CSCC Reports 2013: Sea Kayaking Trip to Dartmouth - 21 June 2013

Stephen, Marc and Rob had been planning to visit North Devon to explore the coast around Ilfracombe and Croyde.  But seeing the forecasts of strong winds (and reports that the south Wales Sea Kayaking Symposium had been cancelled as a result of the forecast) Stephen decided to change plans and go to South Devon instead.  This proved to be a good choice and we managed to get three days paddling in windy, but manageable conditions.

Friday
We drove down on Friday morning and aimed for Kingswear, arriving at about 1.30pm.  Kingswear is the small village immediately opposite Dartmouth.  There is a car ferry across to Dartmouth which avoids the long drive via Totnes, but had no need of this.  We parked in the marina car park (£6 per day).  The car park services a smart marina with floating pontoons.  We were not able to access these pontoons, which are for berth holders only but the marina office was friendly, gave us a set of tide tables, and suggested that we launch in a small creek next to the car park.  The weather forecast for the next few days is available at another smaller office, shown on a rolling loop on a screen visible from outside.

From the launch point a few strokes of the paddle took us under the Dart Valley Steam railway and into the estuary.  The Dart estuary forms a beautiful sheltered harbour, with Dartmouth Town spread up the steep slope on the opposite bank from Kinsgswear.

Out of the mouth we turned right and paddled along the coast a couple of kilometres to Stoke Fleming, exploring the coast and rock hopping as we went.  Having explored the kilometre or so west of the estuary we headed back, stopping at Dartmouth for an ice cream before crossing the river to Kingswear.

After that short but very enjoyable paddle we went in search of a campsite. There is no shortage of campsites in the area but many of them are family oriented and do not accept groups.  We found one just near Stoke Gabriel with excellent facilities (including a bar, cafe, Pizza restaurant, and games room).  There is even a swimming pool although we didn’t inquire into whether they would let us do rolling practice in it.  We had a huge field almost to ourselves.  The address is: Whitehill Country Park Stoke Road Paignton Devon (South) TQ4 7PF Tel: 01803 782338

Saturday
The forecast for Saturday (helpfully provided by text by Rob Parkin who was unable to join us but provided excellent base camp support) was awful  (Force 7 and significant swell.  So we drove to Totnes, parked in the car park at Steamer Quay road http://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/carpark/steamer_quay_road/tq9/totnes/ - (£6.50 all day) and paddled downstream to Dittisham (a lovely village with an excellent cafe/restaurant) where we stopped and waited for the tide to turn.  This stretch of river is very attractive (at times narrow and meandering, at others wide and sea like).  We paddled back up to Totnes on the flood (battling some strong winds at times) and continued through the town up to a weir marking the end of the tidal river.

Sunday
We returned to Kingswear to explore the coast to the west of the estuary.  The creak where we launched was all but dry, exposing a bed of muscles and at least one oyster, which Rob picked up and saved for later.  We left the estuary and at the Mewstone we were rewarded with a good view of a small group of seals, before heading a bit further up the coast and stopping at Scabbacombe sands for lunch.  Here the oyster met his end – smashed open by Marc and eaten by Rob.

The return to Kingswear and drive home was uneventful.  After a very unpromising weather forecast we had managed to have three very nice days on the water.