Barnstaple to Bude

Coloured houses at Appledore, beach on Northam Burrows, Clovelly village, Blackchurch Rock, Cream teas at Hartland Point, sunset at Hartland Quay Hotel, valley beneath St Catherine's Tor, waterfall at Speke's Mill Mouth, Embury Beacon, Welcombe Mouth, Hawker's hut, Compass Point Tower

Introduction

We hadn't walked the South West Coast path for over two years, and it was high time that we did. Having walked the north coast between Minehead and Barnstaple on our previous visit, we were thinking of returning to the south coast, perhaps to walk Weymouth to Exmouth. However, our Mum & Dad booked themselves onto a murder mystery weekend in Ilfracombe, and offered us a lift to where we'd left off last time, at Barnstaple. It seemed churlish to refuse.

It would be a couple of weeks later in the year than we'd previously walked the path, and we were worried that this would lead to us having to endure bad weather - we were probably due some as our last two visits had been largely sunny. The word on the web was that we would (between Hartland Point and Bude) be walking the single hardest stretch of the entire coast path, but also one of the most stunning. We were therefore filled with a mix of eager anticipation and dread. We tried to alleviate the dread by investing in new waterproofs, new socks and plenty of practise walks, but the weather forecasts in the run-up to our departure were miserable to say the least - rain and gales seemed to be the order of the day.

Nevertheless, this didn't deter us - it just meant we had a chance to test our new waterproofs. Mum seemed to think we wouldn't want to walk, and kept reminding us that they were only just up the coast, and that we could give them a ring any time we wanted to get out. As we headed towards Barnstaple we had to remind her of the Walkers Creed: "Rule One – No Quittin'".