Day 41 Exmouth to Sidmouth (12.5 miles / 21km)

10 July 2026 - By Sally

Day 41 Exmouth to Sidmouth (12.5 miles / 21km)

This is a milestone point on The South West Coast Path as I now officially step onto the Jurassic Coast section of this 1014 km trail and it accounts for the next 155km of it. It also means stepping into what was designated England’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001 putting it alongside The Great Barrier Reef and the Grand Canyon and such places . What makes this section deserving of this honour is the rock that is underfoot and which you can visibly see as you walk over the open cliff faces. It’s colour denoting it’s age and geological period. Geology at school was not my strong suit and I think someone in my class locked the geology teacher in the supplies cupboard for a few hours one day but with that being said I still find it very impressive. What I do think is that for geologists or geology enthusiasts this must be like Disneyland stretched out for 155km.

I leave Exmouth after a lovely breakfast on a lovely morning along the longest sea front in Devon. I am walking towards cliffs of red – the oldest come first on the Jurassic Coast – and it’s handy that they are colour coded for easier learning. The red -being the Triassic Period at 250 million years old. Unlike my knees they actually get younger the further you walk. To mark the start the walk takes you up to the Geoneedle. The pyramid monument was unveiled by King Charles in 2002 and it marks the official gateway, cleverly the stones used to build it represent the different geological eras you walk through.

The trail instantly leads up to the towering , sheer cliffs of deep red sandstone and the view of where I am heading stretches out for a very very long way. My knees should be about 85 by then. The trail at this point wraps around a sprawling holiday park called Devon Cliffs. It is like a suburb. In what seems like a very odd pairing it sits on the cliff top right beside Straight Point Rifle Range an active military firing range that was very active this day. I was thinking this seemed like some kind of planning oversight but after walking past the holiday park queue for an icecream and hearing the manners of the queuers I actually thought a few warning shots fired over Bertie’s World of Flavours wouldn’t go a miss.

It’s then on to a much remoter clamber over spectacular terracotta cliffs – the blue water against the red like a colour wheel’s dream pairing. It was beautiful. Dropping into the very cute seaside town of Budleigh Salterton with its smooth pebbled beach and a perfectly timed chicken sandwich a pot of tea before heading off and up to the cliffs of Danger Point and Black Head. Then it’s the climbs of the day the wooded ascent of High Peak a sharp knee aging drop and then up the steeper slopes of Peak Hill for sweeping views of the destination – the lovely Sidmouth.

I arrived in the very old world charm of Sidmouth with it’s regal looking hotels and royal links. Queen Victoria took her childhood holidays here and others followed suit. It gave off a definite cream tea aura. I walked into a cafe for an end of day cup of tea and for the full Sidmouth experience I cream tea’d with the others sat outside in the late afternoon sun.

I headed happily to find my stay for the night at the Duke’s Seaside Inn – Duke had a beautiful pub food menu so after a long shower it was Duke’s for dinner.

It was a spectacular first day on the Jurassic Coast I sat looking out watching the sky turn the same colour as those cliffs. Magical. Night night from Sidmouth xx

Looking to see where the Jurassic will take me