The southernmost coast of Devon between Hallsands and Hope Cove makes for a superb day trip along cliffs and reefs. If the weather turns grim, at the midway point there is a sheltered haven to escape into, provided you are careful in crossing the shallow sand bar at the harbour mouth where surf breaks. This is Salcombe Harbour, and 10000 cruising yachts berth here every year. Unsurprisingly then, the town is crammed full of yachtie types, and the clothes shops along the main street give the game away…e.g. Musto, White Stuff, Quba Sails.
Salcombe wasn’t always the preserve of well-heeled Hoorays. In 1607 a magistrate observed that Salcombe was, ‘full of dissolute seafaring men who murder each other and bury the corpses in the sands at night’.
