Sunday Morning

Today we walked from Teignmouth to Dawlish Warren and back (12 miles ).

Looking towards Teignmouth the coast path follows the sea wall and the railway. It looks fairly calm because we were enjoying a respite after 24 hours of heavy rain. We had to rush to get to Dawlish before the tide came in and made the coast path impassable. As it was the adverse weather had almost flooded the crossing point under the railway that leads to Smugglers Lane turning the path into a fast flowing stream. From Dawlish we followed the sea wall path next to the railway but the waves were pounding against the wall, the weather was boisterously windy and wet, and we only just made it to Dawlish Warren. Its long, sandy, dune edged shoreline was peaceful and atmospheric on this raw breezy winter's day. First though we sat in the shelter of the amusement arcades and ate our lunch thinking of songs that had rain in the title. The winner was

We had to follow the road on the way back because the tide had engulfed the path.

We always enjoy the train journey to Exeter along this stretch of seaside railway track with its five mysterious black tunnels so it was good to walk the path next to the line.