November 10th 2024 - Budleigh Salterton to Sandy Bay (and back)

My journey to Budleigh Salterton was very enjoyable the morning of this walk.  The autumn colours driving over Woodbury common were fantastic and I must say the temptation to stop and take pictures there, rather than carrying on to Budleigh, was great.

I parked in the same car park as last time in Budleigh (Lime Kiln) but this time it only cost me two quid to park instead of eight, as winter parking charges have finally kicked in.

The weather was fairly cloudy with a cool breeze, perfect for walking in my humble opinion.  I didn’t hang around in Budleigh and made my way Westwards along the beach to where the path climbs up towards the cliffs. This would be a straightforward coastal walk with no detours inland.

On reaching the point where I would be leaving the beach I noticed a couple of small fishing boats had come ashore with their catch. 

When the local fishermen here in Budleigh bring their catch ashore, they set up a stall at the top of the beach to sell their catch direct to the public, and today was no exception. There was a table set up with lots of fresh fish (some still flapping about) being laid out in trays, Plaice, Monkfish, fish of all kinds (I’ve no idea what they all are) and Crab. People were already queuing up to buy. There can be no way to get fish fresher than this, but I did find it a little sad to see fish still flapping about in the trays. Needless to say, I didn’t hang around to watch for long and continued on my way.

The path climbed steeply out of Budleigh and was tarmac on this stretch. Half the width of the path had been fenced off at one point due to the usual erosion problems.

After walking through the Jubilee playing fields the path continues to climb, albeit gently, for what seems like about two thirds of the walk. Most of this stretch is woodland and scrub, which is very pleasant but doesn’t afford any sea views which was a little disappointing.  On reaching the highest point (420ft) I came out of the woodland and the views westwards opened up showing the expanse of Devon cliffs caravan park, and beyond to the Exe estuary.

There was a steady descent now, down to the caravan park, with enjoyable views all the way.

Now, I must say, I’m not against caravan parks, in fact I’ve used them for many enjoyable holidays myself, but this place is on a whole other level. It is huge. I believe there are over 2000 caravans here, it’s a caravan city. I do remember staying here for a couple of nights many years ago, with a touring caravan, and I remember not liking it much at all.  The touring area doesn’t exist anymore, the whole site is given over to statics.

As I continued on my descent, I heard a loud foghorn going off and thought to myself, ‘that’s strange, the horizon is so clear why would that be going off on a day like this’. It wasn’t until a few minutes later, when I looked at my watch that I realised that it must’ve been to mark the start of the two-minute silence for remembrance Sunday. I’d promised myself before setting off I wouldn’t forget to stand in silence, but of course, I did, so I made a point of spending the next few minutes remembering those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

On entering the site, the coast path follows the perimeter with the MOD rifle range of Straight point on one side and caravans to the right, with a very strong smell of what I am sure was cannabis smoke in the air. My hope was that this was emanating from one of the caravans and not the rifle range!

Eventually, after quite a walk through the site, Sandy Bay suddenly comes into view and what a beach it is, lovely sand and sea, perfect for families staying in one of the 2000 caravans on the site. I imagine this beach gets packed in the summer.

The coast path leads straight to the beach café and shop, perfect, except that the shop wasn’t open, and the café was only serving main meals, so it was going to be an almost half a mile slog up through the site to the main complex to get a coffee and a pasty.

The main complex was massive with lots of different food outlets and all kinds of attractions. It was also extremely busy so I headed straight to the on site supermarket to pick up a pasty and a coffee. This was fine, apart from me not being able to operate the Costa Express machine. I must have wasted 3 or 4 coffees before realising in my confusion that I had to select and put my own cup under the dispenser. The kind lady at the checkout came across seeing my total confusion and thankfully sorted me out. She also threw away the numerous payment slips the machine had spat out at me and only charged me for one coffee. I think she had taken pity on me.

Feeling fully refreshed I made my way back towards the coast path, and calculating in my mind that having to walk up to the main complex then back down to the coast path had added nearly a mile to my total walk distance, hmmm, maybe I should have walked straight back to Budleigh and got my pasty and coffee there.

The climb back out of the site towards Budleigh was a bit more strenuous than the climb out of Budleigh which is obvious really as I had to climb to the same height in a shorter distance, but at least I knew that I would have a lovely long gradual descent down into Budleigh to look forward to once I reached the highest point.

The walk back afforded me much more in the way of sea views as I dropped down towards Budleigh because the scrub in front of me dropped away. This probably isn’t making any sense, but I know what I mean, lol.

The fishermen were just packing up as I arrived back on the beach and there didn’t appear to be any fish left so they must have had a good day, they certainly sounded happy.

I walked back along the seafront with the intention of having a coffee from the same kiosk as on my last visit but there was quite a queue by the time I got there as a service at the war memorial on the road above had just finished and many of the attendees had decided to wander down and buy a coffee.  I left them to it, got into my car and set off home as I had to stop at Pets at Home in Axminster for some dog food on the way.

I really enjoyed this walk; it wasn’t particularly strenuous, and I’d had good walking weather and great views. I went home very happy.