An afternoon visiting Dawlish, South Devon

It’s always good when you’re away for a dance weekender to have free time to explore. My last chance was visiting Dawlish when I was there for the weekend, and we managed to fit in a little while there.

At Ceroc weekenders we occasionally went out to the beach if near one, but mostly we just danced, ate and slept. Line dancing weekends have less dancing, presumably to allow for the generally older demographic who need more rest time than dancing 20 hours a day! So there’s always an afternoon at least to get out and about if you don’t want to enjoy the hotel facilities.

The last weekender was in the Langstone Cliff Hotel in Dawlish Warren. Not far back from the railway, there’s not much going on other than touristy food and souvenir places. So in the afternoon quite a lot decided to make the walk along the coast walk to Dawlish.

I think I was lied to about the length of the walk. After visiting Tyntesfield National Trust and dancing a lot in the evening on the Friday, plus the workshop in the morning, my legs weren’t sure about the supposedly 1 mile walk to the town. I think it was a bit more than that, but I was promised the train for the return journey.

The walk is pretty flat along the promenade next to the railway track. Once you’re past the red cliff and coffee shack, you’re also alongside the beach. Plus there’s the treat of nice colourful houses on the seafront. The others laughed at me taking photos of them but I do like a pretty colourful row of houses.

The excitement comes when the the train comes past. Unfortunately a modern train rather than steam, but it’s still a nice photo opportunity. And for children a chance to try and get people to wave.

Once in Dawlish we headed to a cafe, La Cygne, that others liked from previous trips to get some lunch. I chose a brie and bacon croissant and berry smoothie. Both were very nice, although the cafe was pricy for what the food offer was. It was certainly busy given we were in at the end of lunch.

Afterwards it was chance to try and spot some of Dawlish’s famous black swans. As the weather was still warm in September the grass recreation areas alongside river were busy. We had to walk some way to only spot one black swan, so gave up and walked back down towards the seafront again.

And there more swans were. They’re pretty special to see, but none wanted to be photogenic for us.

Whenever there’s the opportunity I like to play crazy golf. Having not been out with N anywhere recently to do so, I felt I needed to this time. The intention had been to play back in Dawlish Warren along from the hotel, but as there was a great safari adventure golf course in Dawlish itself, my decision was made.

Because my friend said she had never played crazy golf before, I drafted her into playing while the others decided to walk back to the hotel.

The crazy golf was fun. We were following an elderly couple around, and I found my perfect gadget I need. A golf ball picker upper that you attach to the end of your club handle – no more leaning down to pick balls out of the golf holes which is always a bit of a reach for me! We had a nice chat with them – they play mini golf together on every holiday they go on. So sweet.

After our round, we decided on ice creams too. Delicious Kelly’s clotted cream versions – I had classic mint choc chip, and my friend had lemon which was an interesting choice. But very nice evidently.

Then off to the station to get the train for the short journey back. I was surprised at how many trains run the local journey – we didn’t have to wait long, and it was a popular trip. Easier and presumably much faster than the bus too.

The other end we met up with others who had come back on the train too, and as they were stopping at the food places, we looked amazed at the ice cream offers there.

I had never seen whippy rainbow ice creams. My friend decided she had to have one to experience…and also work out how it came out rainbow coloured. The server made sure we could see it – if you’ve never seen one, it’s done with all the different colours via different pipes into the one machine. So many flavours, they did look very pretty.

Then of course the rain came down, so it was a quick walk back to the hotel, for a quick sit down and relax before getting ready for the evening.

It was only a fleeting visit to Dawlish. I’m not sure there’s really much else going on around there, so I’m not sure I’d ever visit outside of any dance based visits there, but it was a nice afternoon well spent. Although my legs were very tired by the time evening dancing came around.

If you’ve been to Dawlish before, what recommendations do you have for places to visit?

Check out where we were staying at the Langstone Cliff Hotel.