Week 3 Day 0 - Sherborne to Camelford

We are off on week three of the great south-west coast trek. We have booked camping at Joliot's Well in Camelford. Having packed the tent and all the camping gear on Tuesday afternoon, we only have to sort out our clothes for the week and any food that we are taking from home.

With the sun beating down from an azure sky, we leave Sherborne c0930 and head west, stopping for coffee in Honiton, and continuing on to Boscastle where we have lunch - nothing special - in a pub just by the car park. Some sea mist is covering the coastal strip down in these parts so we don't hang around and set off to find our camp site. The charge for the week is £133 which is a bit steep. The camp site is mostly static vans and cabins with a few hard standings for caravans and tourers and a couple of sites where tents will go. All pitches have access to electricity but we are not geared up for it.

We get quite sweaty putting up the tent in the full afternoon sun but enjoy a pleasant beer afterwards. The showers are different to anything we have encountered before. It is a set of rooms each with a WC, basin and shower cubicle plus soap and hand drier. Men and women use the same showers. There is a hair drier and one room has a bath for which you have to pay extra.

We drive down to Tescos in Wadebridge (sorry Martin) to stock up with supplies for breakfast and packed lunches. After a late night shower in the unisex shower block we turn in for an early night.

Week 2 Day 9 - Home again

After breakfast we pack our bags and are out of the cottage by 0830. We are back in Sherborne for coffee by 11am. A reasonably successful week despite the bad weather and the mud. We shall be back again, weather permitting, under canvas this time, on 24th May for another week.

Week 2 Day 8 - Rain again

The rain has been falling all night and is still falling at breakfast so we decide not to attempt today's testing walk. We had planned to walk from Hartland Quay to Bude - the hardest section in the itinerary with nearly 5000 feet of ascent and descent crossing ten valleys. It would have been muddy as well.


Instead we head off to the RHS gardens at Rosemoor after breakfast and have an interesting stroll around the gardens under our umbrella. There are lots of well-behaved, well-supervised primary school children wandering around seemingly oblivious to the rain.

 

We have an excellent lunch at The Bush Inn, Morwenstow - recommended in The Good Pub Guide - where we end up in conversation with a retired couple living locally who have moved down from Solihull with their dogs.

After lunch we visit Bude and pick up the Cornwall Bus Timetable so that we can work out a detailed plan for the next stage in a month's time.

Week 2 Day 7 - Clovelly to Hartland Quay

A beautiful day with unbroken sunshine from start to finish.


We park at the Clovelly Visitor Centre at 0855, put on our walking gear and, because the centre is still closed, we walk round the side and off along the coast path without having to pay for car parking.


There are a couple of steep-sided valleys to negotiate, and in one case we have to cross the stream by stepping stones. Unfortunately, the stream is still in spate and the stepping stones are a couple of feet under water so we walk down the beach and cross where the stream has fanned out and become much shallower.


We are overtaken by a chap whom we met yesterday walking on his own. Yesterday he had his wife and dog with him but not today. He tells us that the dog is getting old and couldn't cope with another walk like yesterday's so his wife is staying with the dog and waiting to meet him at Hartland Point. Later we meet all three at Hartland Point having lunch.


Just after meeting our lone walker we have to walk down a steep path in a field containing a horse. The path is extremely muddy and, to make matters worse, I am sure the horse uses the path for its toilet. Our boots are wet and very muddy by the time we cross the bridge at the bottom. However, on the whole the mud is much less than yesterday and we stay relatively clean.


At Hartland Point we have a cup of tea at the cafe by the car park and then have our lunch in a field just past the lighthouse. We are joined by a couple of French women who tell us they are doing a circular walk from Hartland Quay.


The geology from Hartland Point to Hartland Quay is fascinating with heavy folding and faulting of the sandstones and mudstones. There is also what looks like the remnants of a river valley that has been eroded at both ends by the sea.

At Hartland Quay we have a drink and take some photos before heading inland to the village of Hartland to catch the bus back to Clovelly. We walk up the hill past the impressive church at Stoke with its massive tower. Then we divert back across the Abbey Stream, past the impressive Hartland Abbey and walk across some fields where we encounter sheep before descending again and following the stream through some woodland. Finally, we cross the stream and climb up into Hartland village via what looks like an ancient track that is also very muddy.


We enter the village by the National Geological Survey's Magnetic Monitoring Station and wait for about an hour before the bus arrives. We are joined by a German couple - mother and daughter it seems - who also catch the bus but don't speak much English.



Distance completed today: 10.3 miles
Total distance completed: 109.0 miles (17.3%)

Week 2 Day 6 - Westward Ho! to Clovelly

Mud, mud, glorious mud. And today we had lots of it. It was so bad we both slipped over in it.


Today's walk, from Westward Ho! to Clovelly was described as "strenuous" in the guide book and it most certainly was. Apart from about a mile at the start and the last 2 miles at the end we were either climbing up or sliding down steep sided valleys.


We park the car at Bideford and get the bus to Westward Ho! I have forgotten my bus pass and have to pay full price for the journey. At Westward Ho! we set off along the old railway track which once ran from Westward Ho! to Bideford. When that turns inland we continue along the coast path. In many places it is possible to pick our way around the mud but not always and our boots and gaiters soon become wet and covered in a layer of oozing mud. After that we don't try too hard to avoid the mud and often walk straight through it.


The sun soon appears and it starts to get quite warm. We soon dispense with our waterproofs. We stop for coffee on a bench with a glorious view of the bay as far as Saunton with Lundy to the left. At one point we have to walk along the beach for about 50 yards and there is a stream flowing into a large pool which is dammed by the beach and draining through the shingle out to sea. Liz bravely walks across the top of the dam, I worry that the dam might give way and cross the beach lower down well away from the dam!

Continuing onwards, the underlying rock turns to the familiar red Devonian sandstone and the mud becomes particularly slippery. We both take tumbles. I manage to avoid falling over completely by grasping a nearby tree but poor Liz ends up with mud on her knees and, soon afterwards, on her backside.


We reach Peppercombe where we say hello to some National Trust foresters. We miss the sign showing us the coast path and end up on the beach. We decide to stay and eat our lunch before climbing back up the cliffs.


We meet 6 people walking in the opposite direction - the first walkers we have met so far. One couple had caught the bus and are walking back to Abbotsham where they are staying.


We cross another steep-sided valley at Bucks Mill and carry on through the mud, eventually coming out near the end of The Hobby - a track along the cliffs built at the end of the Victorian period by two local worthies, Frederick and Christine Hamlyn. This brings us out by the Clovelly Visitor Centre some 7 hours after we set off from Westward Ho!


Despite our muddy and disheveled appearance we are able to get a cup of tea and a piece of cake and to visit the local shop. We have to hang around for another hour for the bus back to Bideford which leaves at 1828 and we don't arrive back at Cobb Cottage until well after 8 pm.



Distance completed today: 11.2 miles
Total distance completed: 98.7 miles (15.7%)

Week 2 Day 4 - Bideford to Westward Ho!

We decide to tackle the walk from Bideford to Westward Ho! despite the threat of rain in the air. We park on the quay in Bideford and, wearing full waterproof gear, head north towards Appledore starting at 0940. The path is interesting if somewhat muddy. It passes through housing developments, woodlands, fields, beach and cliff. Due to the heavy rain yesterday, there are frequent puddles and many that it is impossible to walk around.


By 1040 we have reached Appledore and stop for coffee and a toasted teacake in The Quay cafe - a very welcoming place with excellent service and good value. As it has stopped raining we remove our waterproof trousers and pack them in Liz's rucksack. Just as we leave it starts to rain again but only briefly.


We walk around the coast to Westward Ho! passing within half a mile of where we were on Friday last - 3 days ago! - across the estuary. The wind is relentless and cold (from the south east) and a few short rain showers keep us damp. At one point my hat blows off my head straight into a large puddle of water left over from yesterday's downpour.

As we walk around the sand dunes at Northam Burrows, there are a few hardy golfers out on the golf course braving the strong wind and occasional rain. We reach Westward Ho! at about 1300 after a walk of nearly 8 miles and sit on a bench on the sea front to eat our packed lunch. Afterwards, we walk into town seeking a hot cup of coffee and find the 1325 bus about to leave for Bideford. We decide to take it, leave our walking togs in the car and head into Bideford town centre for coffee.


Distance completed today: 9.3 miles
Total distance completed: 87.5 miles (13.9%)

Week 2 Day 3 - Rain

We awake to the sound of rain on the roof light in the bedroom and get up late to a cooked breakfast. We decide to cancel our plans to walk today and head off to Atlantic Village to have coffee, buy a newspaper and do some shopping.


As the rain pounds down we go to The Thatched Inn at Abbotsham for lunch - roast beef with far too much to eat - washed down with a pint of Doom Bar. After a short tour of Westward Ho! and Appledore we return to Cobb Cottage and relax for the afternoon and evening.

We had hoped to watch an episode or two of The Killing but discover that the box we had brought from home contains no disks - then I remember I had removed them and put them in the DVD folder Toby gave me last Christmas. You have to laugh, don't you?