South West Coast Path Sec 7: Westward Ho! to Clovelly 14th September 2022

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I woke up on Wednesday 14th September 2022 after a good nights sleep in my car in Seafield Car park Westward Ho! I make myself a cup of coffee and have a croissant before I set off from Westward Ho! to walk to Clovelly at 730am.

My legs feel heavy at first after yesterdays exertion but they soon warm up and the heaviest leave. 

I walk along a grassy path with gorse covered Kipling Tor to my left.

Its easy going at first on a fairly level path but I can see the climbs ahead once I turn the corner.

The path drops down onto a pebble beach just before Abbotsham Cliff.

A view back East towards Westward Ho! with the glow from the rising sun.

The path soon climbs again with the view back from where I came.

I reach Green Cliff and I start to climb back up some steps.

Here is a lovely bench with a reminder to enjoy our short lives!

Autumn is certainly on its way and blackberries are here to remind me.

I continue to climb upwards, my hair is wet not from rain like yesterday but sweat. This is a workout!

I walk along the top of Cocklington Cliff.

I start to descend sharply down  Babbacombe Cliff towards Babbacombe Mouth.

I reach the beach here at Babbacombe Mouth not to be confused with the Babbacombe in South Devon.

It is so peaceful here. I could have happily sat here for a while and relax but I have a lot of path to walk and then drive home, so I push on.

The beach sits in the valley (Combe) with a stream running to the shore.

I take the steps and start the climb up Higher Rowden.

A look back down to Babbacombe Mouth.

A look back at the very steep climb up!

I walk along the top of he cliff relieved to have a rest from climbing.

What goes up always seems to go back down here on the path as I start my descent into Peppercombe.

I stop in the National Trust Coach House for a rest and have some lunch.

A look back at the way I came perfectly framed by nature.

There's a post pointing down to Peppercombe beach. I neither had the time or the energy to put in another climb so I walk on and enter Sloo Wood by yep another climb.

I walk on and Sloo Woods become Worthygate Wood.

I leave Worthygate Wood and begin to descend down into Bucks Mill.

Bucks Mills historic background dates back to the Spanish Armada when the survivors of a Spanish Galleon took refuge and settled here. It is said that local women married the survivors of the shipwreck ,forming a tight community and living in natural isolation. They were self-sufficient, from fishing, agriculture and lime burning and were extremely hostile to newcomers. The name Braund also has a long association with Bucks Mills, with everyone at one time being related to this family. How times have changed, because today it is a haven to 2 homes and holiday lets.

From the top of the path you can survey the panorama ,with Clovelly on one side, the prominent red cliffs of Peppercombe on the other, and Lundy standing proudly in the distance.

Half way down the steep beach path you see the most intriguing building. Standing here is a quaint chalet, which was once the Summer House of two artists, Judith Ackland and Mary Stella Edwards. For many years during the Summer, they lived and worked here. Then, after Judith’s death in the 1970’s it was locked up, with its memories and left like a shrine, with all the contents left as if frozen in time.

I take the steep path by some homes as I make my way back up the path again and up numerous steps in Bucks Woods.

I check the time and I need to up my pace if I am to make the 2pm bus from Clovelly or its a couple of hours to the next one!

I pass the edge of Bideford Bay Holiday Park and out into a field that skirt the edge of the woods.

I exit out onto The Hobby Drive.

Hobby Drive was built between 1811 and 1829 by Sir James Hamlyn Williams, providing employment for Clovelly men after the Napoleonic wars. It was part of the Romantic movement, which celebrated the beauty of the natural world in response to the increasing emphasis placed on science and logic following the Industrial Revolution. In 1901 Frederick and Christine Hamlyn extended the drive by a further half a mile, making a three-mile carriage drive with breathtaking vistas high above the Atlantic.

The estate has planted new trees in several areas along the drive as part of its woodland management plan, which aims to replace native deciduous trees as they die off, and in the last ten years, 2500 saplings have been planted each year. In summer pheasant chicks are much in evidence on the lower slopes of the woodland, and pheasant shoots take place between November and January.

I pass a memorial bench after a climb that seemed to go on and on, especially as I am trying to up my pace.

The bench commemorates an 883 yards extension  to the drive by Frederick and Christine Hamlyn in 1901.

Hobby Drive is thankfully now level and I can up my pace considerably.

 

I now get views down to Clovelly sitting below.

Hobby Drive comes out opposite the Donkey Stables and below the point where you have to pay to enter Clovelly. Walkers on the SWCP don't need to pay to walk into Clovelly!

 

I was going to walk down into Clovelly, but I didn't want to miss my bus so I take a couple of photos from where I was and walk up to the visitor Centre and the bus stop.

I had visited Clovelly earlier in the year with the family on our holiday to Devon.

I visit Clovelly Brewery and buy a few ciders to take home.

The settlement and surrounding land belongs to John Rous who inherited it from his mother in 1983. He belongs to the Hamlyn family who have managed the village since 1738.

The village, which is built into the wooded sea cliffs of the north Devon shore, has a steep pedestrianised cobbled main street with traditional architecture. Due to the gradients, donkeys (now mostly replaced with sledges) have been used to move goods and cargo from Clovelly Bay. Visitors to the village are required to pay an entrance fee at the visitor centre which covers the parking, entrance to two museums, Clovelly Court gardens, and an audio-visual history guide. With views over the Bristol Channel, the village is a popular destination attracting numerous tourists.

Whilst waiting for the bus the man I met yesterday from Edgware appeared and pointed out the 2pm bus was going in the wrong direction and the bus is in fact at 245pm! I could have visited Clovelly after all. Oh well time to grab an ice cream then.

 I got the 319 bus with the man back to Bideford and the 21 bus from Bideford back to Westward Ho!

A great walk now for the drive home!