After travelling down to South Devon on Friday night to our usual campsite, on Saturday morning we’re going in a convoy down to Warfleet near Dartmouth Castle. The wind is very strong according to the weather apps, 20 miles an hour, gusting 30 miles an hour from the West. The idea is that we get some shelter from the cliffs around the castle and when the wind gets too strong head back up the River Dart to Dittisham.
There is almost no wind on this side of the river as we head out to sea. We find a huge gully to go down as well as some small channels and suitable rock hopping rocks. At Blackstone Point Liza takes a small group over to the Western Blackstone, two rocks offshore and exposed to the wind. As expected it is much more windy and has more waves around it. The rest of us stay in the lee of the cliffs and practice turning in the wind around two buoys.
Then we’re off up the River Dart. We have to negotiate all the ferries and other traffic on the river as well as the wind and the gusts, but everyone copes well and no issues. We arrive at Dittisham outside the pink pub and stop for lunch. Some of us have a beer and a bag of crisps as well. Then a paddle back to the launch point with a detour along Old Mill Creek to the stone bridge.
Sunday
We arrive at Brixham breakwater car park early and have breakfast at the Breakwater Bistro, which is very civilised for a camping trip. The wind is much stronger today, but from the North West, so the plan is to go around Berry Head and be sheltered for most of the day.
With the wind behind us, we are relatively quickly at Berry Head. We have to go out to Mew Stone to avoid the nesting birds and then do some rock hopping to Saint Mary’s Bay.
There are a few caves. In one Liza scares some seals and all hell breaks loose as they start jumping around in the water inside the cave in the dark. All the rest of us hear is Liza squealing! Everything is good in the end, but we decide not to go in the other caves in case there are more seals in them. After lunch at Man Sands we head back along the same route, looking in the smaller caves and rock hopping.
As we round the Berry Head we have the the wind against the tide and some challenging but fun conditions.
After landing through some small surf, we get the boats and kit loaded before having a cup of tea and some chips at the bistro. While we’re there, a mother gull is defending her youngster from a much bigger gull by swooping repeatedly at the bigger gull while it stands on the beach. Eventually the bigger gull flies away after the smaller gull’s partner arrives. This seems to conclude our weekend kayaking and some of us then head back to London, while others reward themselves with fish and chips.
