South West Coast Path, Sec 5- Woolacombe to Braunton 20th July 22

GPX File Here

On Wednesday the 20th July 2022 I set off from Woolacombe Sands Holiday Park where I am staying at 0515 hrs and walk along the footpath into Woolacombe and onto the beach.

Woolacombe is a popular destination for surfing and family holidays and is part of the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The beach has been managed by Parkin Estates Ltd since the 1970s and has over the years been recognised as one of the best beaches in Europe. It won the title of Britain's Best Beach in the "Coast Magazine Awards 2012" and was awarded the same prize of Britain's Best Beach in 2015 by TripAdvisor, also ranking in their polls as 4th in Europe and 13th best in the world. The beach water quality is monitored regularly by the Environment Agency and was rated excellent from 2016 to 2022.

The tide is at its lowest so I decide to walk along the firm sand on the beach rather than trudge along a soft sandy path on the cliff above.

Across from the beach, there are views of Lundy Island. Woolacombe has low cliffs at either end of the beach which are home to rare maritime heathland. Much of the countryside close to the village is owned and cared for by the National Trust. The coast itself is part of the North Devon Voluntary Marine Conservation Area because of its diverse and rare species.

Like a number of British beaches, it is privately owned and until 1948 the beach and much of the surrounding land was owned by the Chichester family, who acquired it in 1133 during the reign of King Henry I. When Lady Rosalie Chichester, the last of the line, died in 1949 it had been in her family’s possession for over 800 years. On her death the Chichester's land in Woolacombe and Mortehoe and the family estate at Arlington near Barnstaple had been willed to the National Trust. However, the beach and some surrounding land had previously been purchased by Stanley Parkin. Ray Parkin became chairman of Parkin Estates in 1995.

During the Second World War, the U.S. Army Assault Training Centre was based at Woolacombe, where thousands of small boat crews and infantry practised amphibious landing assaults on the beach in preparation for the Invasion of Normandy, part of Operation Overlord. The long flat shape of the beach and the conditions of the hinterland were considered to closely resemble the Omaha Beach landing area.

There is a stone memorial to the soldiers, dedicated in 1992, sited on the grassy headland at the northern end of the beach.

Woolacombe Beach becomes Putsborough Beach as I near the end.

At the end of the beach I reach Putsborough Caravan Park, I leave the beach here, pass the car park and take a footpath that leads me uphill to Napps Cliff.

View back to Putsborough and Woolacombe Beaches.

The path reaches just 94m (308ft) as the path runs around to Baggy Point.

Baggy Point forms part of the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the Saunton To Baggy Point Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The SSSI designation is for both geological and botanical interest. The geological interest is in the Upper Devonian Sandstones. The fauna in the rocks is poor but contains bivalves, possibly of brackish to freshwater affinities, and plant remains. The botanical designation is for maritime heathland, grassland and lichens. Lichens which are common in this SSI but unusual elsewhere include Pannaria microphylla, Pannaria nebulosa, Squamarina crassa and the rare Lecania ralfsii.

At Baggy Point I reach the Coastguard Pole.

The Coastguard Pole on Baggy Point (which we are currently replacing) was an important tool for training coastguards. It was designed to mimic the mast of a foundering ship. Coastguards would fire rope at the mast, and then rig up a breeches buoy - a life saver ring on a pulley system like a zip wire. Stricken sailors would then climb into the ring and be pulled from the ship over the water and onto dry land by the coastguards. It was a tricky job, hence the need to practise on Baggy Point's Coastguard Pole.

Throughout the year, Hebridean sheep graze on the rough ground around the footpaths. Native to Scotland, these little black ewes thrive in all conditions and are excellent mothers. By the summer months the fields are filled with young lambs.

As I walk down from the Coast Guard Pole I turn right and not left as one would expect to walk down to Baggy Point itself.

It’s hard to imagine this peaceful corner of Devon saw such explosive activity and so many secrets vital to the success of D-Day, 6th June 1944. It was arguably the American forces rather than the British that have left their mark on this coastal landscape. 10,000 American soldiers were stationed along the coastline, from Westward Ho! to Woolacombe. It was an area granted to them by the British to establish the Assault Training Center. As World War II moved towards its final months, the soldiers trained on the beaches, estuaries and sand dunes. D-Day was to become the largest amphibious invasion in military history. Soldiers stormed ashore at Woolacombe and Saunton with smoke, live explosives and ammunition recreating the confusion, sounds and smells of combat they would face on the beaches of Normandy. But today listen to the happy squeals of children splashing in the sea where once US army soldiers had pounded ashore to perfect their deadly art of war. Although here for little more than a year, the American presence changed this coastal landscape profoundly and had a big impact on those who lived in it. The legacy of their time here can be seen today among the scattered remains on this coastal walk, and from the splendid vantage point of Baggy. (Richard Bass)

I follow a gritty path along the edge of the cliff.

Croyde Bay comes into view.

I stop a while here and look at the memorial stone, set into the dry stone wall, to Henry Williamson (1895-1977), an English naturalist, farmer and prolific author known for his natural and social history novels. He won the Hawthornden Prize for literature in 1928 for his book, Tarka the Otter.

These bones are all that remains of a large whale that was washed up on Croyde Beach in 1915. They were preserved here for the benefit of visitors by the Hyde family who gave Baggy Point to us in 1939.

I pass a cafe, still too early for it to be open!

Croyde supposedly takes its Celtic name from the Viking raider Crydda. However, others have speculated that as the word is similar to the Cornish word 'Curd' that describes the geographical position of the village resting amongst a cradle of hills, it could also have taken its name from this. There is evidence of a settlement that dates before the Saxon Period though, so the correct name is unclear.

Croyde is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Crideholde / Crideholda: Erchenbald from Robert, Count of Mortain. 11 cattle and 100 sheep were recorded in the Domesday Book at Crideholde / Crideholda (Croyde) in 1086.

In the Medieval Period, there was a market sited at Croyde, most likely near the centre of the village where Jones' Hill, Hobbs' Hill, and St Mary's Road meet.

During World War II, in 1943, the hamlet was commandeered by American soldiers who practised manoeuvres for the D-day landings. Most training took place on Saunton Sands/Braunton Burrows. After the war, Croyde returned to being a predominantly holiday resort.

In the 60s, about 150M south east of Withywell Lane, a Royal Observer Corps (ROC) bunker was constructed due to rising tensions with the Soviet Union and the need to watch the skies all over the UK for Soviet planes and or nuclear bombs / missiles. The bunker was disbanded in the 90s after the end of the Cold War and now sits in disrepair.

The past 30 years has seen large increases in younger-age visitors develop around surfing. The impact of tourism on the village has been varied. Some local landowners have benefited from the increased property prices. Tourism has helped to create jobs that were lost in agriculture. Local farming has declined, with former farmland converted into caravan sites and fields for seasonal camping. Like many seaside villages, the phenomenon of second homes has pushed house prices beyond the reach of most local people. There is little year-round employment, because tourism is seasonal, and most businesses are closed out of season.

Since 1999, Croyde has hosted an annual surfing and music festival (GoldCoast Oceanfest) on the weekend closest to the summer solstice.

At first sight I thought the SWCP goes over the  Croyde Burrows Dunes, that would make it very hard work! But no the path goes along the beach. The tide is still low, but at high tide you would need to hug the dunes and take a footpath inland a bit to cross the stream. But not a problem for me today.

At the end of the beach I cross where the stream would be and up a path that runs below the Croyde Road.

I reach the Grand Designs House on the cliff top, where I follow a path uphill to the road.

Edward Short, 52, spent 12 years transforming Chesil Cliff House in North Devon. 

Taking on a self build isn’t easy at the best of times, but the journey behind this lighthouse-inspired property was especially turbulent. The renovation was intended to be a home for Edward and his wife, Hazel, and their two daughters. The couple planned to complete the project in just 18 months with a budget of £1.8m.

But on a Grand Designs episode in October 2019 viewers learned that Edward and Hazel had split, reportedly leaving them millions of pounds in debt. This meant that the building was left idle for years, before work finally resumed in 2020, with Edward determined to complete what he had started.

At the top I walk onto Croyde Road and turn left and take a footpath that runs above the road on the Saunton Downs.

From the path I can see across to Saunton Sands.

Saunton Sands

I walk above the Saunton Sands Hotel and path reaches Saunton Road, here the path splits. You can take a path uphill onto Saunton Downs or choose to cross the road and walk pass the hotel and up the road for a while.

I chose then road option, I cross the road and take a path that winds pass the hotel and down to the beach level, passing a café and a surf school.

I walk out through the car park and up Saunton  Road as far as St Annes Church where I take a path down on my right and across a golf course.

After walking along the boring golf course I walk through a wooded area alongside the Braunton Burrows. A coastal path with no sign of the coast now. Really not enjoyable now.

I turn right and head up the American Road, a long dusty painstaking boring walk.

I detour off The American Road to a footpath on my right, can't take anymore of that. I checked the time of the net 303 bus, its due in one and a quarter hours time, I up my pace hoping to make it otherwise its a three hour wait for the next one!

Braunton Burrows is a dune landscape which made it ideal to be able to practice for the D-Day Landings as it was similar terrain to those of the Normandy Beaches, especially Utah Beach. From 1943 until the final weeks leading up to D-Day, the Americans used this stretch of the Devon Coast to train the men who would go on to Land in Normandy, in aspects of assaulting the Beach and securing as much land as they could.

Located in the Southern area of Braunton Burrows is a concrete mock-up of 4 Landing Craft Tanks (LCT), and 2 Landing Craft Mechanised (LCM). Training on these would include how to get off the Craft, what to do in different situations and what to do once off the Craft. Dotted around other parts of the area are mock up Pillbox’s which were used in many training exercises and live ammunition would have been used.

The men who trained on these Dunes went on to land on Omaha and Utah Beach, many of which tragically lost their lives.

I rejoin the American Road and the path now skirts past Horsey Island.

There are views across the River Taw to Instow and Appledore, so close but so far away on the path.

I walk along the road still trying to make the bus, I'm running out of time. I try to hitchhike but no takers!

After a long walk and through Town I arrive at Georges Inn and I have missed the bus by 20 minutes. A two hour 40 minute wait for the bus. I have a pint in the George and meal deal from the CO-OP and still struggled to kill time. Nit much to do in Braunton.

The walk started so well but went downhill after Saunton. I hear the next section isnt great either, but it should improve once I get past Westward Ho!