Blog 37: Kingswear to Brixham, Brixham to Babbacombe. More Rain, A trip to the Pier. Good Fortune.

Hello all.

On balance I have had brilliant weather for nearly all of the walk so far, but the last two days have been disappointing to say the least. Not only have I been drenched a few times but it has been cold.
But, ever mind all that.

The walk from Kingswear to Brixham is a lovely one normally, but when it is viewed from a letterboxed size gap in my coat and hood it loses most of it's magic.

I took a few photos when it wasn't raining, and it wasn't raining as I left Kingswear.

The entrance to the River Dart Estuary.

I thought that this was a delightful bit of pathway

Looking towards Berry Head with clouds gathering

There's a lot of rain in them there clouds

 And I didn't take any more photos because soon the rain came down and didn't really stop at all.
But as I was coming into the Berry Head area I found a tree that had been carved and it was the best of it's kind that I have seen. So I had to get a photograph of it.

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Brixham to Babbacombe

I must confess that I had not been looking forward to this day of walking. I have done all of the coast path along this stretch before, in some cases many, many times. So, as I set off in the rain it felt like a case of "just get it done". The truth is, although it was either raining or nearly raining for the whole day, I actually enjoyed myself.

The boats in Brixham harbour and on the moorings were being buffeted about, just like I was.

I soon arrived at Broadsands which holds a lot of fond memories of picnics and rounders on the green with Jennie's parents and her sisters and a lot of kids. But when I came to the beach it was another type of memory that came to mind.

Broadsands on a summer's day. How inviting!

Learning to swim.

For many years on a Sunday, together with my sister, I had swimming lessons. A chap called Dave Simmonds would collect many kids, and all together in his minibus we would - in winter go to the Marine Spa swimming pool in Torquay; and in Summer we would go to Broadsands. 

I hated swimming lessons and dreaded the swimming pool. Sometimes I would just hide in the changing room and only appear when it was time to go home. To this day, I still get a nervous feeling in my stomach when I smell whatever chemicals are put into the water at swimming pools. But what was far worse than the pool was the beach. There was nowhere to hide and it was freezing cold. I remember shivering in my trunks with my water wings around my shoulders (look them up if you don't know what they look like).  Is it any wonder that I didn't actually learn to swim until I was 16. 

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Between Broadsands and Paignton I saw the steam train and memories of Jenny Agutter came into my head. I waved to lots of happy holidaymakers and they waved back. What fun we had.

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You can always rely on a Donald to give good advice.

As I was walking past the amusement arcade on the pier, a voice called me over and I went to see who it was. There was no-one to be seen. Then I heard the voice again.

It was Zoltar. I reached into my pocket and inserted a one pound coin and Zoltar spoke again. I can't remember what he said but as soon as he finished a card appeared at the front of the machine. 

On the back of the card was written -

"There is nothing you can do to gain complete satisfaction without self-reflection. Nor can there be compliance without self-reformation.

Put loyalty and reliability first. If you have faults do not fear self-improvement."

And .....

Bizarrely ........

"Play Again".

I suppose if you are not satisfied with your future, you can always have another go.

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I always knew that a trip to Paignton would mean that I would be taking a photograph of a certain row of shops. And here they are - 

I had to take a detour to take this photo, but it was worth it. 

This is the site of a discotheque called "Pandemonia". The club was actually on the first floor with an entrance where "Maggie's Beauty Salon" is now. It hasn't been a disco for many years now.

It was in Pandemonia that I first met Jennie. And this is how it happened -

I was sitting at a table near the stage which was the site of the DJ's station. Jennie - who I didn't know - was on her way back from the DJ booth after requesting a record. She was a bit drunk and lost her balance and fell off the stage and landed on me. I was stunned and did the only thing that I could think of at the time and asked her for a dance. And we have been together ever since. 

What wonderful fortune it was that I was there that night; and that Jennie was there that night; that Jennie had been drinking; that I wasn't badly injured; and that Jennie said "yes".

I think that if I had visited the pier and come across Zoltar earlier on that evening, he would have told me that my life was about to become everything that I had ever dreamed of.

Take it easy

Rob

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