Deep Water Soloing in Devon

By Delphine Leroyer

The small campsite was set up deep in a valley surrounded by the beautiful Devon Hills. Most of the group arrived on Friday evening, early enough for some to enjoy a beer or two with their new tent neighbours, while their teenage son was playing a monotonous tune on his newly acquired guitar. After arriving at around 1am on Saturday morning, Ashley, Nikki & Simon set up camp, opened a bottle of red and settled in for the weekend.

Saturday morning : Nikki, Catharine, John, little Sam and Ashley decided on a coastal walk at East Prawle. They walked for about an hour or so and decided to settle in a little cove and go for a dip. John donned his wetsuit and went for a snorkel, Cath did laps across the cove, Nikki frolicked for a while in the water and Ashley dipped in for 30 secs. Too cold for her ! Oh, and Sam kept watch !

On the DWS side, Rick led the group of beginners : Simon, Neville, Mary, Liz, Paul and Delphine to the Plimsoll Line (Severe) traverse between Meadfoot Quarry and Daddyhole Cliff.

Since the night before till well after breakfast, Rick had been talking us into believing that the best way to DWS, was to go first for a dip to get used to the sea water temperature and then start climbing. Nobody seemed to be utterly convinced and thought they might try to rely on their climbing abilities instead and avoid the dip all together. Tenacious, Rick thought he was going to have the last word anyway and innocently picked the perfect traverse to give us the following choice : either climb up a E"God know what" for a couple of meters or go for that dip before reaching the traverse. After trying... I know, perfectly wasted time for most of us except for Neville who managed to find his way across that smooth boulder, we reluctantly had to tip-toe down a narrow concrete strand deep into the cold waters of the Channel, down to waist level before climbing back onto the cliff, cold and shivering.... ready this time for the real dip. We all followed each other on the traverse, relaxing a little bit as we gained confidence until we heard a big "pouffe" -well sorry Liz, I am sure the sound was actually light and elegant- and we saw Liz re-emerging from the sea, even more surprised than any of us. She just slipped as she was resting and just realised what happened once in the water. We did the traverse and back again to the start and continued on the other side towards a cave and a big arch : demonstration in pictures !

Then by mid-day, arrived Graham, Jules and Stefan. By the time Paul and Delphine took Jules for her DWS christening, the tide was a lot lower and the traverse all of a sudden a lot more impressive. The only positive thing is that you could now reach the cliff on a dry strand, but climbing on barnacles a few metres above sea-level was after all not that appealing so we decided to leave it for later and went for a traditional swim instead, that is starting on the horizontal from a sandy beach... We were nevertheless puzzled to discover that the sea-floor was covered with rocky steps up and down. You know this painful feeling of knocking your toes against the bed frame... well try against sharp rocks !

Stefan put his hooded wetsuit on and went swimming a bit further ashore.

The others went to Berry Head and did Labyrinth (VS/HVS depending on guide), which involved a traverse followed by chimneying through a cave to pop out of a blowhole - Neville and Rick did this, Simon was put off by the slime and pigeon-shit inside the cave...

The evening was spent at the local pub, enjoying all the local delicacies that Devon has to offer, the chef was very proud to show us his adventurous dishes of kangaroo, crocodile and other endangered species !

On Sunday, Stefan persuaded Rick to go back and do the Plimsoll Line, as he'd turned up too late on Saturday to do it, and was desperate not to have a wasted trip. When they got there, the sea appeared to have other ideas but they managed to do the traverse out and back from the Daddyhole side, with a lively sea and steady drizzle - still fun (no splashdowns).

Stefan then swam to one of the island, probably a good mile away and back despite the water being much colder than on Saturday.

Ashley, Nikki, Catharine, John and little Sam headed to Dartmoor....encouraged by the thought of tea and scones more than anything. They headed off for a 4 hour walk in the tipping rain. Cath, John and Sam came to their senses early in the walk and left Nikki and Ashley to their trek. Great walk but they seriously could have done without the winter weather !

The rest of the group decided to go for a walk along the coast with the only purpose of reaching the pub "The Cob and Thatch" at Maidencombe for lunch. By the time we had to return, it was heavily raining, so the landlord showed us the quickest way to the bus stop. Humm, probably not the MMC party-line, but tempting ! By road the starting point was only a couple of miles away but we had the privilege of being charged an extortionate 2 pounds per person and at the same time being teased by posters all around the bus advertising the following offer : Exeter to London for 1 pound + 50p tip for the driver ! Well, that will teach us, next time, we walk...

Thanks to Rick for coming up with a very original idea for this mystery meet, it looks like a few of us have definitely been converted and given a warm summer day, we might be tempted to renew the experience.