Woke up to the above view from the YHA.
Woke up too early for breakfast so got packed and loaded the
bikes, luckily there was only a small amount of oil under the bike so must have
just been some excess from the air box, phew, tough bike. Paul was extra nervous
this morning about the hairpins going back down the hill from the YHA. I
plugged into the satnav our next destination and we started the day and luckily
half way down it told us to take another turning away from the rest of the
hairpins which Paul was happy about but even he said that the one's he did have
to do where not as bad as he expected they would be, certainly no Applecross.
We briefly stopped at Slapton Sands and had a really good
breakfast at a cute cafe called sea breeze. Slapton Sands is a curios place
from a geological point of view. Though having a geotechnical engineer explain their
idea of what’s going on it seems logical. If you look from a plan view the seas
current travels not directly to the shore but along it. So there’s no force
pushing inland to break the land barrier to get the fresh water. There is a
bridge on the southern side with a culvert to allow the fresh water to exit out
to the sea but no salt water enters due to the pressure of the fresh water.
There you go.
Apart from the geological education there’s some WWII
history to the place with a floating Sherman Tank or funny's as they were nick
named. They were designed to be launch from landing craft positioned off shore
and using a prop driven if the drive shaft, where motored on to the shore where
the large skirt that surrounds the tank where dropped and fighting was engaged.
The problem with the design was that if the seas where even a bit choppy the
water would slosh over the side of the skirt and quickly drown the tank and if
the crew where not quick enough to escape they follow it to the bottom. Slapton
Sands was where they tested these tanks and off course a few of them sank. In
the 1970's a local man, with a lot of effort, found and recovered on that sank
65 meter off shore, to be displayed as a monument. You can just see it to the
left in the above image.
We arrived here at 8 am but the cafe was not open till 9 am
so we had a wonder around including the shingle beach with its sea warn rocks
and alcoves. There was also a nice route up the cliffs providing a good view. I
was very surprised at the warms of the water, having only ever experienced on
our shores cold, very cold or F*** etc seas. Wish I'd though I could have
brought some swim clothes and enjoyed the sea, next time. Defiantly going to
re-visit.
Having had a very enjoyable breakfast, Paul going for the
English breakfast and myself the American with pancakes and bacon. Off course I
ate the bacon first then the pancakes, I'm not weird!
Arriving at Hasting petrol station after dark, we were shattered from the day so I went off on a hunt for a campsite spot and luckily just around the corner there was some playing fields, see above photo, with no one around or nearby. We managed to squeeze the bikes through the gate and with just enough energy get the tents up and slide into out sleeping bags.
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