On my last day in Exeter I visited Exmouth. I went there by train along the Avocet Line, a slow, gentle dawdle of a train ride along the east shore of the Exe estuary. It takes about 30 minutes or so, and it’s a wonderful short journey, often with good views of the estuary. Away over the other side is another railway line, known locally as the Riviera line. This is the line down to Dawlish Warren and Teignmouth, so whereas the line I was on makes do with early-generation Sprinters (Class 150 for those who wish to know), I could frequently see GWR HST sets pounding alone on the line on the other side of the estuary.
But let’s talk about Exmouth. I found this to be a strange place. It occupies the south-eastern corner of the Exe estuary, so one side of the town lies on the estuary and another side faces the sea to the south. That latter side of the town was once a busy, medium-sized seaside resort, but today it just looks empty and sad. Everything was in good condition – nothing run-down or dilapidated as far as I could see – but I felt a general air of mournfulness over that part of town. There are some images below in which I’ve tried to capture this mood. The ‘Dinosaur’ image is my favourite – I mean, why put a big plastic dinosaur in a corner of your show-piece gardens if you aren’t going to allow children to climb on it? Perhaps, in fact, if they were allowed to do – and if there were more dinosaurs – there’d be a bit of life about the place.
The town centre, away from both the sea and estuary, was a lot busier. Quite Victorian in sty;e, but I felt there some energy there.
Then there’s a estuary side of the town, which also includes the old harbour. This is also pretty quiet; for example, the harbour is no longer a ‘working’ harbour but is entirely given over to yachts. There is some activity going on. There are new developments of apartments and services all around the harbour and even a bit of commercial activity – there’s an occasional ferry from Starcross on the western side of the estuary, and a river and sea cruises company. But my eye was continually being drawn out to the estuary itself, which is very beautiful. The tide was low when I was there so many of the boats were high and dry, but the vistas were lovely. I just saw a snapshot of it, but to spend a day there and watch the changes brought by the flow and ebb of the tide, or longer and see the seasons pass by, must be wonderful. Apparently the estuary is also an important wintering site for various species of birds which means that January might be the best time of year to visit!
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