The last part of our hike to Dartmouth was an 11 mile segment marked expert, and it was. At least the weather was still wonderful and sunny.
We started by passing an old fort complex, part of which was left over from Nepoleonic times. There was also a small lighthouse, I think the smallest on the trail. Further along we walked by more ponies, one was very friendly and must have thought I had something to eat because he was not going to let me pass! We also saw some sheep that ran away.
Some of the field gates were made out of stone, so added some variety to walking between fields. There was a wooden sculpture of St Mary at the top of the path down to St. Mary's beach. There was an interesting structure on the beach at Mansands made of stone - it looked like it might have been left over from the war.
We stopped several times along the way to admire the beautiful views. It was a Saturday so there were many people on the trail.
Coming into Kingswear there were some beautiful homes and old crenellated towers keeping the estuary secure. Unfortunately the steam train wasn't working for the winter - that would have been fun to try. We finally made it down to the estuary to find the ferry over to Dartmouth. The ferry was extremely small and held about 6 cars and about 20 people for the 5 minute ride. The ferry was a tug boat that pulled the car platform. This part of the trail is also part of the Mayflower Trail.
It was another 10 minute walk to the "JustB" apartment, kind of like an AirBnB, which was rather hard to find. Basic, but ok for 1 night. It was hard to get a reservation, but Chris was finally successful and we had a lovely dinner at a pub.
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