{"id":2147,"date":"2020-11-21T01:19:16","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T00:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2147"},"modified":"2020-11-16T13:35:09","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T12:35:09","slug":"budleigh-salterton-otter-estuary-devon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2147","title":{"rendered":"Budleigh Salterton &#038; Otter Estuary, Devon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=740,width=1230,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/> First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('Budleigh.jpg');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50394335033_f6093a40d0_z.jpg\" title= \"50394335033 view from coast path towards Budleigh Salterton\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50394335033_f6093a40d0_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395192537_5168fd51e9_z.jpg\" title= \"50395192537 Otter Estuary, Budleigh Salterton 1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395192537_5168fd51e9_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395024406_51580dce3e_z.jpg\" title= \"50395024406 Otter Estuary, Budleigh Salterton 2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395024406_51580dce3e_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395192997_8f00b2f2db_z.jpg\" title= \"50395192997 pebble bank at Budleigh Salterton\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395192997_8f00b2f2db_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395193137_6dd31a1ab8_z.jpg\" title= \"50395193137 coast path up Otter Estuary\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395193137_6dd31a1ab8_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50394334943_f4ce4c56ae_z.jpg\" title= \"50394334943 path towards East Budleigh\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50394334943_f4ce4c56ae_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50394334643_a9d145c0e4_z.jpg\" title= \"50394334643 view east up the coast near Shortwood Common\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50394334643_a9d145c0e4_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50394333793_b23c221f88_z.jpg\" title= \"50394333793 wind-whipped red sea, looking west from coast path\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50394333793_b23c221f88_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395193057_65504315dd_z.jpg\" title= \"50395193057 coast path near West Down Beacon\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395193057_65504315dd_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395192777_9e54b76ca1_z.jpg\" title= \"50395192777 looking down at Budleigh Salterton beach from the coast path\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395192777_9e54b76ca1_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395024166_4ba5bbe6f7_z.jpg\" title= \"50395024166 Budleigh Salterton bay, with wind-driven, red mud stained waves\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50395024166_4ba5bbe6f7_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50394334703_6cc1f35b61_z.jpg\" title= \"50394334703 Budleigh Salterton beach\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50394334703_6cc1f35b61_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=2147\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=2147','pwin','height=700,width=1000,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');\" title=\"Click for printable version\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Walks\/print.gif\" align=\"right\"><\/a><br \/>\nThe Otter Estuary is a remarkable place. Long and thin, it penetrates the English Channel on the outskirts of Budleigh Salterton. This is a place for binoculars and sharp eyes, where wintering birds in their tens of thousands have arrived just now to feed on the invertebrate life of the muddy tideway and marshes.<\/p>\n<p>On this wild, blustery and sunny day it was easy to see why there&#8217;s concern for this East Devon coast on account of climate change and rising sea levels. The sandstone cliffs with their sandwiched layers of ancient pebbles are crumbling, the estuaries of Otter and neighbouring Exe eroding.<\/p>\n<p>The sea, flecked with wind-driven whitecaps, was stained a rich red by the sandy mud and rock it had sucked away. It was an extraordinary sight, and a salutary one.<\/p>\n<p>We followed the coast path inland up the Otter Estuary, where the last of the pale blue sea asters starred the saltmarsh and sandpipers pattered fastidiously on the muddy banks. The path in its tunnel of bushes was spattered scarlet with rosehips, crimson with hawthorn peggles and indigo with over-ripe blackberries. A flock of linnets went skimming up the hedge. Inland the ground rose in those steep green slopes so characteristic of the south Devon landscape.<\/p>\n<p>Bright gold buttons of tansy flanked the path into East Budleigh. You can hardly escape the village&#8217;s connection with its most celebrated son, Sir Walter Raleigh, born just down the lane. We found a fine statue of the poet-courtier-colonist in doublet and padded hose outside the church where his parents lie buried, and a fine pint of beer and sandwich in the pub that carries his name.<\/p>\n<p>West of East Budleigh ramifies a network of old-style country lanes, high-banked, stony and thick-hedged. From the gate onto bracken-smothered Shortwood Common we had a superb view east along the red and white cliffs of the Jurassic Coast, round the great curve of Lyme Bay as far as the distant hump of the Isle of Portland.<\/p>\n<p>A ferny stretch of old railway path, the swift transition of a golf course, and we were walking down to Budleigh Salterton in a clifftop tunnel of gorse. Before us the wind whistled on, rocking the gorse, clearing the sky to china blue, and whipping up a lacy surf on the red sea shallows.<\/p>\n<p>Start: Lime Kiln car park, Granary Lane, Budleigh Salterton EX9 6JD (OS ref SY\u00a0073820)<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Bus 58 (Exeter)<br \/>\nRoad: Budleigh Salterton is signed from A3052 (Exeter-Sidmouth)<\/p>\n<p>Walk (9 miles, easy, OS Explorer 115): Up Otter Estuary on Coast Path. In \u2154 mile pass bridge (075830); in \u00bd mile, ahead at fork (075839, &#8216;Otterton&#8217;); in 250m through left-hand gate (077841, yellow arrow\/YA) on raised path. In 450m cross track (074844, YA); on to road (072844). Left; in 300m cross B3178 (070844); up Lower Budleigh &#8211; Middle Street &#8211; High Street. Opposite Sir Walter Raleigh PH, down Hayes Lane (066848). In 450m, opposite electricity substation, left (062849) up stony lane. In 200m, on over crossroads (061846); downhill to Hayeswood Lane (062845). Right for \u00bd mile. 150m beyond right bend, left (054842, kissing gate, fingerpost) on path; in 200m, stile\/YA (053840) onto Shortwood Common. <\/p>\n<p>Turn right; don\u2019t go further right, but keep ahead (YA) south across common for 300m, descending to Shortwood Lane (052837, &#8216;Country Road&#8217;). In 250m, at gate on left (052835), sharp right downhill. At road, left (049833). In 100m, right (049832, &#8216;Permissive Cycleway&#8217;). In 250m, right along old railway (047830). In 600m, pass below B3178 (045825); in 300m, under next bridge (043823); in 200m hairpin back  left (042821, &#8216;Castles Lane&#8217;) to road (043823). Right; in 200m, fork left (044821); follow lane (&#8216;West Down Beacon&#8217;). At golf course, keep ahead (white sticks, YAs, &#8216;Coastal Path&#8217;) for \u2153 mile to coast (045811). Left to Budleigh Salterton.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch: Sir Walter Raleigh PH, East Budleigh (01395-442510)<\/p>\n<p>Accommodation: The Long Range, Vales Rd, Budleigh Salterton EX9 6HS (01395-443321, <a href=\"http:\/\/thelongrangehotel.co.uk\">thelongrangehotel.co.uk<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Info: <a href=\"http:\/\/pebblebedheaths.org.uk\">pebblebedheaths.org.uk<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/visitsouthdevon.co.uk\">visitsouthdevon.co.uk<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/satmap.com\">satmap.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/ramblers.org.uk\">ramblers.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Otter Estuary is a remarkable place. Long and thin, it penetrates the English Channel on the outskirts of Budleigh Salterton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}