A Series of Ugly Bridges

Damian returns to Torbay and learns the importance of not trusting first impressions...or Emma when she says it's not that far a walk to the chippy.

There was a deal struck on my first visit to the Torbay area of the country - should Emma provide me with 10 bridges then I would buy her ice cream. She failed. But in my generosity, I allowed her to have a second attempt on my next visit.

This involved going on going on the All New Longest Walk in the World Ever ^TM...twice.

We began in Preston, followed the railway line to Paignton, and then onwards (ever onwards) to find the following:

Spot a common theme with these bridges? Yes, that's right - they're all very ugly. Extremely ugly, in fact. Emma was so ashamed she attempted to convince me to remove the offending images, and the Red Shirted Man leapt in front of the camera to stop me from taking the photo and ruining the tourist industry in Devon forever. So desperate were the Torbayans to hide the truth that Emma, via the All New Longest Walk in the World Ever ^TM, attempted to kill me. She almost succeeded too, but I managed to drag myself home, collapse on the sofa, not move for a very long time, and then crawl to the computer and get these images online.

Of course there were one or two more attractive bridges on the route...

but they're not that brilliant and if you set out to see them then you will likely suffer a similar fate to me.

I initially thought that I'd never find any bridges in Torbay. I was wrong. We eventually got to 20, which means I owe Emma two lots of ice cream, but really most of the bridges were pretty horrible looking and I would not recommend the trek to see them. Instead, find yourself a nice pub and investigate the chairs in there instead.

- Damian, September 2005

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