Beach life, almost Ibiza

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood whatever the weather. This post is from Nicola

Our friends Debbie & Adam, plus their children, are complete beach babies so it was a pleasure to find ourselves on a beach in Devon with them claiming this was as good as Spain (albeit admitting that in Ibiza the sun is hotter, the sea bluer and the water seems safer and warmer). Adam took it one step further saying he thought “this was the best beach he’d been to in Devon”, which is quite an accolade for someone raised near Dartington.

Arymer Cove – the nearest walkable beach – is gorgeous: a large shingle spot reached by public footpaths along the cliffs or through a very lush green valley. It feels like a smugglers’ spot and they’re aren’t ever more than a couple of other people there – very different from the tented out bits of sand at Bigbury on Sea. Debbie & Adam were ending a camping trip with a beach picnic to enable both sets of kids to have a very long play before they took off for London. After a picnic of Devon apple juice, local cheeses etc the girls dared the waves, Ethan networked, Adam explored the iron pyrite rocks that were glistening in such a way that maybe they should be rechristened idiot’s silver (rather than fool’s gold) and Debbie and I lay chatting as we sunned. It was one of our most relaxed days on this trip.