the prom near the toilets and walk up through the gardens, go up through the chine at the end of the prom next to the cafe or stay on the beach and walk to Seaton Hole.  The first two options link up and follow the road inland before leaving the road to go through some woodland and down a small lane to Seaton Hole. This route is a bit of a detour as the path used to go along Old Beer Road following the coast until a landslip in 2012 took the road with it cutting the path off.  The third option of walking along the beach is the shortest route but can only be done when the tide is low enough. Fortunately for me the tide was just low enough for me to get past the rocks halfway along the beach, holding back the landslip.  From here old pipes and cables can be seen at the top of the landslip, these were once under the old road.  

I still wasn’t sure if I would be able to get up to Seaton Hole as the last time I came this way the steps up had been damaged by erosion and were shut, but it was definitely my lucky day and they had reopened.

The footpath to Beer follows the clifftops, but only odd glimpses of the sea can be seen apart from one lovely viewpoint with a bench.  This stretch of path to Beer is actually Tarmac which isn’t very rustic but, in view of an incident I was to have later, its probably not a bad thing.

As the Path drops down into Beer lovely views of the beach and the white cliffs beyond open up.  Beer was very quiet as I passed through, normally it’s a very busy little place.

The coast path out of Beer up past the Allotments and round the headland (Beer Head) was a steady climb but no real effort was needed. The views back towards Seaton were stunning but there was no real need for me to keep turning round to look as I would be walking back again this way and would see them ahead of me then. The joys of walking the path both ways eh.

Once around the headland the path follows the cliffs and the Hooken landslip comes into view. I have to say this is one of the best views I have seen for many a year. From the fence line the whole of the landslip comes into view looking like some kind of Jurassic landscape, (yes I know this is the Jurassic coast but I couldn’t think of a better word to describe it). Pillars and cliffs of Chalk Limestone are surrounded by a green oasis, with the sea and a beach to the left and a backdrop of red sandstone cliffs in the distance looking towards Sidmouth.  Stunning.  I did take a few snapshots of the view, but I will be going back with my better camera gear to get a shot worthy of being on my wall, (if only to cover up a few tennis ball marks from the dog playing ball in the house).

Just a little further on from this viewpoint there is a signpost and stile where there is a choice between following the clifftop path or going down into and through the landslip, both ending up at Branscombe beach.  As I would be doing this walk both ways, I decided I would go down through the landslip and come back over the clifftops.

I have to say that the first bit of the path down is very narrow with an almost sheer drop to the left down to the beach a long way below and I was a little nervous. I am so glad I did this walk in the winter months as I wouldn’t have liked to have met anybody coming the other way.

Once down in the landslip it was like being in a different world. There was no breeze and no sound of the sea. The silence was weird after listening to the sea and the breeze for so long on the path above and it felt much warmer down here.

Doing this walk in winter had another benefit, I could see through the trees and view the full splendour of the cliffs.

Eventually the path comes back within view of the sea and the silence is broken by the sound of waves again. There is a fork in the path where its possible to drop down onto the beach or continue through the landslip, I chose to continue through the landslip as I was enjoying it so much, (big mistake). 

There were quite a few steps to climb to continue back into the landslip and I filmed myself going up, explaining to camera how I found it easier going up steps rather than down, (never a true word).  On reaching the top I was met by some more steps going back down and as I started my descent (still filming) my right foot shot out from under me and down I went with a thud, gear flying everywhere and my camera ending up in a bush.

My camera was an old Gopro7 action camera so wasn’t damaged and continued filming as I let out a few expletives.  I had landed on my left hip, right on the edge of a step and it was really painful. My first thoughts were OMG what if I’ve done damage, my only way out of the landslip might be by being air lifted and I don’t do flying, even less so dangling from a piece of wire!

I got myself up, covered in mud and in pain but nothing broken, so I could walk the pain off.

I gathered my gear up and set off again with an ever-growing lump on my hip that I could barely touch, (later to turn into a huge multi-coloured bruise that lasted a few weeks).

On reaching Branscombe beach I treated myself to a Cappuccino (thank God for spell check I never get that word right) from the beach café and sat on a bench for a while, remembering how busy this place was when the ‘Napoli’, a cargo ship, was grounded here in 2007.

The climb out of Branscombe up to the clifftop heading back to Beer was really steep with lots of steps but my efforts were rewarded by the views across Branscombe beach towards Sidmouth. A view I looked at quite a few times, if I’m to be honest, as I stopped to catch my breath during my ascent.

The rest of my journey back to Seaton was a lovely walk but uneventful, my only concern being that the tide would be low enough at Seaton Hole to get past the rocks on the beach so I wouldn’t have to take the inland route and as it turned out, it was.

So, another little section of the Path completed both ways, albeit being a little battered and bruised in the process. This didn’t dampen my enthusiasm to continue with my walks and the sense of achievement I felt in completing this one.

My lasting memories of this walk will be the Hooken landslip and the views of it, along with the views over towards Sidmouth when climbing out of Branscombe.  There is also one memory I hope to forget, lol.