Jurassic Coast: The Final Leg and Entering a Firing Zone

The final leg of this journey was between Budleigh Salterton and Exmouth. The route took me past Otterton Point and then round Straight Point to the main channel into the Exe Estuary. 

It was a straightforward route, but inexplicably I failed to spot something basic.

Unaware, I passed the beach at the west end of Budleigh Salterton, with their elegant houses and flats.

Out to sea two fishermen conferred, as they attended to their lines.

I scanned the horizon.  Not many yachts were out there, but a large one with a junk rig caught my eye. I was making good progress and closing in on Straight Point.

It was at this point, however, that I saw a large launch speeding towards me. When it arrived the crew told me that I had strayed into the Straight Point Firing Range exclusion zone. I was told politely to return to where I had come from as quickly as possible. 

I looked out to sea again and about two miles out were buoys marking the outer periphery of the zone. I immediately realised I had to be a mile back and then round these buoys to continue my voyage, but I was running out of time to get into the Exe Estuary before the tide turned.

When I explained my predicament, the launch crew took pity on me and agreed to speed things up by towing me out of the zone. A large line was thrown to me with instructions to hang on to it and let go if anything went wrong. On no account should I make it fast.

We sped along very quickly with me just about hanging on with arm and streering with the other.  For good measure they took me back by about a mile and a half. They told me that this would ensure I got round the exclusion range without being swept back into it. The launch sped off, gunning up it's powerful engines.

 It felt like I was nearly back at Budleigh Salterton.

I rowed hard, at the same time trying to calculate whether I would make it. However, after about ten minutes, the launch came on the radio and told me that the firing had stopped and I could now continue on my way. 

I was relieved I would now make it. I rowed briskly without incident to Straight Point and then up into the Exe Estuary.

Subsequently I found out that the Royal Marines train using the range, fire live ammunition. I am still not sure why I did not spot the firing range on the chart.

Jurassic Coast: Sidmouth to Budleigh Salterton

 I had the chance to walk around Sidmouth. It is what I would call a genteel place, where you are more likely to have a round of putting or bowls than enjoy going to a nightclub. 

Eventually I set off and was surprised by the level of activity on the water, with many swimmers and people rowing.

I  am especially wary of the swimmers and the potential danager of hitting one with an oar.  One swimmer was being tracked by a canoeist.

Sidmouth beach seemed to fill with people as it receded into the distance.

The cliffs became more dramatic and monumental.

Rounding a final headland, they gave way to an inlet and a shingle beach, where people were picnicking. I had arrived.

As in the previous voyage, someone volunteered to help pull PicoMicroYacht up the beach and I soon had it derigged and covered up, ready to leave for the night.

Being closer to Exeter, Budleigh Salterton has more of an edge to it, with younger people looking for a good time in the evening, also on the beach in the high summer.

I have always associated Budleigh Salterton with my school history lessons in which the Elizabethians were mainly characterised as swashbuckling adventurers. This included Sir Walter Raleigh, a court favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, born nearby. 

His childhood is depicted by the pre-raphaelite painter, John Millais.  Looking closely, I see that Millias got the colour of the cliff correct, and I found out that he travelled to the town to paint on location, his two sons modelling for him. It would have been a bit too windy on that day to venture out in PicoMicroYacht.

 The boyhood of Raleigh by John Everett Millais, 1870, The Tate Gallery, London.

Continuing The Jurrasic Coast: Seaton to Sidmouth

I gingerly exited the Axmouth Harbour, situated next to Seaton, the tide sweeping me out through the narrow entrance. I used the oars only to direct the PicoMicroYacht into the river centre. Although wary of a confused sea at the entrance, I found it all comparatively docile.

As the light improved, I went a mile off shore, looking inland at the Seaton front.

The next major landmark was Beer Head, a last hurrah of chalk as I journeyed west, the striking cliffs formed much later than the surrounding red mudstone and sandstone that dominate the coast for miles around.

From Beer to Sidmouth takes you past the Branscombe beach.

This was made famous in 2007, when a container ship, the 62,000 ton MSC Napoli, was holed in a January storm and had to be grounded there.

The stricken MSC Napoli

A further storm washed many containers off the ship and onto the beach, precipating hoards of scavengers to descend on Brancombe to try and remove the goods, including high end motocycles and barrels of wine. 

A BMW bike on Branscombe

As I completed the voyage, the sea remained glassy, with a good view of the crumbling cliffs, including the Salcombe Hill cliff close to Sidmouth. Not a good place to explore the beach.

At Sidmouth, a kindly club member from the sailing club offered to help hawl PicoMicroYacht up the beach, the offer gladly accepted as I was fatigued from the row.

The friendly Sidmouth Sailing Club on another day.