Day 208 - Portwrinkle

The seaside village of Portwrinkle

Sun is shining. The weather is warm. So, what better than to spend the day at the beach, reading and sketching. Well, the best laid plans...as they say.

Today we set out for the town of Portwrinkle on Whitsands Bay. We had spent some marvelously happy times here with the kids about 13 or 14 years ago (wow, has it really been that long). When the tide is out, this is an area of expansive sand beaches and deep tidal pools. You can easily spend the whole morning or afternoon exploring. So why not spend this day there again?

Long Way Down

Long Way Up

Well, we took the local bus to Tregantle Fort that overlooks Whitsand Bay and began our walk from there. However, the fort is still active as a training facility for the Royal Marines, and from time to time they use the gunnery range that backs onto the beach. When they do, they post red flags everywhere and they close the coastal path. To get around the fort, we used the bypass path that runs along the road on the landward side and eventually one returns to the coastal path that crosses the Whitsand Bay Golf Course on its way to Portwrinkle.

We arrived for lunch at the local beach cafe (it is on the cliff above the beach) to enjoy the view while munching on sandwiches and drinking Lilt (a pineapple and grapefruit soda). Then we set off to find the path down to the section of beach we thought we went to -- way back when. It was not the Portwrinkle beach section, but the beach on the other side of a rocky section leading out to the sea that would lead us back toward the fort that we were looking for.  Unfortunately that path ended up about 30 feet above the beach and was only accessible by clambering down some steep rock faces. That was a no-go, so we remained perched on the rock and then began the slow walk back up the cliffside.

The beach walk would have to take place another day.

Ale of the Day: Dartmoor IPA, Dartmoor Brewery, Princetown, Devon