Following the North West Devon coastline on the longest day

Thursday 21 June 2012  - Following the North West Devon coastal road and into Cornwall

Day 69 and 90 to go

Feeling lazy this morning I wasn’t in any hurry to move from the warm bed, but the noise from next-door drove us out. We came down for breakfast. I checked my email at the same time and the banking. I noticed our money for the Amsterdam Frankfurt flight I booked last week has been returned to the credit card but our tickets are still confirmed with KLM. Go figure. I hope we are still able to get on our flight!

I had a quick type chat with Dad on Skype before we grabbed all of our things and began our journey while it was still fine. From the state of the threatening clouds we could see it wouldn’t be long before the rain would set in.

We made our way round the coast to Westward HO! To check out the beach and surfers. The tide was well out and the surf wasn’t worth the time to walk out to it. We walked along the seafront wall before going into a sideshow gaming alley and having a ride on the motorbike racing. 

We returned to the car just as the rain began to start. Our next destination was Bucks Mills. We had to drive down a narrow road encompassed by green trees that made it really dark. We parked up before walking down the road into the town and on to the cliff top walk. The grounds were really beautiful with many flowers and ferns and running water. We walked down the path to the stone covered beach. We could see a waterfall cascading onto the beach but I didn’t walk over the slippery rocks to it. 

We then had to return to the car that required calf-burning agony. Our legs felt like falling off by the time we finally made it back. I never felt so glad to be seated in the car.

Our next spot was to return to a place I have been to on 3 other occasions, the first when I was nine. Clovelly, is a small fishing town built into the cliff.  Dad grew up here, attending the local school that has only recently closed. My Aunty and cousin were married here and it is a special place. 

After some insider info from Dad we drove down Wrinkleberry Lane parking just outside the church in Upper Clovelly. We then made our way down the little lane that runs between the cow paddocks. It was quite slippery in place as it is paved with cobblestones.

We emerged from the lane at the top of Lower Clovelly and continued our decent amongst the little houses and past the donkeys used to take tourists down the steep hill.

The walk down to the wharf at the bottom is a picturesque one and the views out over the water are spectacular.

When we reached the bottom we stopped at the pub for a refreshing beverage and a rest. Following our drink we bought a pasty to eat while we walked the wharf walls and then started the long and tiring trek up the hill. We had to stop at the pub half way up for more refreshments, this time Paul enjoyed the Clovelly Oxygen and with that we completed the last leg in the rain, passing the calves and their angry mums in the paddock. Boy our legs were burning.

With us back in the car we set the GPS for Hartland Point. Unfortunately it took us down the narrowest of back lanes that twisted and turned through the farming fields. We finally reached the point and Shipload Bay. The rain was still falling and it wasn’t particularly conducive for walking so we didn’t move far from the car.

Instead of hanging around we drove on to Bude in Cornwall. The rain was really socked in now and by the time we parked up it was just ridiculous, after all it is summer! We walked around into the town centre stopping for a drink to avoid the rain. We soon realised it wasn’t going to end so we did a walk around the block before coming back to the car and returning to Barnstaple.

We pulled into see Aunty Ruth for an hour, We were welcomed with a warm cuppa and biscuits. We sat chatting about our days and watching the TV game shows then at 6 we figured we should head on home.

Sharon and John were both in. I sat in the lounge checking emails while Paul joined John in the shed while he worked out. When they came back in we spoke to Andrew on Skype before having dinner. Paul came round and joined us for a while. When dinner was finished we spoke to Nicky on Skype as well which was great. 

With dinner done we watched the first soccer ¼ final between Portugal and Czech. It wasn’t particularly exciting. Portugal won 1-0 after Ronaldo finally put one through. 

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