Climbing Peak Hill (Again!) And making it to Sidmouth.

Yesterday was a beautiful blue skied Sunday, no clouds in the sky, no wind and not too cold. So I thought it would be a nice idea to do the coast path walk to Sidmouth again, this time bringing Jo along with me, (and of course Amber!).

We set off from Ladram Bay again, seeing as it’s free parking over winter, we might as well make the most of it. It was fairly busy there today, a fair few people had decided to go walking like us, but most of the people there seem to be taking advantage of the swimming pool facilities at the holiday park. Today was a much clearer day than the last two times I’ve walked this path in the last couple of weeks. We had a really clear view across to Sidmouth and the rest of the East Devon Coast. As we were leaving Ladram Bay and walking into the woods before High Peak, I had to take my coat off as it was too warm to walk in it. It seems crazy to be wearing a t shirt in November and not being cold!

I couldn’t wait to climb High Peak again, it’s becoming one of my favourite places to be at the moment. Jo had never been up there before, so it was nice to show him how stunning the views were from the top, as well as reading about how archeologists discovered the history behind High Peak when they excavated it, showing it to be occupied during two periods of time; the Neolithic period (around 4000-2000 BC!) and the period between Roman withdrawal from Britain and the West Saxon conquest of Devon. I read all of this on the interpretation board at High Peak, I also found a copy of this online here for those of you that want to read up about it. It taught me quite a bit, and I was quite surprised about how much history High Peak had, especially back to Neolithic times.

Of course the views from the top of High Peak, didn’t let me down again. There’s a quick multi cache up here for those of you that geocache. I didn’t realise this until we were on our way back from Sidmouth, and too tired to climb High Peak again to do it (Next time!). As you can see from the photo above, it was a nice clear day that we were able to see the Coast of Sidmouth, Branscombe and Beer.

❤️ #devon #eastdevon #visitdevon #sidmouth #ladrambay #devonlife #bythesea #thedevonnetwork #livingindevon #southwestcoastpath #peakhill #seaside #jurrassiccoast #sea #seaside #beagle #beaglesofinstagram #dogwalk #countrysidewalk #countrysidelife

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After taking in the views at High Peak, we decided to carry on towards Sidmouth. We passed quite a lot of walkers by this point, who must have been making the most of the decent weather like us. There are quite a few geocaches along this route, as well as along Mutters Moor, which joins Peak Hill from Sidmouth. I haven’t done them all, but it’s a fun way of exploring the area. There’s also a car park on Mutters Moor, for those of you that don’t fancy climbing the coast path to get to some of these geocaches.

Beautiful views of Sidmouth and the South West coast path 😍 #devon #eastdevon #visitdevon #sidmouth #devonlife #bythesea #thedevonnetwork #livingindevon #southwestcoastpath #highpeak #peakhill #seaside #jurrassiccoast #sea #seaside #beach #beachlife

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There’s so many beautiful view points along this walk, and it’s really interesting to see how the view can vary in different weather conditions. Last time I came it was a lot more grey and rougher weather. Today it looked more like a calm Summer’s day when looking out towards Sidmouth beach. It also felt as warm as a Summer’s day too!

Countryside views 😍 #devon #eastdevon #visitdevon #sidmouth #devonlife #thedevonnetwork #livingindevon #southwestcoastpath #highpeak #peakhill #jurrassiccoast #countryside #farmland #sunset #countrysidewalk #countrysidelife

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The low Autumn sun was a reminder that, although it felt like Summer, it was definitely an Autumnal day in November! As the day went on, it was beautiful watching the sun shine over the fields next to the coast path, making them glow a beautiful golden colour. It’s one thing us photographers obsess over: perfect lighting! It made the strenuous climb up Peak Hill more enjoyable that’s for sure. This walk does require you to climb quite a few hills, so it may not be suitable for everyone, and comfortable footwear is definitely a must. After testing our fitness up Peak Hill, we finally descended into Sidmouth.

Beautiful day for a coast path walk to Sidmouth 🌊 #devon #eastdevon #visitdevon #sidmouth #devonlife #bythesea #thedevonnetwork #livingindevon #southwestcoastpath #seaside #jurrassiccoast #sea #seaside #waves #beach #beachwalk

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Despite the weather being mild, it was quite choppy along the seafront at Sidmouth. The waves were crashing along the paths that connect one part of the beach to the other, below Connaught Gardens. We had to run at one point, before the waves hit us! Though for some people, these conditions were a positive, as there were a few surfers in the distance, taking advantage of the high waves today. After watching these surfers for a short while, we then walked the rest of the beach, before ending up in a pub having some lunch before heading back to Ladram Bay before the sun set.

Who would have thought it would be too hot for a coat in November 😂 #devon #devonlife #visitdevon #eastdevon #peakhill #countrysidewalk #countryside #sidmouth #countrysidelife #november #sunset #southwestcoastpath #thedevonnetwork #swisbest #livingindevon

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On our way back along the coast path, we were treated to a beautiful warm glow from the sun as it was preparing to set. Luckily we got back to Ladram Bay before it got dark, and were able to see the sun setting, with a pink sky over the sea. We really were lucky with the weather conditions today.

Every time I walk this coast path, I really do enjoy it, but walking it with Jo (and of course Amber) made it even more enjoyable. We did a couple of geocaches on the way back, but there were still a few more to cross off our list next time we walk this way. I doubt it will be long before I walk this path again, seeing as I’ve already walked it 3 times in the space of 2 weeks! Hopefully next time we’ll walk further, this time we walked just under 6 miles. I would say this walk is best done on a cooler day, I’ve done it in Summer before, and it wasn’t as enjoyable, it was too hot and humid for my liking. Yesterday’s mild weather made it a slightly easier, and more enjoyable walk. It’s also handy to add, that once you’ve conquered the first hill out of Sidmouth, the walk back towards Ladram Bay is a lot easier to walk than the way in, as its mainly flat or downhill.

Geocaching around Arlington Court.

Seeing as we have a National Trust membership again, we decided to look at NT places to visit this weekend. After a quick search, we decided on Arlington Court as it’s dog friendly, has lots of lovely walks around the estate, and has lots of geocaches too!

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Arlington Court is a National Trust Estate in North Devon, close to Exmoor. We arrived there yesterday around 2pm. As we were arriving, we saw signs about a Christmas market happening this weekend on the estate. Something we didn’t know about. We soon saw how busy it was going to be, when we saw how full the car park was!

We decided to have a quick look around the Christmas market, even though Jo exclaimed; ‘It’s too early for Christmas: I’ve not had my birthday yet!’ The market stalls were actually pretty good, better than I expected, as they had quite a lot of unique and handmade gifts and decorations, not like the usual Christmas markets you’ll find dotted around towns and cities. After looking around the stalls, we decided to give in to the smell of the BBQ and have our last BBQ burger of the year, along with my first mulled wine of the year!

Once we had filled our bellies, we pressed on to follow a circular woodland walk that surrounds the estate which was mapped out through our geocaching app. For those of you that want to know more about geocaching, it really is worth checking out their website geocaching.com. It’s great fun for children and adults, and it’s made us discover places we didn’t know existed! We even bumped into a geocacher doing his first ever cache with his young son, who beat us to the geocache we wanted to find! We ended up having a quick chat with him about the caches we’ve done, and gave out some tips on some of the place we’ve discovered fun geocaches his son will probably enjoy. The geocaches we did on this walk were linked to National Trust and took us through woodland, farmland and along the river. We walked about 6 miles in total.

It wasn’t long before we had quite a few caches found, this route had some really great cache containers, including the ammo case above. Geocaching is great for kids that love swapping bits and bobs, it’s like a real life treasure hunt. I’ve found over 500 caches over the years! It’s also free to do, and doesn’t require using your data whilst out and about.

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We first walked past a beautiful lake and church by the Arlington Estate, this lead us into some woodland that ran along side a river. Throughout most of the walk, we followed the river around, crossing over a few old stone bridges along the way. This walk was quite steep and strenuous in places, and wasn’t wheelchair/buggy friendly. But of course there are plenty of other walks around the estate to enjoy, that are suitable for everyone. There are maps and leaflets in the National Trust entrance/shop to check out the walks you can do. All these walks are clearly marked out along the routes by public footpath signage. So it would be hard to get lost!

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We didn’t manage to find all the geocaches on this route, as the sun was starting to set, so we tried to press on and do the ones we could find quickly, but not stop to search for too long. By the time we had arrived back at the car park, it was rather dark, and the car park was no longer busy, with only a couple of cars still parked in it. We will probably come back and visit again soon, I’d love to see the house and the carriage museum. There seems to be so many beautiful walks surrounding this estate, and a lot of history about the estate I need to read up on. This walk really was lovely in Autumn, crunching through the fallen leaves, and walking alongside the flowing rivers and little waterfalls. Well worth a visit, and maybe try geocaching whilst you’re there?