On Slapton Sands: why my walk along Devon’s coast was a journey through time

A lot has happened in this little corner of the UK – discovery of early man, regal holidays, war disaster, humpback whale visits – all of which enrich the experience of taking this route

At least once in your life travel down from Strete towards Torcross village and lower your gaze over the shingle ridge that separates the freshwater of Slapton Ley from the pebbled beach of Slapton Sands.

Turn to the sea and look out across the open water of Start Bay where, in March 2017, a humpback whale hung around for nearly six weeks, inspiring amazement in the crowds it drew in day after day. It’s where every summer, for a week some time in August or July, shoals of mackerel stream through the bay and a frenzy of white bait, fleeing the terror of the mackerel, choose a certain death instead of a life as prey and hurl themselves out of the water and onto the shore.