EFOG Trip to Exmouth - 28th September to 2nd October

Getting to Exmouth was easy for those who drove and dreadful for most of those who took the train (due to an incident on the line near Exeter).  The tentative plan for an afternoon walk along the seafront went out the window as the group WhatsApp pinged repeatedly with different progress and location updates. Madeleine finally arrived at the Royal Beacon Hotel just in time to go out for dinner.   Lovely meal at The Queen Vic though (Pie and a Pint Night, for those that fancied a pie and a pint) and good to catch up with Sue & Jim, who moved down here a few years ago, too. 

On Tuesday morning, after a good breakfast, Sue and Jim met us outside the hotel and led us into town to get the bus to Otterton Mill. Very scenic journey through country lanes and villages, good coffee at the cafe and the chance to wander around the working watermill / buy freshly made scones and pastries before setting off for our walk to Budleigh Salterton.  Following the River Otter - Trevor spotted a kingfisher - all the way to the beach close to the Otter Estuary Nature Reserve, we then had a short walk alongside the shingle and colourful beach huts, passing sandstone cliffs, to the High Street.  We split up for lunch in town - pasties & buns from Sue's favourite bakery vs a sit down meal in a cafe cum antiques shop - then followed the trail along the route of the disused London and South Western Railway line, all the way back to Exmouth (it was deemed too windy to risk the cliffs path, so we missed seeing the Naturist Beach). At Phear Park, Jim told us about the D-Day Memorial before we continued on to our hotel  - a very pleasant 9 mile walk in total.  Half the group went to Namaste Himalaya for some very tasty Nepalese curry whilst the other half headed to Prezzo.

Wednesday morning was set aside for sightseeing. Most of the group did a boat ride up the River Exe (very excited to see a seal), Louise, Cathy & Richard went to A La Ronde and I went to Powderham Castle (with Sue acting as an excellent guide to supplement what the volunteers in various rooms told us).  Re-grouping early in the afternoon, we all did the walk originally planned for Monday afternoon - along the seafront, up to the Geoneedle (made from different rocks taken from the Jurassic coast) at Orcombe Point, followed the South West Coast Path over the cliffs to the caravan park (and towards the sound of rifles in use at the nearby MOD live firing range) then descended to Sandy Bay and walked back along the beach. The sandstone cliffs and rocks along here are beautiful, the sun shone, the water (for those that paddled) was cold and it was a glorious 5 mile walk.  Sue and Jim's precise timing (and shepherding us along) meant we were back on the Exmouth promenade before the tide cut us off and necessitated an RNLI rescue.  For dinner, Marian, Jinan and Louise went to Sapori, a highly-recommended Italian restaurant, with Sue and Jim.  Myself, Trevor, Cathy, Richard, Madeleine and Lynne were booked on to the pub quiz at The Grove and had opted to eat at the pub before it started. One round asked each team to depict a film using Play-doh, with the results to be judged by the other teams. Being my favourite colour, I'd gravitated towards a pot of cerise coloured gunge; Trevor quickly realised he couldn't model a Pink Panther so it morphed into the makings of ET, which then became dinosaurs, alluding to Jurassic Park. The stegosaurus (I think) and T-rex were great, the film was correctly identified by everyone who came to our table and that gained us plenty of points.  Bonbon tasting - guess the flavour - was less successful, but well done to Trevor for taking most of the sugar hit.  General knowledge not really needed and there were some dubious questions and some very dubious (wrong) answers, but it was a fun evening and we finished mid table. 

On Thursday, Sue led us down to and around the marina, then up the Exe Estuary Trail.  Marian left us, enroute, so she could visit A La Ronde, whilst the rest of us enjoyed a lovely walk via Lympstone village and passed the Royal Marine's Commando Training Centre to the RSPB hide at Bowling Green Marsh nature reserve. The knowledgeable volunteers helpfully pointed out the different birds to us novices and we were lucky to see spoonbills amongst many varieties of geese and duck. After an hour of peering through binoculars and scopes, we continued on to Topsham via the Goat Walk with its views of the estuary.  After having generously filled sandwiches at the delightful Kiln cafe, we took the bus back to Exmouth having completed an 8.5 mile walk.  Jinan and Louise decided to go to Namaste for dinner, but the rest of us ordered fish and chips from Proper Fish and Chips (as recommended by S&J). The hotel kindly let us use the dining room, complete with plates and cutlery, and even rustled up salt, vinegar and ketchup for us. There was a slight hiccup as Lynne's chips didn't get put in the bag, despite having been verbally mentioned when she'd gone in to collect the order, but we had more than enough between us to spare a few.  Refunds can only be made in person so Sue handed over the relevant cash and she & Jim went to the chippy the next day to get a refund - actually taken as a bag of chips!  The remainder of the evening was spent in the hotel bar before we peeled off to go to bed / pack. 

A final group breakfast on Friday and we went our separate ways. I was driving to Windsor for the weekend, Richard & Cathy were going to stop at a stately home on their way back and everyone else hoped the trains were running OK.  It was a lovely week, we had fantastic weather (despite the forecast ahead of our visit) and it was great to see Sue and Jim again.  The consensus was that we must repeat it. 

Jill S, 10th October 2026