97 Woolacombe to Ilfracombe

Woolacombe Beach

The tide is out at Woolacombe and it's a bit cloudy, but plenty of people are having fun in the sea and on the enormous beach. We head along the grassy strip to the north of the beach and soon reach a remarkably sheltered little cove which goes by the strange name of Grunta Beach.

After this, the coast is quite rocky towards the next key landmark, Morte Point.

The path heads inland for a while and we climb a hill towards Mortehoe, walking along the road. After a steep climb we turn left to follow the path through a grassy headland towards Morte Point.

We round the rocky point and soon a new vista lays before us to Bull Point with its lighthouse.

This is a very attractive section and we make good progress, descending sharply towards Rockham Bay. We pass inland of Bull Point, which is less interesting up close than from a distance, and the coast stretches out ahead towards Ilfracombe.

We are briefly tempted to think that this will be a brisk cliff top walk when there is a sudden and dramatic descent/ascent at Damagehue Rock.

Soon after there is another at Pensport Rock.

 After this, the coast stretches out towards Lee.

Lee turns out to consist of a small cove with a not very attractive beach and a defunct hotel. However, there is an excellent café where we enjoy welcome refreshments and take a short restorative break from walking. 

Leaving the café we follow a pleasant small road well inland from the sea which climbs steadily for a mile from sea level to 140m above sea. This is the view back. On the horizon is the coast of South Wales, around Milford Haven.

 This gives way to a couple of large fields covered with buttercups and cows. As we approach Ilfracombe, there is an excellent moment as we see our first Painted Lady of the year. Sadly, it didn't wait around long to be photographed. Soon afterwards, an entertaining, slightly grumpy, rusty sign catches our eye

Soon after this there is a moment of great excitement: the first Painted Lady of the year. It just won't wait long enough to be photographed. We pass between two grassy hills

And then we follow the twisting Torrs Path laid out the 19^th century to emerge at the edge of the town and follow the road down to just behind the Landmark Theatre where we have a fine view of Capstone Point.

As we follow the path around the Point, there is a nice view of Ilfracombe with the Landmark Theatre on the right.

Once we have fully rounded it, we can see our next challenge, Hillsborough. The harbour, where we ended today's walk, can be glimpsed on the right.

Ilfracombe is an interesting place and I have done a separate post about it.

Conditions: Warm and sunny.

Distance: 7.8 miles.

Map: Explorer 139 (Bideford, Ilfracombe & Barnstaple).

Grading: Strenuous becoming Moderate.

Rating: four and a half stars.

96 Croyde Bay to Woolacombe

Croyde Bay

It's a rather grey morning as we walk away from the northern end of Croyde Sand and it soon starts to rain. The surfers on the beach don't seem to mind however.

Soon there is a fine house overlooking the sea. It is in a sort Charles Rennie Macintosh / art deco style and we can't decide if it is a new build or whether the glass area to the left is a recent addition.

It is certainly an interesting building. Google reveals that it is called Baggy House and is new(-ish) - 1994 in fact and designed by Hudson Architects.  You can see many impressive pictures on their website. Why Baggy House? It is on the peninsular which leads to Baggy Point.

We carry on past this house towards Baggy Point, along a track on a low cliff-top. This is the view back to Croyde Bay. The square shape on the extreme right is a new lighthouse-style house which will allegedly be featured at some point in the future on Grand Designs.

We pass a sign telling us that the land is in the care of the National Trust. Their website has an extract from the North Devon Journal of 11 May 1939: "It is announced that Misses Constance and Florence Hyde of Baggy Point, Croyde, have presented to the Trust the whole of Baggy Point."

The Point itself– which we were very conscious of when we were walking along the other side of Bideford Bay – turns out to be a low and fairly innocuous headland, currently occupied by a flock of black sheep. The

We climb up over the edge of a hill and soon find ourselves on the other side of the peninsular. This side is Morte Bay and it is immediately noticeable how much calmer and milder it is. The long sandy Beach of Woolacombe Sand can be seen over to the right.

And this is the view back towards Baggy Point.

The southern end of Woolacombe Sand is called Putsborough Sand and this is home to a caravan park, right at the back of the beach.

From this angle, Morte Point, which marks the end of Morte Bay, can be seen to the left.

Our route takes us inland initially as we climb gradually up the hillside behind the beach. After a while we make a sharp descent to emerge on a sandy path behind the dunes at the back of the beach. It's quite pretty with lots of wild rock roses and we see a good number of Stonechats doing their thing from the tops of bushes. But it's odd not to be able to see the sea. Walking on sand is quite hard going too and overall we wish we were had taken a route along the firm sand near the waterline of the beach.  At length we arrive in Woolacombe: undistinguished, but doubtless a good place for a beach holiday.

Conditions: Cloudy, becoming brighter. Mild.

Distance: 6.3 miles.

Map: Explorer 139 (Bideford, Ilfracombe & Barnstaple).

Grading: Moderate.

Rating: three and a half stars.

95 Braunton Burrows to Croyde Bay

Braunton Burrows and Staunton Sands

We picked up the Coast Path at Sandy Lane car park and continued to walk along a track with the dunes of Braunton Burrows between us and the sea. before very long I had spotted some more Speckled Woods (yesterday's was the first of the year) and a Comma (another first).

We passed through a golf course and emerged onto the Braunton to Croyde road at Saunton. We took an inland detour and were quickly rewarded by the sight of a lone Holly Blue (again my first of the year - as I write this I have just seen another in my garden) soon passing St Anne's chapel (1897), located in a rather lovely wooded setting. According to Pevsner it was intended to be the chancel of a larger church which was never built.

Returning to the road, we took a left which headed down to the car park behind Saunton Sands and headed uphill to rejoin the road. Above us was the imposing bulk of the art deco Saunton Sands Hotel (by Alwyn Underdown, about 1937).

As we climbed, we had our first view of the actual sea since a brief glimpse at Instow two days ago. It has been really strange walking so many miles along the Coast Path without being able to see the sea.

Further up the vast expanse of sand becomes visible, with the sand dunes behind on the left.

We crossed the road and climbed to follow a path along the side of the hill. This felt like the real Coast Path at last. An open path, flowers and grass on either side, views over the sea - and, as a special bonus, absolutely loads of Peacocks. Amazing to think that I saw my first of the year only two days ago. We passed around the headland and passed a building our taxi driver had told us about: a lighthouse-style structure right in the headland being built for some magnate and scheduled to appear on TV next year.

A little further on another modern house was nestling into the roadside. Rather a nice house I thought, but don't they have planning controls around here?

In the background is Croyde Sands, which we soon reached. Our first sight was of strata of rock twisted into what seemed to be right-angles from its original position.

Behind the large sandy beach were some inviting dunes.

We walked across the back of the beach and reached the car park at the far end where we had left the car.

Distance: 5 miles.

Grading: Easy.

Map: Explorer 139 (Bideford, Ilfracombe & Barnstaple)

Rating: Four stars.

94 Barnstaple to Braunton Burrows

The Long Bridge, Barnstaple

Day three of our Coast Path trip and we set off from Barnstaple's handsome Long Bridge in bright sunshine. It may not be as long as Bideford's, but it is older, dating from the 13th century, although since widened.

Immediately we passed a pair of art deco buildings, the one on the right (presumably originally a cinema) was especially impressive.

Further on, at right angles to the river, was this curious structure capped by a statue of Queen Victoria, and now derelict. I haven't been able to discover what it is. To the right is a fine warehouse or grain store.

Continuing along by the river, and still following the Tarka Way as well as the Coast Path, we came upon another former railway station, this one imaginatively turned into a primary school.

Soon afterwards there was another view of the impressive Taw Bridge, which we admired from the other side on the other bank yesterday afternoon.

Soon we had crossed  the road by the bridge and left the town behind. The wide estuary was at low tide again although the river still ran shallowly in a wide arc.

We started to hear and see quite a few birds in this area and were delighted to see a pair of curlews patrolling the shoreline and the shallows.

The first landmark was this fine pub, the Braunton Arms, marked on the map as Strand House.

Here is a further view of the river at low water.

The next section gradually diverged from the river bank and brought us to Chivenor, where all that remained of the railway station was these signals permanently set to go. The station site had been redeveloped as houses.

Now on the left we passed the Royal Marines Chivenor barracks, which seemed to occupy a massive site. We we surprised to see signs on the perimeter wall that security was provided by a private security company. Surely the Marines could handle that? But no doubt it makes sense.

We were no on the outskirts of Braunton and suddenly a new type of environment opened up. This was our first sight of the River Caen, which flows into the Taw.

We followed the right bank of this small river. Off to the right was Braunton Great field. When we drove past it later on we were struck by scattered stone buildings of a very medieval style known as linhays - they made a great sight and I wish we had been able to stop to take some pictures. I now know from Pevsner that the Great is one of the very few remaining fields in the country still farmed on the medieval strip system. The presence of several small waterways gave it something of the character of the Somerset Levels.

There was a diversion in operation and we walked along the top of a sort of dyke with a minor road and a waterway (marked as Drain on the OS map) on our right. It was very flat to right and left.

At one point we spotted a swan's nest on a pile of rushes where a waterway came in from the right. The Braunton Burrows can be seen in the background.

This walkway ended at Crow Beach House and we then followed a stony track up to and into the Burrows. We followed this for almost two miles to reach Sandy Lane car park. It was a bit frustrating to not be able to see the sea or even walk through the dunes as the path was set well back.

I did however see my first Speckled Wood of the year, perhaps a bit earlier than usual.

Distance: 9.0 miles.

Grading: Easy.

Map: Explorer 139 (Bideford, Ilfracombe & Barnstaple )

Rating: four stars. A bit frustrating to not see the sea, and quite a lot of tarmac at first, but some nice elements all the same.

93 Instow to Barnstaple

Instow seen from Appledore

We sent off from the car park behind the dunes in Instow and followed the edge of the estuary northwards. The tide was out and there was a wide expanse of mud and sand. Now we were in the Taw estuary and looked across to Crow Point which we will pass inland of tomorrow.

Before long there was another spectacularly derelict boat (we saw several yesterday - they seem to be a feature of the area). The grafiti reads "Davy Cameron's offshore treasure map". I am writing this on the day Brexit was declared. It seems appropriate somehow - people who believe in treasure maps are often deluded.

We carried on along a winding trail through marshland which eventually rejoined the tarmac of the Tarka Trail, which had more bicycle traffic than yesterday's section. To the left were several marshy nature reserves.

A bit later, a tunnel of trees provided some variety.

We reached Fremginton Pill (Pill seems to be a local word for a Creek) and a view across to the north bank of the Taw estuary. The stone monument on the left was a memorial to a "local fisherman and character" John 'Dinger" Bell who drowned 30 years ago.

We walked across the former railway bridge and had this view of the Pill with the obligatory derelict boats.

On the other side was the former Fremington railway station now converted into a cafe and doing a roaring trade.

We plodded on towards Barnstaple approaching an attractive road bridge which was soon followed by a cutting.

Here I was delighted to see a  Brimstone and my first Peacock of the year. A sign board revealed that the sides of the cutting were being carefully cultivated to produce a series of colourful flowers. There was a fine showing of Primroses and a few Snake's-head Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris).

As we reached the edge of Barnstaple, the splendid Torridge Bridge opened in 2007. It is an example of a balanced cantilever design. A rather negative article on Wikipedia describes it as the Barnstaple Western Bypass and expresses worries about the effects on seabirds and the difficulty of reopening the Barnstaple to Bideford Railway.

We completed our walk by crossing Barnstaple's fine Long Bridge (I will use it's picture to head the post of tomorrow's section). It's not as long as Bideford's (yesterday) but is still a great sight.

Distance: 7.0 miles.

Grading: Easy.

Map: Explorer 139 (Bideford, Ilfracombe & Barnstaple )

Rating: Three stars. A bit samey.