Saturday 26 August 2023. After the excitement of finding the Red Arrows were giving a display a couple of hours after arriving at Sidmouth, we woke early the following morning with time for a sniff of air before breakfast.
Sidmouth early in the morning before breakfast. There has been a little rain but it is brightening up. Our room was on the second floor with windows across from the bed with a view of a brick wall 6 feet away and another window on the right hand wall with a view of a car park where apparently there had been a fight during the night. We never heard it. In fact there was screaming and shouting a few doors down from us. We never heard that either...
There are a few people wandering about and even a few brave, or stupid, people swimming in the sea. We were to find that about half a dozen people were swimming every day in the sea around this time.
Breakfast over, our first excursion takes us to Budleigh Salterton, a small village with pebble beach and a stream running down the main street down a culvert. It's still early enough that some shops and cafes are still closed and we opt to walk down the hill from the bus stop to the beach.
Just about everybody else had headed down a side street from the coach drop-off to the cliff tops, seen in the middle distance. We reached the beach and found some colourful kayaks high up on the shingle and we have to take care walking because of the wire cables used to winch boats up the high shingle bank of pebbles from the sea.
Lobster or crab traps are piled up waiting to be baited and taken out. As they sit on the sea bed they are attached to floats, balloons or empty plastic containers painted bright colours.
Other assorted bits of fishermens' gear was on the beach, tubs, various sticks, bits of tarpaulin and a barrier to fool the fish/crabs/lobsters into taking any signed diversions into the traps...
We had a cuppa in a cafe as we climbed back up the hill from the seafront and then spent the few minutes left before the coach came to pick us up, sitting on the nearby cliff top overlooking the sea. I had forgotten my hat and the sun was fierce on my stylishly bald head. I put my hood up and did my monk impression - I'm a green monk - a recycledtine...
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