Woolacombe to Braunton

Monday 4th June, 2012


Today was my first day of walking. I'd intended to start yesterday by walking the first leg of my planned stretch of the coastal path - Ilfracombe to Woolacombe. Ilfracombe was where I got to last year and so it made sense to start from there this time. However, it was so rainy and misty that I spent the day in Lynton and Lynmouth instead just being a tourist. I didn't want to walk along the coast and miss out on seeing the wonderful views. It would have been so frustrating knowing they were there but not being able to see them.

Today the weather was much better and it would have been quite nice to walk along the coast. But yesterday I'd picked up a North Devon bus routes timetable booklet in the Exmoor tourist info portakabin in the Lynmouth car park and realised if I jigged my days around a bit I could make much better use of the bus services. Monday and Tuesday were not good days for buses as they were both bank holidays. If I'd left my car in Woolacombe and got the bus to Ilfracombe to start my walk I would have had to change buses and wait for an hour at a junction in the middle of nowhere. Saving this walk for later in the week would mean I could get a direct bus and the journey would only take about 20 minutes.

So instead I started by walking part 2 first. I drove to Braunton and parked on the road just down from the main crossroads. Right by the bus stop was a shop by the name of 'Made in Devon'. I would have assumed it was some kind of craft shop but the smell of baking and coffee enticed me inside and I realised it was much more than this. What a wonderful place. The front part was a bakery, cafe, deli, ice-cream parlour selling local Devon produce. Long tables and benches ran the length of this part of the shop. At the back there were lots of locally made crafts, jars of chutney, chocolates and so on for sale. I bought lunch and breakfast to take away and had a quick cup of coffee inside which I drank whilst looking around. I only had 15 minutes before the bus was due which would take me to Woolacombe, but I was back outside in plenty of time for it.

As the bus rounded the hill above Woolacombe a stunning vista of glittering sea, long sandy beach, houses clutching to the hillside and a massive traffic jam greeted me. By the now the day was really hotting up and as it was a bank holiday EVERYONE seemed to have decided that Woolacombe was the place to be. It took a while for the bus to make its way down the hill to the stop at the bottom just by the car park and beach. What had seemed like a nice quaint place from the top of the hill, looked a bit tacky from the bottom and I didn't want to linger. A quick look around was enough and I set of west along the road running at the top of the beach towards Putsborough Sands. The beach is about 2 miles long and popular with surfers as well as families.

Woolacombe Beach

 The path led along a quiet lane with several laybys in which many small campervans were parked. As the laybys overlooked a much quieter part of the beach I could understand why so many people chose to park here.

Looking back towards Woolacombe

Looking fowards towards Baggy Point

From Putsborough Sands the path turned right and up. I was now walking on grass along the top of Napps Cliff and climbing steadily towars Baggy Point. Baggy Point is National Trust land and this part of the SWCP follows the same route as the Tarka Trail (the long-distance trail named after book 'Tarka the Otter'). Looking back I got great views of the beach all the way back to Woolacombe.

Baggy Point

From Baggy Point I got quite clear views towards Lundy as well as views westwards along the North Devon coast. Walking back along the southern side of this small peninsula led me fairly quickly towards Croyde Bay. The path becomes the main street leading through Croyde and passes the remains of a whale skull that had been washed up on shore in 1915. It looked like rock, but tapping it I could tell it was bone. Shortly after this was a National Trust cafe with a lovely tea garden. I didn't stop as I wasn't particularly hungry or thirsty, though if I hadn't been conscious of the fifteen miles I had to cover today, I probably would have stopped anyway as it looked so inviting.

Remains of a whale that was washed ashore in 1915

Continuing down the main street of Croyde most of the properties I passed seemed to be holiday cottages. As the road became a bit busier the path rose above it, through a gate, to become completely separate. Through a gate at the other end I turned right to head down to the beach and the sand dunes.

Croyde from a distance

The beach here is much smaller than Woolacombe beach, but seemed to have just as many people crammed on to it. There was no real room to walk without feeling that I was intruding on people’s personal space. Multi-generational families were laid out over every inch of the beach baking themselves an unflattering shade of puce. The sea was just as crowded with surfers and boogie boarders. I felt hemmed in and out of place and wanted to get away quickly. On a quieter day it would probably be quite nice here.

Sand dunes at Croyde

I couldn’t find the path at first, but then spotted a small sign pointing behind a hut and up into the sand dunes. The dunes rose up and down with no clear way through them. Children were playing in hollows sliding up and down having great fun. It can’t have been that good for the conservation of the dunes but there were no signs asking people to stay off them and the coast path sign actually pointed straight through the middle of them. It was hard going on my legs and particularly my knees clambering up and down the sand but eventually I could see where I needed to be. I couldn’t get there though, as there was a bit of a stream leading on to the beach blocking my way. I had to backtrack a bit but then found my way onto the far side, joined the beach and, narrowly avoiding stepping on picnic blankets, made my towards steps which I climbed back up to the road.

Saunton Sands

Following the path along the top of a grassy cliff, Saunton Sands soon came into sight. The path rejoins the road here and backtracks a little way. Crossing the road I climbed above it on the opposite side and followed a rather overgrown path parallel to the lengthy beach. I was high enough and in enough overgrowth to be unaware of the road for the majority of the time. The path then dips down, back across the road and leads into the Saunton Sands Hotel car park. Passing through this and winding down around the hotel grounds leads to the beach car park. I got lost in this car park as there were no signs. After doing a tour of the car park I asked someone at the entrance and was pointed in the direction of the road. There was quite a bit of traffic and so it wasn’t too pleasant to walk along and I was glad when the path turned onto Saunton golf club and crossed the edge of the green.

Braunton is not too far from here, but the path heads south past Braunton, then east and north to form a big 'U' before finally reaching the outskirts of the town. Tempting as it was to cut straight into town (my knees were getting very tired by this time), I stuck with the path and was glad I did. The path follows an easy path behind the dunes that separate it from Saunton Sands. Part of the dune area is a military practice zone and is fenced off and labelled as a 'danger area' on the map.

When the path turned east it became wider before turning north on to a narrow strip of overgrown path along the bank of the river Caen. There were a few boats on the river including one speedboat towing a child behind on a giant tyre. A lone cyclist passed me but I was the only walker here.

The Caen

Eventually I was deposited on a main road on the edge of Braunton. I could have continued following the coast path by almost doubling back on myself and going past the sewage works, but my walk was done for today. Instead I followed the Tarka Trail along the narrowing Caen back into the centre of Braunton and my van.

15 miles

Moderate, mostly flat with the most strenuous bit being the sand dunes

Mobile phones and not going to Lundy

Lundy Island is about three and a half miles long and half a mile wide. It lies off the coast of North Devon towards the end of the Bristol Channel and is reached by ferry from either Bideford or Ilfracombe. It's owned by the National Trust and although it has a shop and accommodation is a bit of a wilderness. Going there has been at the back of my mind for a long time, but it was last year when I was walking the Exmoor part of the South West Coast Path and came across ferry timetables that I decided I would definitely visit this year.

I decided to go on the Thursday as the ferry times on this day would give me the maximum amount of time on the island. I hoped to walk right the way round and so wanted as much time as possible so that I could achieve this without feeling rushed and whilst still having plenty of time to sit and absorb the views and watch any wildlife.

I emailed the ferry company to see about booking. They emailed me back advising me to book in advance and informing me that I would have to do this over the phone rather than online or by email. Easier said than done as I get in too late to ring during the week. I tried phoning on Saturday morning before I left but each time I rang I got a voicemail message telling me the booking office was closed and informing me of the opening hours. As I was ringing at a time the message was saying the office should be open, this was a bit strange. Stranger still was the second part of the message advising me to ring the number I was actually already ringing. I tried one last time right before I left and this time, hallelujah, got through. I booked my ticket and arranged to pick it up from the booking office on Thursday morning. I even got a discount because I'm a member of the National Trust. The woman told me to be at the office for 7.45am and gave me directions for where to park and how to get to the office and the ferry. She also told me to phone the office after 8pm on Wednesday evening to check that the sailing was going ahead. I left home relieved I'd got it sorted out and knowing I'd be able to indulge my island habit whilst I was away.

All was well until Wednesday. I listened to the weather forecast: gales, storms, thunder, rain, gusts of wind up to 70 miles per hour. Maybe I wouldn't be going to Lundy after all. I listened to the forecast a couple more times in case they changed their minds but they didn't. Unless I was told otherwise by Lundy officials though, I still needed to turn up for the ferry the following morning. So it was important I made that after 8pm phone call. This is where I hit my next problem.

I rarely use a mobile phone. In fact I've never actually bought one, I just use other people's cast-offs. I've been using my current phone for a couple of years and it's an old one of my brother's. As he lives in Germany this is a German phone and so the charger doesn't fit English plug sockets. Not a problem because German plugs fit the shaver socket in my bathroom and so I can charge it in there. I can also charge it in the car and when I'm travelling in mainland Europe the charger fits the sockets fine and is much smaller and lighter to carry than an English size charger and adaptor. So I'm very happy with my German phone.

Now however, my phone decided to die. Each time I tried to switch it on it said auf wiedersehen and switched itself back off. And yes, it was fully charged. I took the battery out and wiped it and put it back in. I shook it. I held it in different positions. All to no avail. If I was going to make this phone call I was going to have to get a new phone. A trip to Tesco was called for.

I found a phone for £11 that seemed perfect. They did have one for £9 but I needed to buy a car charger to go with it and there wasn't one to fit the £9 phone. Buying a phone is far more complicated than I ever realised.  I had to charge it, then ring a number to register it, then put credit on it, then learn how to use it so I could actually make my phone call. I sat in my car in the car park with the phone plugged into the cigarette lighter trying to go through everything in the right order. Finally I was able to make my phone call. Only problem now was that I couldn't hear anything. I played with the volume but still couldn't hear anything. The only way I could hear was to have the phone on loud speaker. I assumed I was doing something wrong and resolved to play with it a bit more when I got back to the campsite.

As for my phone call? Well, I felt like I'd completely wasted my time because all I got was a voicemail message saying that because of the weather forecast the ferry may or may not go and they'd decide in the morning so passengers should still turn up at 7.45am. What was the point in having to ring to be told that? After my experiences with their voicemail messages on Saturday I really think they need to think a bit more about how to word their messages so they actually tell callers something useful and meaningful.

So next morning I had the alarm set before 6am to make sure I had enough time to get to Bideford and find the parking and the ticket office and the ferry. I tried calling again before I left but it was still the same message as the previous evening. I drove the half hour to Bideford, put my car in the car park and bought an all day ticket (luckily it was only £3) all with the knowledge that I was probably doing all of this for nothing and could have had a nice lie-in.

I walked along the quay to the ticket office. The ferry was docked alongside looking inviting. A queue of people were snaking outside the booking office door and along the quay next to the sign saying 'cancelled'. I had to join the queue to fill in a form to claim a refund. I wasn't the only person pointing out the inadequacy of the voicemail messages. The woman in the office said they'd only just made the decision to cancel. I really don't understand the point of having to ring the night before (ok, phoning the night before probably wasn't as much palaver for other people as it was for me, but even so ...) if they don't make decisions until just before the sailing is due even when there are such severe weather warnings. I was rather miffed at having got up early, wasted an hour's worth of diesel (return trip) and the parking fee all for nothing, as well as being disappointed at not getting to Lundy. The next sailing was not until Saturday and that would be too late for me.

At least it was still early and I still had the whole day ahead of me. So I went for a walk. But that's another story.

2012 Twelve May Review

A bit of a rubbish month as far as this list goes. Looking over it, I can't think of anything I've actually done towards it. Ah well, must try harder next month.

1. Floating in a floatation tank (I'm hoping to do this in London during the February half term)
2. Reading at least 10 books from the BBC Big Read list (if I read 10 a year, I'll have the whole 200 knocked off in the next 12-13 years!)
3. Taking at least one photo every day of the year (this will improve my photography skills, be a photo-diary of 'year in my life', and help me to learn to use my new camera)
4. Coming up with a fitness plan and sticking to it (the start of my training for Kilimanjaro, though I may not actually climb it for several years yet)
5. Leading at least 4 of my own walks (good practice for my walking group leader's qualification)
6. Buying another house (need to get my finances in order first)
7. Learning to use at least 3 new pieces of technology or computer programmes (not counting my new camera)
8. Doing a writing course (depends on the length of the course whether I'd complete it in the year or not)
9. Getting at least one piece of writing published (paid or unpaid, as long as someone else makes the decision to publish it and it's not self-published)
10. Making a start on sorting out my photos (putting the prints that are currently still stuffed in packets into albums and getting all my photos scanned into the computer - no way will this be completed in a year, but I'll feel good even if I get started on it)
11. Buying a car/van that I can sleep in (and doing any necessary conversions/adaptations)
12. Getting into cycling (even if it's just short cycles along decent paths)

Home

I arrived back very late last night from my week walking the North Devon part of the South West Coast Path. It was a gorgeous day - hot, sunny - and after a week in which I'd had lots of rain and wind I didn't want to waste any of it. I also had one bit of my walk left to do, which would have really niggled at me if I hadn't been able to complete it. So I walked all day, watched seals, ate an ice-cream, and only left at 5pm. Now I have to spend today sorting out my camping gear, getting everything dry and put away, and then I can think about writing up my walks and sorting out my photos.

This isn't going to be as easy as it sounds as the whole thing is rather muddled in my head. I'd wanted to walk from Ilfracombe to Westward Ho! and of course it would make sense to start at the beginning and walk to the end. But with the combination of Sunday and the two bank holidays affecting bus services, stiff knees and the poor weather, I ended up walking the route in a really hodge-podge manner and now I'm feeling very confused as to which bits join up with which other bits. I'm sure it will all fall into place when I start working it out, but for now it's all a bit of a daunting jumble.

Half Term

I haven't posted much over the past month as I've been far too busy at work and barely had time to think. Still, next week is half term and I'm heading down to Devon to walk a bit more of the Southwest Coast Path. After spending the really hot week we had recently in what is basically a giant greenhouse, I was really looking forward to a hot week in my tent and walking along the coast. The weather forecast is pretty miserable though. Nothing like last year when I walked the Exmoor stretch of the path. Whatever the weather, it'll just be nice to get away and have a break. I'm going from Saturday to Saturday. I'm hoping to walk 4 days, have a day trip to Lundy Island on Thursday and have one day being a tourist. I'm booked into a tiny campsite near Barnstaple which I'll use as my base and I've just found out that there's a bank holiday weekend real ale fest on in Barnstaple. How perfect is that!

Getting things booked

I've been off work this week as I lost my voice. Careless I know. As a teacher a voice is pretty much essential for my job. Still at least I've been able to get loads (and I mean LOADS) of stuff done at home that I normally never get time to do. Like cleaning. I'm feeling very organised and virtuous as I look around my sparkling and tidy home. Having a clear and clean space around me makes my head feel cleaner and clearer too and I feel better able to get on with things. So this afternoon I've sat at my clean and clear desk and done all kinds of organising and booking tasks.

I tried to book tickets for myself and a friend to go to Wembley in June to see England play Belgium but they are sold out! I only got an email on Sunday saying that tickets were available and I really didn't think Belgium were that exciting a team, so I didn't quite believe the 'sold out' sign when I first saw it. Oh well, what's meant to be is meant to be. I'll try to go next season instead and maybe I'll get to see a more interesting team. Not going in June also means I get to go straight down to the south west coast path for half term rather than having to detour into London on the way. So that's a bonus. It would be better to see England when it's a stand-alone weekend rather than a half-term and then it doesn't impact on anything else and I can actually have a nice weekend in London. So although it would have been nice to get a challenge ticked off, I'm not too disappointed about it.

I did get to book tickets to hear the Dalai Lama speak in Manchester later on in June though. I'm not overly interested in Buddhism but he is pretty important and as I am interested in religions generally it's a good opportunity to go and hear what he's got to say. I'm going with a friend's daughter who is currently studying Theology. Like me, she's got more of a general interest than a specific interest in Buddhism.

I've also booked myself onto a walk led by Stephen Booth in September. It's a 5 mile walk starting in Castleton and is visiting some of the locations mentioned in his books. No dead bodies guaranteed but it should still be an interesting walk. At the same time as booking it I've also joined the Friends of the Peak District. This is an organisation that runs various campaigns to support the Peak District and has different events on offer, the Booth walk being just one of them.

As well as this, I've sorted out lots of other things today, like the breakdown cover for my van (actually got a refund!), a magazine subscription, my pension, and changed my Ramblers membership to a group closer to where I live.

So, all in all, I feel like I've had a productive day. This would never have been possible if I'd had to go to work. It's made me realise that for my life to run smoothly and for me to be able to do all the things I want I either have to give up work or get myself a maid and a PA. As I can't afford either option I guess I'll just have to accept that for most of the time things just don't get done.

2012 Twelve April Review

1)  Floating in a floatation tank (I'm hoping to do this in London during the February half term)

2)  Reading at least 10 books from the BBC Big Read list (if I read 10 a year, I'll have the whole 200 knocked off in the next 12-13 years!) - I still haven't read any more of the list, though I have bought myself a copy of Heidi which is on the list somewhere.

3)  Taking at least one photo every day of the year (this will improve my photography skills, be a photo-diary of 'year in my life', and help me to learn to use my new camera) - as I've been on holiday I've taken a lot more photographs - however this all stopped when I got back home and got straight back into being busy, busy, busy ...  

4)  Coming up with a fitness plan and sticking to it (the start of my training for Kilimanjaro, though I may not actually climb it for several years yet) - still nothing done on this one.

5)  Leading at least 4 of my own walks (good practice for my walking group leader's qualification) - nor this one.

6)  Buying another house (need to get my finances in order first) - actually made a start on going through my accounts

7)  Learning to use at least 3 new pieces of technology or computer programmes (not counting my new camera) - I've been learning to use the video camera I bought before Christmas.

8)  Doing a writing course (depends on the length of the course whether I'd complete it in the year or not) - I took the first lesson with me on holiday and made a start on it. Now I just need to finish it. 

9)  Getting at least one piece of writing published (paid or unpaid, as long as someone else makes the decision to publish it and it's not self-published)

10) Making a start on sorting out my photos (putting the prints that are currently still stuffed in packets into albums and getting all my photos scanned into the computer - no way will this be completed in a year, but I'll feel good even if I get started on it) - nothing done

11) Buying a car/van that I can sleep in (and doing any necessary conversions/adaptations) - I'm researching conversions and have the number of someone I can get to have a look at it for me and give me some advice. 

12) Getting into cycling (even if it's just short cycles along decent paths) - I've bought some panniers and a cycle computer. I might not have done any actual cycling but I'm now better equipped for the cycling I don't do!