Family homes - Clovelly and Bude

Wednesday 

10 July 

Day 10

87 to go

I’m surrounded by sick people! Dad has passed on a nasty cold to Mum and now Paul is feeling the effects of a sore throat too. 

We did manage to get a decent night’s sleep, not coming down stairs until 7.30am, with the sun well and truly up. We organised the day ahead, had breakfast, showered and were out the door by 9.30am. 

Our first stop was a place that is my Dad’s home town of Clovelly. He lived in Upper Clovelly as a child, attending the local primary school, which was our starting point this morning, so that we could do the walk down Wrinkleberry Lane. This local sneaky lane, takes you straight into the start of the Clovelly descent, rather than paying the 20 pounds each to enter. 

From this landing point, we began the wander down the familiar cobblestone streets, watching where we put our feet as we did. We made our way past different buildings. Dad was busy pointing out different places that had significance in his life. We stopped in at the little church he attended and did a wander through the Fisherman’s Cottage, now a museum. 

The rocky road continued on. I enjoyed the varying views and had to keep remembering to look back up the steep hill for a different point of view. 

We finally made it to the sea wall. The tide was in, something we don’t always manage to see. It was a lovely day, with plenty of blue sky and sunshine bouncing off the water. However, it was still chilly. 

I walked out on the stoney beach with Dad, so that he could through a rock into the harbour and then we joined Mum and Paul back in the Red Lion Tavern for a well earned drink. We rang home to share the occasion with Brad. 

We opted to take the Range Rover back to the top for 2.50 pound, rather than do the walk back to the top. We did a wander though the gift shop, while Dad collected the car and then we had a quick look at the Clovelly Brewery, where Paul picked a few bevies for later. 

We returned to Upper Clovelly to take some photos of The Old Smithy, where Dad had lived, as well as Aunt Luce’s little old cottage. We then returned to the highway to travel on to Bude in Cornwall. 

Before making our way to the seaside tourist hot spot, we went past my Grandmother and fathers’s final home, a place I remember staying in when I was 9. We then tackled the holiday traffic, finding a park at the Sainsbury’s. We made our way down the main street, looking for a pastie shop, Pengenna was our destination. We opted to sit inside, ordered our lunch and then sat and enjoyed the delights. 

We returned to the tourist strip, dodging the foot traffic and returning to the car. Paul and I elected to walk along the headland, to take in the view of the sea and those enjoying the beach, despite the gusty and cold winds. 

Dad collected us at a small carpark and then we began our journey towards home. This included a lot of very narrow, twisting and turning roads that were lined by tall hedges hiding their slate stack stone walls. We did finally arrive at Duck Pool, a beach, if you can call black rock pebbles a beach. This was in a valley of green pasture land, where a number of cows were happily grazing. We watched walkers scramble up the steep path, part of a walk trail between Barnstaple and Bude. I climbed part of the hill to enjoy the view. 

Back in the car,  Dad took us along the little country lanes, where using your horn was necessary to warn on coming traffic. Thankfully, we didn’t meet too many vehicles. We did take the longest route however, eventually passing through Kilkhampton and then popped up in Hartland. Home again. It was now just after 4pm. 

The remaining time of the afternoon and evening was spent winding down. Paul was well and truly feeling the effects of the cold, and went up for a rest. I went through the photos, while Mum and Dad stopped in at the Legion. We ate dinner then settled in front of the TV to watch some of Wimbledon and then the England v Netherlands soccer semifinal. At least England looked like they wanted to play in this game.