Around Morwenstow

When we were walking between Hartland Quay and Bude in May 2009, flooding at Welcombe Mouth and the generally inclement weather had forced us to follow an inland path between Welcombe Mouth and Duckpool. We’d covered the ground but felt we’d missed out on some particularly good coastal walking. A holiday later the same year, in a cottage an hour’s drive away, gave Richard, Helen and I the opportunity to walk part of this section of the coast path – and it was indeed spectacular. There were several steep descents and ascents, from the cliff top to river valleys and back, but the walking was generally not as difficult as we’d expected it would be – and the landscape in a September heat wave appeared very different from the way it had in a May deluge.

We were staying at Willow Cottage, Bude Farm (don’t confuse the name with the town of Bude), a wonderful place between Monkokehampton and Winkleigh in rural Devon; the location could perhaps best be described as in the middle of nowhere! We drove to Morwenstow (which is back in Cornwall) parking between the Rectory Farm Tearooms and the Church; it’s a pretty little place. We’d decided to retrace our steps along the road and track that we’d followed from Welcombe Mouth in May. However we saw what appeared to be a good footpath and so we attempted to cut a corner off; this resulted in a pleasant walk along a track, through a field with cows and a lovely view back to Morwenstow, and through lots of mud – but then we found ourselves in a field completely surrounded by impenetrable hedges, so we were forced to retrace our steps and to follow the road around after all.

Shortly after Marsland Manor we took a track on the left hand side. This was the track that we’d followed in May after crossing into Cornwall by way of a footbridge alongside a ford, but we didn’t retrace our steps down to the ford, instead following a path directly down to the coast at Marsland Mouth. All of the land round here is owned jointly by the Devon and Cornwall Wildlife Trusts, having been donated by Christopher Cadbury. We crossed passed into Devon at a footbridge, then we walked down to the beach for lunch. We crossed back into Cornwall (Kernow) and climbed steeply to Marsland Cliff. 

As we were walking along the cliff views opened up behind us to Marsland Mouth, Welcombe Mouth and eventually to Hartland Quay and Hartland Point, and there were also interesting rock formations just beneath us, with strata lying at some very interesting angles.

We descended first of all to Litter Mouth and then climbed up to Yeolmouth Cliff with excellent views back to Gull Rock (another one! – this one can be identified by the square hole in it) and ahead to the satellite dishes at GCHQ above Duckpool. We descended to Yeolmouth and then climbed up to Henna Cliff. We could have turned off at this point to return to Morwenstow but we decided to go for one more descent and ascent. This descent was particularly steep, down a bank with lots of wildflowers including heather, gorse, scabious and campion, but the ascent to Vicarage Cliff wasn’t too bad.

We turned left along a field boundary and walked through a field of cows to emerge back at Morwenstow Church. The eccentric Parson Hawker, who came here in 1834, replaced the derelict vicarage with a mock Gothic structure and apparently the strange chimneys represent the towers of different churches. Hawker is also credited with starting harvest festival services and with using ‘Hawker’s Hut’ on the coast as a place of meditation and for smoking an occasional opium pipe. We restricted ourselves to tea at the Rectory Farm Tearooms, then returned to Bude Farm. 

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