Day 36. Wembury to the River Erme

Many Rivers To Cross

Got back to the River Yealm ferry crossing point and met the gang of four again.

The River Yealm

The ferry only runs from 10 to 11am and from 3 to 4pm.
There's no logical reason for those times, like tides for example, that's just the way it is.

The gang of four's walk would finish in Bigbury, where they had accommodation arranged.
So, their plan was to get the first ferry at 10am and then walk the eight miles to the River Erme as fast as possible in order to wade across before the incoming tide gets too high at about 1.00pm.

A good plan but I'd been in the south west for some time and had an inkling that the 10.0 clock ferry might be the first spanner in the works.
We passed the time chatting about the South West Coast Path, and other long distance walks.
I knew my hints about walking for charity wouldn't be acknowledged when they said they were from Yorkshire.

The ferryman came unhurriedly at about 10.20 and the crossing only took a few minutes but, as soon as we got off, the gang of four was almost running on their way.
I thought it was a bit drastic as I only mentioned charity in passing.

The path was level and easy for the first three miles on the way to Stoke but it was a very hot day and we stopped a few times to rehydrate.

It was so hot that these sheep took a death defying climb down the cliff for a bit of shade

At Stoke, there was another five miles to the Erme and, according to the map, the terrain would be much more difficult so we abandoned plans to catch the morning low tide.

Some steep ups and downs had us sweltering so we diverted down to a secluded beach for a cooling dip.
Then noticed that we were the only ones wearing any clothing at the beach.

After more ups and downs we came to the beach at Erme mouth and a chance to cool the feet.

The Beach at Erme Mouth

When we got down to the 'crossing point' the tide was still way too high so I had a siesta while Hannah had another dip.

Walked up to the village for a sandwich at the Old School and to decide on our options.

Whether to call it a day and make camp somewhere on this side, or to wait for the tide to go out further and to cross that evening.

After a couple of aborted attempts we managed to get across at about 7.45 when low tide was due at 11.20.

The Erme looking gorgeous

It got a lot deeper

When we got across and looked back it was like someone had pulled the plug and let the water out

We got around the headland and found the perfect spot to make camp on Scobbiscombe Cliffs with the sun going down and an almost full moon rising.

A perfect end to a perfect day.