Swimming spot: Oddicombe and the Juliet Cave, Torbay, Devon

Devon authors Matt Newbury and Sophie Pierce have published a new guidebook to magical swims in Torbay. Here they share one of their favourites.

You can either walk down to Oddicombe Beach from Babbacome Downs or take the Babbacombe Cliff Railway, which has been transporting people up and down the steep cliffs since 1926.

When you arrive at the beach you are struck by how pretty it is, and can see why it started to become a place of recreation in the early 19th century. One tourist guide of the 1820s describes it as a ‘romantic rocky glen’, and rich families started to build summer houses there.

It is sheltered, with vast open views, with wooded cliffs above.

At the end of the beach, you’ll discover a concrete platform built into the rocks, with a staircase leading down towards the water. This is the Gentlemen’s Bathing Place – and you can just see the remains of the old ceramic tiles which identified it as such, just like the name of a street on a wall. This was where the men swam in the days of segregated swimming; and it was here, in 1922, that the Oddicombe Swimming Club was formed, by a group of men who regularly bathed there together.

Start your swim

Swim along the coast from the Gents’ Bathing Place, keeping the shore on your left. As you turn the corner of the headland, look out for an opening in the rock. If it is low tide, it leads to the most unusual double-chambered cavern, that we’ve called the Juliet Cave.

As you swim towards the cave, look out for white and pink Dead Man’s Fingers on the rocks along the entrance. These are fleshy corals that look a bit like dripping candlewax. Under the water they open out, rather like anemones.

Swim into the cave, but be careful if it is at all choppy; if there is any swell you could get swept in and hurt.

The cave snakes in to the right of the opening, and to the left you can climb up a smooth pink rocky slope. At the top you will find a narrow opening to another cave which is, as it were, ‘upstairs’. You cross it in the gloom, wading through a pebbly pool, and on the other side there is a ‘window’ or balcony looking down on the cave below. Hence why we dubbed it the Juliet Cave.

Come out of the cave and continue to swim north with the shore on your left. Above you are the remains of an old quarry, where they used to dig out limestone which was used to build many of the houses locally. Keep going; you are now swimming over a kelp forest. Look out for groups of starfish clinging to the rocks and sea bed below.

A short way along is Petit Tor Cove, a well-known naturist beach. The local etiquette is apparently single men on the left, women, couples and families on the right (looking out to sea, so it’s the opposite if you’re approaching from the sea).

At this point, it’s time to turn and head back. As you do, admire the pinnacles of Long Quarry Point which you will see ahead of you, at the southern end of the bay. This is another abandoned quarry, with quite a fairy tale air. Back at the beach you can enjoy refreshments at Three Degrees West, or take a short walk along the coast path to the rather swanky Cary Arms.

Photo: Charlotte Gustar

Wild Swimming Torbay by Matt Newbury and Sophie Pierce is published by Wild Things Publishing. Readers can receive 25% discount and free P&P with code OSMag23 at wildthingspublishing.com