Westward Ho! to Clovelly

7 September 2009 - Westward Ho! to Clovelly

Distance - 11.25 miles
Weather - Overcast, some rain
We stayed at - New Inn, High Street, Clovelly, Bideford, EX39 5TQ Cost - £113.00

After putting the luggage into another taxi, we left the town. The day started off with a further walk along a disused railway line, leading onto Abbotsham Cliff. Then after a stroll over Green Cliff, we started doing what was to be a theme of the holiday, a steep descent down to the beach, followed by a steep ascent up to the cliff again. Here it was down to Babbacombe Mouth, then up to the top of Babbacombe Cliff.




Incidently, just after we started walking on the clifftop, we got a great view of Clovelly. It looked really quite near, but following the twists and turns of the coast path meant that it was still ten miles away!

Yesterday we were spoilt for choice regarding places to purchase food, but today there isn't anywhere. Still, we had a good cooked breakfast at the B&B and bought some sandwiches before we left Westward Ho! There is meant to be the chance to buy food at the B&B at Buck's Mills, but everywhere was very closed when we passed. It was a shame as it looked the sort of scenic place crying out for a teashop. We didn't fancy detouring inland to Buck's Cross and so we walked on.

Towards the end of the walk, we met up with a wide cobbled track through woodland, known as the Hobby Drive. It was nice to walk on, but a bit slippery after the rain. From the drive, there were some great views down to Clovelly Harbour. We left the Hobby Drive & SWCP by a very steep public footpath down into the village.


I really like Clovelly, it's a very picturesque place. The roads are steep and narrow, made of slippery cobbles, which makes walking down a bit of a challenge! No cars are allowed in the village - to be honest, I don't think you'd get one down there. People park at the top and there are donkey rides down, if you can't walk it. Luggage is loaded onto sledges and hauled up and down the road. Once we arrived we checked into our accommodation, the very beautiful New Inn. I'm not sure when it was new, but our room was lovely and had a stunning view out over the rooftops to the sea. We always have, what I describe as, a "tour hotel" - a posh place that's a class above all the other places, on our holidays. This fortnight I've managed to squeeze in two lovely hotels and the New Inn was the first of them and was everything I hoped it would be.