Storm Watching in Devon: The Safe Spots and the Ones to Avoid

Short answer: The Dawlish sea wall, the Brixham breakwater and Morte Point above Woolacombe are the best safe vantage points. Stay off the beaches themselves, away from cliff edges and cliff bases, and never turn your back on the sea. Sidmouth's cliffs are actively unstable in wet weather.

Devon is good at this

Both Devon coasts get proper weather, and watching a big sea come in is one of the better free things to do here out of season. It is also the single easiest way to get into serious trouble on this coast, so the safe spots and the rules matter more than the recommendations.

The rules first

• Never turn your back on the sea. Waves are not evenly sized and the big ones arrive without warning.
• Stay off the beaches and away from the water's edge entirely.
• Keep back from cliff edges — the ground gives way, especially when saturated.
• Keep away from cliff bases too. Rock falls happen in and after wet weather.
• Watch from behind a substantial barrier, not on top of one.
• Take the dog somewhere else.

The best safe vantage points

The Dawlish sea wall is the classic. The promenade sits behind the railway with a substantial wall between you and the sea, and in a swell the waves break clean over both. Reviewers describe strolling the sea wall and ducking the spray as one of the pleasures of the place. The station is right there if you would rather watch from cover.

Brixham breakwater is half a mile of level walkway built in the 1840s specifically to take the weather, with a low wall on the seaward side. It is dramatic in a swell and easy underfoot. Do not walk it in a genuinely severe storm — but in a decent blow it is superb.

Morte Point above Woolacombe is the north coast option. The sea running against the rocks at the point is the entire show and the path is a proper walk rather than a scramble. Sharp rock underfoot, so boots.

More good ones

Berry Head at Brixham gives you the length of the bay from high ground behind fort walls. Hartland and the north Devon cliffs are genuinely spectacular and genuinely exposed — respect them. Maidencombe near Torquay is described by locals as dramatic when the sea is rough, though the steps down are steep.

Where not to go

Sidmouth. The red sandstone cliffs there are actively unstable with repeated rock falls and sections of Jacob's Ladder beach fenced off. Wet weather makes that worse, not better.

Also avoid the Bigbury causeway in a storm, any of the stepped coves — Compass, Ness, St Mary's Bay — and the Slapton and Torcross stretch, where storm damage has closed the through road in the past.

Afterwards

Somewhere with a fire. The Cromwell Arms at Bovey Tracey, the Blue Ball Inn above Lynmouth, Pier One on Plymouth Hoe with its log burner and big windows, or The Ancient Mariner at Lynmouth.