Exmouth Estuary View Walk review by William James
This is a great walk, 8.3 miles in total, easy to moderate, but with lots of choice where you start or finish and plenty of options to reduce the length.
The whole walk is a figure of eight. Starting at the stagecoach bust station car park, there is ample parking 24 hours a day. Heading off in an anti clockwise direction you have the Estuary on the right with views all the way up the river to Exeter. Masses of seabirds, waders and you may well get a bit of excitement from the many Kite surfers. The path follows round Point Creek to Shelley road and then on to the Exmouth Marina and the Sea Front. The route follows the road to just beyond the pavilion where you turn left up Carlton Hill and left again into Louisa Terrace and The Beacon. Keep your eyes open, lots of Blue Plaques and abandoned ladies here, Lady Byron, Lady Nelson each lived here and the King of Saxony frequented the Royal beacon because of its stunning views. The route passes though the town centre, back to the bus station and you then follow the river side or the new cycleway all the way to Lympstone. You pass Lower Haldon Farm, given to the National Trust in the eighties, Take care crossing the railway line if you choose not to walk on the cycleway. Once in Lympstone, you will have done about four miles; Personal experience on many occasions allows me to assure you that both the Globe and the Swan offer excellent hospitality. The village of Lympstone used to be bigger than Exmouth before the railway and boasted eighteen shops, if you look carefully you can still see the old shop windows, and two banks!! The walk winds through the village, past some lovely old walls and through narrow lanes eventually passing along Wotton Brook and the Old Mill. When you reach the road, you can turn left and walk to the Saddlers arms and catch the bus back to Exmouth or turn right and continue on the walk up to Courtlands, A la Ronde and to the high point at Hulham Road. Turing right past A La Ronde, look out for the smallest church in the county on your left.
Once you have got to Hulham Road, the route takes you through the lanes, paths and roads of Withycombe and Exmouth. In Phear Park, there is an interesting Services Memorial and as you head back to the bus station in North Road you pass the last thatched house in Exmouth.
Lots of fantastic views, lots of alternative options make this a walk for everyone, or at least, bits of it. I’ll never tire of the walk along the tidal estuary to Lympstone and back, here, you’ll get some of the best sunsets in the country.
I see that the video clip of the Exmouth walk has now been added to the DVD , well done, sums up the walk perfectly.
