Noss Mayo to Bigbury-on-Sea
Walked by Sally and Richard, Friday 25th May 2012
About 12.5 miles including 11 miles progress on the South West Coast Path
Click here for all our photos from this walk.
Another sunny day with a slight sea haze; a bit too warm for walking, though a breeze got up during the day which helped to cool us down. Roger Barnett gave us a lovely breakfast (the blueberries, raspberries and yoghurt were particularly good, but we enjoyed the scrambled egg and mushrooms too) and we left Revelstoke Coombe at around 9.20am.
We were not expecting to be able to cross the Erme Estuary until 2pm (an hour before low tide) so we didn't rush. After climbing back up to the coast path near Blackstone Point, first few miles were very easy walking, continuing along Lord Revelstoke's carriage drive. After Stoke Point (still on the carriage drive) we entered a pretty wooded area, and we noticed caravans beneath us. At Stoke House we realised that this is the Revelstoke Caravan Site, based around Stoke House - it is actually quite tasteful and unobtrusive, and the remains of St Peter's Church are right in the middle!
Still on the carriage drive we climbed Beacon Hill, where there was a good mobile phone signal so I dealt with my email. At Beacon Hill the carriage drive turns away from the coast but the coast path doesn't. Wow! Suddenly we were back to the all the ups and downs, with a particularly steep descent straight away. Our rate of progress remained quite slow as we walked towards St Anchorite's Rock and we stopped by the rock for lunch of our own provisions.
We continued - slowly - to Mothecombe Beach (shown as Meadowsfoot Beach on the OS map) and crossed the back of it, as instructed. The beach is only open to the public on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, but no-one seems to have told the members of the public who were there today, a Friday! We climbed up through woodland and then descended to the slipway. It was still slightly too early to cross the estuary, so we walked up the hill to Mothecombe Village where we were delighted to find that The Old School House (now a cafe) was open. Ice creams were just what we needed.
We set off to cross the Erme estuary just after 2pm. Most of the crossing was very straightforward (walking across sand) but the final part, over two river channels, was more tricky. I got quite nervous - the water was well above the knees and I don't like walking barefoot over stony beaches at the best of times, so Richard had to come back to carry my walking boots and to encourage me. However, looking back on the crossing, it was fun! We followed the instructions and the official route of the South West Coast Path and crossed from slipway to slipway, but hindsight also leads us to think that it might have been easier to cross the river nearer the sea, as we saw other walkers doing, coming ashore where Wonwell Beech is marked on the map (though this route would not be good if the tide was higher).
The first mile or so of walking from Wonwell Beech was straightforward and relatively easy, as we made our way towards the mouth of the estuary. We climbed up to The Beacon and had our first clear views to Burgh Island (the tidal island opposite Bigbury-on-Sea). The section from here to Challaborough (on the outskirts of Bigbury-on-Sea) is rightly described as a roller coaster and as strenuous walking, with several descents (e.g. to Westcombe Beech and Ayrmer Cove) interspersed with climbs up to cliffs at 100 metres and 80 metres. However, I don't think that the guidebooks emphasise sufficiently what wonderful exhilarating walking this is, and we were lucky both with the weather and with the glorious wildflowers, including thrift, cornflowers, ox-eye daisy, bluebells and red campion.
I have vague memories, from my youth hostelling trip as a teenager, of a vast caravan park at Challaborough, but what is here now seems less intrusive - I'm not sure whether this is because the caravan park has improved, or whether I have become less fussy, probably a bit of both. We walked on to Bigbury-on-Sea and found 'Summer Winds' on the front. We were welcomed very warmly by Kim Roberts and shown to a lovely large and cool room (actually part of a suite of rooms) - and it has a bath. All boxes ticked! [When I wrote up this walk I commented that 'Summer Winds' was a well kept secret, with no web presence. Now it appears to be a holiday let.]
In the evening we walked back to Challaborough where we bought a bottle of Healey's cider at the Costcutter and fish and chips at 'Fryer Tucks', which allows you to bring your own booze. It was all most civilised; we were sitting close to a large group and a couple with a young child, who were celebrating their 10th Wedding Anniversary and who offered to lend us glasses. We returned to Bigbury-on-Sea and photographed Burgh Island with the tide in (the 'sea tractor' used to ferry visitors at high tide was sitting in front of the iconic 1920s Burgh Island Hotel. I remember the island and hotel clearly from my 1970s youth-hostelling trip, but probably more because it features in one of the Poirot stories and is used in the TV adaptation of this story. Presumably Poirot stayed here because Agatha Christie did; you could stay in the room Agatha Christie stayed in for a mere £430 per night).
