Day 3 – South West Coast - Brixham & Dartmouth - Places I wish I could have spent more time..

First up is Brixham. It’s perched at the end of a peninsula south of Torquay. I only visited it because I am a lighthouse fan, and Brixham has the “tallest and shortest” lighthouse in the UK (maybe the world?) Figure it out for yourself....here’s a pic. (Okay, it's on top of a huge cliff, so the lighthouse only needs to be a couple metres high!)


Brixham Lighthouse...tall or short?

The village of Brixham is probably what a lot of foreigners think English fishing villages are like. It hugs a small cove, with pastel coloured cottages and red and yellow fishing boats huddled up in the harbour, surrounded by steep hills. Check out Sir Francis Drake’s ship the Golden Hind (it’s a full-sized replica). For me it was interesting, because the same (quite dainty and small!) ship rounded my home town of Cape Town in South Africa a few hundred years back, and Sir Franky proclaimed it the “fairest cape of all”. That’s not a bad compliment coming from someone who knew this pretty section of Britain’s coast really well.


Village of Brixham, another pretty village along the South West Coast

Then just over the beautiful river harbour of the River Dart is Dartmouth itself. Another stereotypical English scene. It’s like Brixham, just bigger and slicker, and with its own castle at the heads of the bay. The steep slopes of the hills give the town a secretive attitude. Smugglers used to operate around here, and that’s probably because they could hide out in the many tiny coves and caves.

So, Brixham and Dartmouth – don’t miss them, and don’t just drive through them like I had to.

(One of the other things I am realising is that driving close to this part of the coast of Britain takes LOTS of time. The roads twist and wind, and because there are so many villages along the way, driving speed is far slower than the highways. I really only covered about 300 kms today, but it took me a good 7 hours. There’s also a LOT to see along this coast – so budget for a couple of days at least.)