FROM A REMOTE sandstone ledge drops a bewildered man in a wetsuit. It’s taken an eternity for him to work up the nerve to jump, and he plummets through the air with an expression somewhere between elation and terror. The rocks zooming past behind him are hundreds of millions of years old; the bay he’s arrowing into has witnessed visitors ranging from plesiosaurs to pirates. And, with the sun illuminating the red cliffs and ivied, coastal woodland, there comes an almighty splash as the October-cold sea rushes up to swallow him. For the man—me—it’s an unutterable thrill.
Tom Devey, the guide who’s just patiently coaxed me into stepping off a 25ft precipice, gives a thumbs-up from the shore and gestures to a cove nearby. We’ve been clambering over the boulders of Devon’s southeastern coastline near the hamlet of Maidencombe and Devey, who works for Rock Solid Coasteering, had been leading me through some jumps. We’d swum under natural arches, climbed rocks, then plunged back into the sea. At one point, a grey seal appeared, bobbing in the