We were lucky to choose a sunny day for exploring some South Devon beaches – not so easy this summer, which has been alternately cold and wet, grey and humid, sunny and dry.
Starting at Ayrmer Cove (which I visited last year), we enjoyed the beautiful rock formations and wildflowers in the rough pasture on the clifftops, followed by a somewhat chaotic late breakfast at Challaborough (“Sorry, you can’t have the avocado toast”; then “Sorry, the chef has decided the Earl Grey tea is off” – as in several years old, or we forgot to buy any?). The beach was crammed with holidaymakers enjoying the sun and sea, so we left them to it rather than braving the barrage of odd looks that rock photographers might get!
The tide was against us by this time anyway, so we decided to move on to Wembury, which had fascinating rockpools and places to soak our hot feet in the cool sea. I was interested to watch two crabs tussling for a lair in a rockpool, and lots of sea slaters scuttling about under the rocks on the beach.
It was interesting to compare the geology – everything is Lower Devonian round here (not surprisingly!). But the silvery pink and grey slates at Ayrmer are in stark contrast to the dark fractured and quartz-veined slabs found at Wembury. I haven’t yet found any reference to extensive igneous intrusions or faulting that might explain this.