Walk - Devon Cliffs - Orcombe Point

4.3 miles (7.0 km)

Devon Cliffs - EX8 5BT Devon Cliffs

Moderate - There are some areas of ascent and descent, including steps, but nothing steep or prolonged.

Travelling high above a red sandstone/mudstone coastline which was formed in a desert near the Equator almost 250 million years ago, the walk turns inland on the edge of Exmouth. Detour here briefly to wander through the sand dunes and check out the wildlife of the Maer Local Nature Reserve before strolling back to Devon Cliffs along a quiet country lane. There are some areas of ascent and descent, including steps, but nothing steep or prolonged.

There are a range of wonderful places to lay your head near the Coast Path for a well-earned sleep. From large and luxurious hotels, to small and personable B&B's, as well as self-catering options and campsites. The businesses that support the Path, where you've chosen to visit, are listed here.

The Dolphin Hotel

The Dolphin Hotel is a family-run establishment and prides itself on offering you a friendly and welcoming stay in Exmouth

The Lawns B&B

Spacious ensuite double rooms in a beautiful 1920s house situated on a peaceful no through road in the centre of Budleigh Salterton. Minimum stay is 2 nights.

Abele Tree House

Bed and Breakfast and 2 units of self catering accommodation within 150 metres of the South West Coast Path

You'll be spoilt for choice for where to eat and drink along the Path. With lots of local seasonal food on offer, fresh from the farm, field and waters. Try our local ales, ciders, wines and spirits, increasing in variety by the year, as you sit in a cosy pub, fine dining restaurant or chilled café on the beach. The businesses that support the Path, where you've chosen to visit, are listed here.

Wesley's

A cafe and community space in the heart of Budleigh Salterton, providing employment training for adults with learning disabilities

Daisy's Tea Room

Traditional Tea Room serving tea, coffee, light lunches, cream teas and lots of cake!

Salty Dog Kiosk

Relax in the sun where smugglers ran contraband off the beach into the night. Great coffee, proper scones & ice creams. 10am-4pm every day.

What is on your list of things to do when you visit the Path? From walking companies, to help you tailor your visit, with itineraries and experts to enhance your visit, to baggage transfer companies and visitor attractions there are lots to people and places to help you decide what you'd like to do. The businesses that support the Path, where you've chosen to visit, are listed here.

Ocean

Ocean Exmouth - Bowling, Soft Play, Dining & Events

Exmouth Pavilion

Exmouth Pavilion is a stunning art-deco style venue situated directly on Exmouth seafront.

Stuart Line Cruises

Family-run, award-winning boat trips operating from Exmouth throughout the year!

Fifty Degrees Clothing

Ladies, Gents and Children's Lifestyle Clothing, Footwear, Hats, and Accessories, for all ages and all seasons.

Budleigh Information Centre

Information Centre for Visitors to & Residents of Budleigh Salterton

FootGolf on the eXe

Crazy Golf with a football, first 18 hole course in Devon on the Exmouth coast

Interactive Elevation

Route Description

  1. From the South Beach Café in Devon Cliffs, with your back to the beach, turn left onto the South West Coast Path as it heads towards Exmouth and follow it through the holiday park.
  2. Go through the gate out of the park, up the hill, to carry on along the Coast path through the High Land of Orcombe, ignoring the footpath to your right, until you come to Orcombe Point.
  3. Here the path splits. Carry on along the Coast Path to the left, or take the higher path to the right: they join up again a little way ahead. The lower path has an optional detour down a rough path to an astonishing sandstone plateau. This forms the beach at Rodney Point when the tide is out.

The Geoneedle at Orcombe Point was commissioned from public artist, sculptor and designer Michael Fairfax to commemorate the opening of the World Heritage Site. It was unveiled by HRH the Prince of Wales in 2002. It is constructed of the various rock types found along the World Heritage coastline and represents the sequence of rocks deposited along it. These are:
Permian sandstone, a red rock laid down in desert conditions;
White lias and Blue lias, types of limestone which are layered between clay and shale respectively;
Ham hill, a shelly, coarse-grained limestone;
Forest marble, a hard, oolitic limestone (one where the rock has formed in small round grains);
Portland stone, a white-grey limestone formed in shallow, sub-tropical seas;
Purbeck marble, a fossiliferous limestone formed from the densely-packed shells of the freshwater snail Viviparus;
and Beer stone, a creamy-white, fine-textured limestone.
The son of an Anglo-Irish poet who co-founded the Arvon Foundation and a Russian Jew who fled from Nazi Germany, Michael Fairfax is a sculptor who makes the most of a site and the materials around it 'to create a visual coherence with the environment'. In the last 25 years he has worked with numerous arts organisations, county councils, borough councils and district councils, designing many original and inspiring works of art in a wide assortment of venues.
The beach at Rodney Point is a striking platform of red rock that is a part of the Exmouth Sandstone Formation. This was formed during the Triassic period, about 200-250 million years ago, at a time when Devon and Dorset were south of the equator and a hot, dry desert. The vivid colour of the rock is due to the presence of iron oxides, which formed in the absence of organic material.
The platform, some distance above the beach, is a marine abrasion platform, or a raised beach. It was formed by wave action on the rocks after the last Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago. Sea levels then were 8-10 metres higher than they are now.
Orcombe Point is the first port of call on the journey along the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The Dorset and East Devon coastline was England's first natural World Heritage Site. The site celebrates 95 miles of internationally important rocks displaying 185 million years of the Earth's history. World Heritage sites are designated 'places of outstanding universal value' by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), and the Jurassic Coast is a geological walk through time, spanning the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods as illustrated by the Geoneedle.

  1. Where the two paths meet above the start of the seafront, there is again a choice of route: along the high path above the cliff or along Queen's Drive.

From the seafront detour ahead into the sand dunes - ideal for a picnic! The sandy soil here is the perfect habitat for many insects, including some rare solitary bees (harmless to humans) which nest in tiny tunnels in the ground. Among the birds feeding on the abundance of insects are skylarks: listen out for them singing loudly overhead.
Some unusual plants, too, thrive here in the harsh conditions, including the silver-leaved sea holly (actually a member of the carrot family) and the hare's foot clover, whose long pink flowers really do resemble a furry paw!

  1. From Queen's Drive turn right after the car park and carry on across the roundabout to take Maer Lane, ahead.

If you are on the higher path turn left on Foxhole's Hill, by the car park, and then turn right onto Maer Lane at the roundabout. Carry on to the junction.

  1. At the junction fork right and follow Gore Lane gently uphill, bearing sharp left with it after the Bristol Schools Camp and carrying on ahead, past the footpath to the coast, to return to Devon Cliffs.

The Bristol Schools Camp is an outdoor centre owned by the National Trust which provides accommodation under canvas for the use of schools and other youth groups, primarily from the Bristol area. It was first used for this in 1928, by the Church Lads Brigade.

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