Combe Martin to Woolacombe
Friday 25th April 2008
13 miles on Coast Path; total of 14.5 miles walking.
Click here for all our photos from this walk.
The wind had dropped today but it was dull for most of the day, with some light rain around lunchtime. One of the guidebooks describes today's walk relative to the preceeding days in the following terms: 'There are plenty of ascents and descents but they tend to be on a smaller scale'. That sums it up quite well. It wasn't really an easier day than the previous two, but it was different, and the weather was ideal for walking.
After another 'small' cooked breakfast at Channel Vista we meandered our way out of Combe Martin on back roads, occasionally having to come back to the main road because the previous cliff-top route has eroded away. We followed a pleasant wooded track around Golden Cove and soon had views in front of us to the 'fine miniature natural harbour' of Water Mark - plus caravan site! Thankfully the caravan site was mostly empty and the view was very attractive. We picked our way around the edge of the caravan site and then around the edge of Water Mark - slightly tricky in places because it was just after high tide so we had to scramble over seaweed on rocks at the edge of the harbour. Around here we met a group of female walkers, plus one man and a dog! All the women wore sweatshirts with the legend 'Celebrating Alec 2008' and, since returning home we have identified them as members and friends of the Normand Family, celebrating the life of nine-year old Alec, who died of rare form of brain tumour in January 2008. See Celebrating Alec for more information about Alec and the family's celebratory and fundraising activities.
We climbed up Widmouth Hill, with excellent views back the way we had come. There are supposed to be good views of Lundy from here too, but we couldn't see it (yet). However around Rillage Point, Ilfracombe came into view. We didn't get there for a while - first we had to walk to Hele and the climb the zig-zagging path over Hillsburgh, with some slightly suspect signposting on the way down. But it is pretty obvious where you're going - just head for Ilfracombe Harbour.
We had typical tourist demands of Ilfracombe - we wanted photographs of the harbour and then to find toilets, a post-box and somewhere to eat, eventually settling on 'Shirl's Cafe' for our lunch stop. Stopping for lunch at a cafe delayed us somewhat, but it kept us out of the rain that fell whilst we were inside. It rained again as we walked round the edge of the Capstone and past the New Landmark Theatre (which looks like a power station to me!) but it didn't come to much.
It felt as if it took us an unnecessary amount of time to get out of Ilfracombe, as the path meandered its way around back roads and then over the Seven Hills, but we eventually turned onto a track that used to be the old coast road from Ilfracombe to Lee, and vistas began to open up in front of us. We met a male walker who was only going a short distance today, but who warned us that the path ahead, with all its ascents and descents, was difficult. I must learn not to be put off by this sort of thing because actually it was a very enjoyable walk. Past 'The Blue Mushroom' (a holiday cottage) the track became a narrow lane which we followed all the way to Lee. On the way we passed an elderly man trudging up the hill with his shopping and, at the steepest part of the descent, just before Lee, the road was so narrow that a car had to stop to let us past - getting it going again up the steep hill must have been quite a challenge.
We met the 'Celebrating Alec' walkers again at the apparently derelict hotel in the otherwise very attractive bay at Lee, then climbed up the road and onto the path to Damage Cliffs. We climbed steeply, then down to a little cove where we stopped for a break and to admire the sloping slate (or gneiss?) outcrops. Then up again then down to another cover then up again to the lighthouse at Bull Point (with a holiday cottage to let). The 'roller coaster' coastline continued for a while past Bull Point, dropping down to Rockham Bay and then climbing up again, but then the walking became easier as we got closer to Morte Point. As we rounded Morte Point, our views of Wales disappeared and more of Devon appeared around the corner, especially the long beach at Woolacombe and the villages of Mortehoe and Willacombe.
It was an easy walk to Woolacombe, which has clearly been reinvented as a surfing resort since Richard visited as a little boy. A surfing competition was just ending, complete with flags flying and a loudspeaker announcing that the fun would resume at 9am tomorrow! Past the Red Barn restaurant and up the hill, passing the Royal Hotel (which isn't all Royal Hotel-like; indeed it is rather a blot on the landscape!) then up a private passageway to Bellacombe, where we were staying. The photographs we had found of Bellacombe had misled us into assuming that this would be a very ordinary B&B. It's an unassuming modern bungalow from the outside, but we had a wonderful room and we were the only guests. Highly recommended! Bellacombe is run by Julia Penman who lives there with her husband John (a taxi driver), their eight year old daughter Bella, and another slightly crazy dog. Of the eating places suggested, the Red Barn sounded our best option. With large numbers of surfers in residence, we felt distinctly old as we walked in - and were slightly anxious at the prospect of 'live music'. However the food and service turned out to be excellent - and the live music didn't happen whilst we were there. We walked down to the beach and watched the evening surfers for a while before climbing back up the hill to Bellacombe.
