WALKS
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are in: Devon > Great Outdoors> Walks > Torquay Circular Walk >
Stage 7 |
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View of Meadfoot Beach from the Marine Drive. |
Marine
Drive & Ilsham Valley
Follow the road as it passes Thatcher Rock and drops down
to Meadfoot Beach. Then head up the wooded valley on your right. |
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Hope's
Nose is on Ilsham Marine Drive in Torquay - probably the most exclusive
road in the town, with big detached houses boasting south facing sea views
across Tor Bay to Brixham.
The road was built during the 1920s as a way of providing work for the unemployed
men of the town. The road did much to open up Hope's Nose and this amazing
geological area to the general public.
Just a short walk on from Hope's Nose, you'll come across a lovely area
with a lawn sloping down to the cliffs and views to Thatcher Rock. There
are seats here to park yourself and enjoy the scenery, and it's a great
spot for a picnic.
If you carry on down Ilsham Marine Drive, you'll reach Meadfoot Beach.
There's plenty of evidence here of coastal erosion. This section of Ilsham
Marine Drive has started to slip down the cliffs, forcing the local council
to reduce the stretch of road to single track only.
The coast around Meadfoot Beach is made up of Devonian age shales and slates,
but beyond the far end of the beach you can see the cliffs of Daddyhole
Plain - where the limestone returns.
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| The Marine Drive |
Meadfoot is one of Torquay's many beaches and, while the limestone
around the beaches was formed 370 to 390 million years ago, the beaches
themselves were created much much later than that. In fact, they're the
babies of Torquay's coastline!
The bay and beaches came about when the last ice age ended around 10,000
years ago.
During the very cold bits of the Ice Age, what is now the English Channel
would have been a wide river plain.
Sea levels began to rise, until they finally reached their current levels.
Just before the midway point of this process, some 6,000 years ago, the
sea levels divided us from what is now mainland Europe.
The sea poured in to drown the basin - and so Tor Bay was created.
It meant an end to all the woodland that previously covered the land - that
was now under the sea. At times of very low tide and when the conditions
are just right, you can still see the remnants of the drowned woodland in
Tor Bay.
During the past few thousand years, the sea has slowly but surely eaten
away at the cliffs to form the beaches which now attract hundreds of thousands
of visitors every year.
Tourism is the resort's main industry - and the beaches play a big part
in the town's economy.
The resort started to develop during the 19th Century, when Torquay was
seen as an exclusive place for people to visit. Grand villas were built
on the hillsides, and they're still dotted along Ilsham Valley.
As you head up the valley from Meadfoot Beach, you walk through a woodland
which was planted by the wealthy Victorian landowners, who loved their trees.
This bit is uphill, until you reach the prehistoric caves at Kents Cavern.
...head on up the Ilsham Valley towards Kents Cavern.
Option 1 (easy): Walk through the park itself and then along Ilsham Valley
Road until you reach Kents Cavern.
Option 2 (more strenuous): Take the lower path through Ilsham Woods - this
takes you straight into the grounds Kents Cavern itself.
Those who wish to miss out the caves should choose Option 1. As you walk
along Ilsham Valley Road look out for another park on your right. Follow
the grassed footpath across the field to Ansteys Cove car park.
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are in: Devon > Great Outdoors> Walks > Torbay Circular Walk >
Stage 7 |
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