Slapton Sands ~ June/July 2022

So Thursday 30th June, we moved on from Hanley Swan to Slapton Sands in Devon. The reason for this visit is to meet up with Vicki, a friend from our diving days, who now lives in France but is here working at Slapton Sands for the summer. We are also meeting up with David, another diving buddy but who Steve also worked with in the past. Slapton Sands is a lovely location, the site being within 5 minutes of the beach and giving beautiful views of the beach and out to sea. Late afternoon, David, Steve and I took a stroll down to the nature reserve looking out over the sea. It was a very pleasant walk and great
to get out and stretch those legs after the journey here. As soon as Vicki finished work, we strolled up to the village of Slapton and had dinner in the pub there. It was great catching up with both Vicki and David. David we've not seen for a good 10 years plus, whereas Vicki we perhaps saw as recently as 4 years ago maybe.



Friday, Steve, David and I did a circular walk, stopping at Stokely Farm shop, where we had agreed to meet Vicki for brunch. A nice location and a much needed stop after our walk. It seemed that we just walked uphill virtually all the way. So a nice cooked breakfast was gratefully devoured. Steve, David and I then continued with our walk down into Slapton Sands, stopping off at the old Sherman tank monument. This area was used as a practice location for the D day landings, apparently a tragic exercise with the loss of a number of American soldiers. I've just purchased the book to read up on the history. We then continued along the beach and back up to site. We then late in the afternoon had a BBQ which was lovely. 




Saturday, we headed off to Bigbury-on-Sea and Burgh Island (where we believe Agatha Christie based her book 'And then there were None' on. Xander, Vicki's dog, really had a great time here running on the beach. During low tide you can walk across to Burgh Island, which we did. Unfortunately, as we arrived, the sun hid and it got cold, drizzly and a bit windy. We strolled up as far as we could on Burgh Island before heading back along the beach to Bigbury where we strolled up to the cafe for tea and cake (and doggie ice cream for Xander). In the evening we went round to Vicki's for dinner. A very enjoyable day.





Sunday, we headed off up to Stokely Farm shop again for breakfast. Unfortunately Vicki had to be back at work lunchtime. Steve, David and I took a stroll in the afternoon along the beech and stopped for a drink. We then walked back along Slapton Ley, and then back yo site. We all met up again in the evening for a fish and chip dinner. It's been a lovely four days catching up with Vicki and David, but, tomorrow, Steve and I are off again to another location.

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