The 36-mile stretch from Dartmouth to Exmouth on the South West Coast Path is three days of walking. It’s a varied route, taking you through National Trust land, past old castles, alongside a stretch of railway track and on several little ferries across various rivers.
It’s not my intention to repeat the extremely helpful information you can find on the South West Coast Path website. This is an account of my own experience with tips I would have found useful to know before embarking on the hike from Dartmouth to Exmouth.
Getting there and back
I travelled down to Devon from London by train. Although this is a three-day hike, I scheduled a travel day on either side, making this a five-day trip.
To get to Dartmouth, catch a train from Paddington to Paignton and then another one to Kingswear. You might need to change at Newton Abbott to get to Paignton, depending on how frequently the trains are running. Then catch the ferry across the River Dart from Kingswear to Dartmouth.
To return after the hike, catch a train from Exmouth to Exeter, and another one from Exeter to London.
To find the cheapest train tickets, look at where the train routes cross over. Here, it’s likely to be Exeter, so your best bet is to buy a return ticket from London to Exeter and then singles for the other parts of the journey.
Day 1: Dartmouth to Brixham (11 miles)
As your very first task of the first day of your hike, I recommend buying food in Dartmouth. The path from Dartmouth to Brixham is rural and you’ll be hard pressed to find anywhere to buy snacks along the way.
Once that’s out of the way, start the hike by catching the ferry back over the River Dart to Kingswear. This next stretch is National Trust land – well-managed, dotted with castles and other historic buildings, and mostly shaded by woodland.
For much of the day after the initial stretch, you have some steep ascents and descents. But tough climbs mean good views, and you can look down from the path through the trees at the turquoise seas and tiny white fishing boats beneath you.
In the afternoon, Berry Head is a highlight, with views over the grass-topped cliffs jutting into the water.
Then lastly, Brixham is a picture-book fishing village, with flat-fronted pastel-coloured houses piling up the cliff behind the harbour.
Day 2: Brixham to Babbacombe (11 miles)
The stretch from Brixham to Babbacombe is much less rural than day 1. After an initial few miles over a golf course and some more cliff-tops, you reach a busier part of the route, passing through Paignton and then Torquay along paved promenades. You’ve got plenty of places to stop for a baked potato or an ice cream, or even a quick dip in the sea.
Babbacombe forms part of a more urban area the other side of the peninsula from Torquay.
Day 2 of the hike from Dartmouth to Exmouth is a fairly easy day of walking, and is a welcome respite from the ups and downs of day 1.
Day 3: Babbacombe to Exmouth (14 miles)
The first half of day 3 starts involves some ups and downs out of Babbacombe until you get to Shaldon.
From Shaldon, catch the ferry to Teignmouth and then you have a long stretch tracing the railway track, through Dawlish and Dawlish Warren. Incidentally, this is one of my favourite stretches of train track in the UK as the train travels right beside the sea. It’s lovely in the summer seeing the sea so close from the train window, but possibly a bit nerve-racking in the winter when the sea is rough!
I digress. Make your way slightly inland to Starcross, and your final step of the hike is to catch the ferry across the River Exe from Starcross to Exmouth.
Before or after Dartmouth to Exmouth
Before the Dartmouth to Exmouth stretch of the South West Coast Path, you could hike from Plymouth to Dartmouth over five days. I suggest starting at Plymouth purely because it’s easiest to get to on public transport.
After the Dartmouth to Exmouth stretch, you can walk from Exmouth to Seaton over two days along an impressive stretch of Devon’s trademark copper-red cliffs.