My words in the Lifestylesouthdevon web mag today...
It’s that moment of decision when you leave that high place and launch yourself out over the sparkling sea. That moment when your stomach adjusts to the fall as you drop through the air like a stone feet first, into the deep clear blue water. The spectacular splash and the sudden rush of bubbles as you sink and slowly stop sinking. The exhilaration of shooting back up to the surface, the taste of salt water and the blinding sunlight of a hot summer day! The sheer unadulterated joy of it all as you swim to join your third age coasteering group scrambling over rocks and then splashing back into the restless sea. This is South Devon, the home of so many coastal adventures. Don’t just walk the walk and talk the talk – come and live the life.
Yet today so many older people miss the opportunity and simply sit at home looking like a couch potato whilst twiddling thumbs in cyberspace! For goodness sake find the off switch and press it! Get up, get out there and live the reality of an outdoor life rather than existing in the virtual. You know it makes sense! This is not the time to sit back and let life slip past.
Let me tell you a little story about living the life. Years ago we opened the Harbour Sports Windsurfing School in Paignton and taught thousands of people to ‘do it standing up’!! It was a time when people seemed to be in the same place and you could throw a hat over a bunch of folk and know that they were connected. I loved the job and enjoyed almost every minute. We even had a bunch of Richard Branson’s Virgin girls to get windsurfing. Where else would you get half a dozen lovely girls, dress them in rubber suits, take them out to sea and spend two hours dunking them up and down in cold water whilst being paid? I’m sure that these days there is probably medication for that sort of thing! But times change and now the windsurfing school is no more. It is also worth pointing out that one of our most enthusiastic windsurfers was a seventy year old retired doctor who had his birthday cake delivered, complete with candles, by a passing boat!
Having said all that one of the good things about the cyber world is good old Google. So here you are in South Devon and want to come and play. Just stick in the search box your chosen fun thing plus the word Devon and see what pops up. You can add more searches by changing the word order. How easy is that? Pop up a map of South Devon whilst you are at and before is the most fantastic coastline from Sidmouth to Plymouth. Estuaries, beaches, rocky headlands, wooded river banks, deep rock pools, shingle banks, sand spits and much more all on one truly magnificent coastline. What a great place to live and play.
Too often I hear the comment that all this is only for the wealthy. That can’t be further from the truth. Just to prove that you are alive simply strip off and splash in the shallows. Cost zero! Cold? Not really but to be a little warmer only requires a basic wetsuit. Found a wave? The dig out an old boogie board and feel the energy of the ocean. Too old for all that stuff? Not at all! Here’s something to think about for the summer. At Harbour Sports we have been experimenting with, for want of better words, geriatric coasteering! Perhaps geriatric is slightly over egging it, but it is the thrill of coastal rock hopping for older folk. They say if you are living on the edge then you are taking up too much space. Come and test the theory.
Picture this; it’s early morning and the tide is on the turn. Early mist skips across the River Dart as you lower your sit on double kayak on to the water. The air is so fresh and the day already war and you know this is your time and place. Gentle paddling brings you past Sharpham and the only noise is raw nature. As you reach Galmpton the calm water mirrors the sky as the sounds of the waking world drift across the river. Perhaps your Nirvana is an early summer morning kayak on the timeless Dart.
Whilst you paddle early morning surfers are already riding waves at Bantham and the surf school has yet another class pushing through the restless water. In the distance windsurfers and kite surfers leap from wave to wave sending spray high into the air. Multi coloured kites catch the bright morning sun pursued by screaming gulls.
Not far away in nearby Salcombe a dive boat pushes past Bolt Head and motors for one of the numerous wrecks dotted up and down the coast. On Paignton harbour another group of novice divers climb into drysuits under the eye of the experienced Nautique dive master. Meanwhile powerful ski boats pull skiers and wakeboarders in and out of Elbury Cove watched by numerous coastal walkers enjoying freedom of the South Devon Coastal Path.
As an endless procession of yachts head out to sea in search of adventure the tall ship Stavros edges toward Brixham harbour with its crew manning the spars high above the deck rapidly rolling sails. Tall ship sailing is ageless and you don’t have to climb if you don’t want to! Don’t want the commitment of a voyage? The simply book a one day trip. How easy is that?
There you have it! We have some of the most magnificent coastlines in the packed from end to end with adventures to suit all ages and almost every pocket. The next person to tell me that there is nothing to do around here I am likely to slap around the face with a smoked kipper! All it takes is a leap of faith (which might be off a rock into the sea!) to add spice to your life in ways that you might only have imagined.
Start tomorrow by simply taking a handful if sea water and splash it in your face and celebrate the joy of being alive.
Live the life and keep the smile!
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