Clovelly to Hartland Quay

8 September 2009 - Clovelly to Hartland Quay

Distance - 9.74 miles

Weather - Overcast, some rain

We stayed at - Hartland Quay Hotel, Hartland, Bideford, Devon, EX39 6DU Cost £80.00

This morning we climbed up out of Clovelly and onto a woodland track, passing by the Angel Wings shelter. This is a wooden construction that was built as a memorial in 1826 and has been restored twice already. It looked as though a third restoration attempt may be on the cards! For the first part of this walk there was a lot of woodland walking, zig-zags and memorials. The second memorial was to the crew of a Wellington bomber that crashed into the nearby cliffs of Brownsham.

Our luggage was collected by the Hartland Quay Hotel and would be waiting for us when we arrived, as long as we didn't complete this short walk too quickly.

In the distance we spotted a radome, which being close to Hartland Point was going to be with us all day and made a good reference point. We walked along various clifftops, plunging down to sea level at Mill Mouth. There were a few boarded up buildings there and literally hundreds of pheasants. We started to count the pheasants, but there were too many and of course they didn't stand still!

At Brownsham there were views out to some interesting rocks and the clifftop was being grazed by some Dartmoor ponies. They didn't take the slightest notice of us as we passed, but just continued grazing. We carried on, passing Shipload Bay and skirting past East and West Titchberry, eventually walking through Hartland Point Radar. This was formerly a military site, but nowadays it's just used for Air Traffic Control, so thankfully there were no encounters with men in berets with large knives about their person.

It was only by looking back, that we spotted Hartland Point lighthouse with the island of Lundy in the distance. Further on, Upright Cliff is an amazingly large slab of rock, but it has been assaulted by the weather and the waves and illustrates just how severe things can get out here. Likewise at Damehole Point it was possible to see how the stratified layers of rock had been squeezed and distorted. There were also twin waterfalls here spilling out onto the beach. Just after Abbey House we came across the ruins of a tower standing in a field and used it as a frame to take an arty shot of Stoke church tower. Finally we reached a cottage called Rocket House, where we turned down a tarmac road to Hartland Quay and our hotel.

We arrived at the hotel just in the nick of time, as a violent squall came in. The once flat calm sea started frothing and the air was filled with the smell of iodine and the crashing of waves. Also rather sadly, there was a car at the bottom of the cliffs, apparently, a few nights ago, someone drove themselves over the edge. I couldn't think of a more terrifying suicide.

The hotel was snug and warm. I'd read a few negative comments on Tripadvisor and so wasn't expecting much. Our room though was clean, if basic, and the windows managed to keep out the howling gale outside. We enjoyed our food, although some American tourists were disappointed with what was on offer and complained bitterly to the manager. I felt for the owners, as the hotel is miles from anywhere and I think it is very well supplied all things considering.