South West Coast Path: Plymouth to Par. Getting There

I wanted to walk the segment Dartmouth to Plymouth, but it's a bit too early- 2 ferries only start working as of April 1 and we are just in March - March 4 to be exact. What better day to start a long hike!

Today was 6 hours of trains to get from Liphook to Plymouth. I was able to get all my stuff into one 35L backpack and it didn't even seem particularly heavy. I had to bring so many types of clothes because the weather is expected to be cold, rainy and even snowy.

My route took me from Liphook Station to Haslemere where I had to change to the faster train to Woking. There I changed trains to go to Exeter St David's where I made a final change to get to Plymouth. To Woking I was in standard seating, but from Woking I was in First class which doesn't get you much at all until Exeter when they finally give you a cup of tea.

the weather was pretty grey but the views were nice. Along the sea you could see wrecks (I couldn't get a picture of them) and some beautiful sea views around Newton Abbot where the train is literally on the sea and often gets washed out of frozen out.

the final pictures above are views of Drakes Island that I might go see tomorrow, but I think time won't permit. The things that look like birds are dirt on the window- better to think they are sea birds....

On the last hour of the journey there was a really annoying dog and owner. The dog was obviously not happy traveling by train and was whining and crying. The owner did nothing to quiet it other than telling it to shush- I don't blame the dog, I blame the owner. It was like fingernails on a blackboard- I hate seeing an animal suffer.

Got to Plymouth at about 5 and walked to the uninspiring Copthorne hotel. Along the way I saw the sign pointing to the South West Coast Path!

And here is my uninspiring room. I went downstairs for dinner which wasn't bad- tomato soup and Greek salad- no pictures- sorry....