bude to crackington haven

SOUTH WEST COAST PATH

SUNDAY, 7TH may 2023

It looks like it might be quite a nice day today with some sun and not much in the way of wind.

Bude high tide 07:20

Bude low tide 13:43

I start the day in stinky Bude in the car park behind Summerleaze Beach. I head out onto the beach and watch the surfers before retracing my steps.

summerleaze beach

summerleaze beach

I head back towards Bude and take a footbridge over the River Neet and then a wooden lockbridge over Bude Canal.

bude canal

I pass Efford Cottage, built in 1820 and head on a path towards the coast.

I pass the eight sided storm tower on Compass Point, built in the 1820s as a coastguard shelter, which is surrounded by scaffolding.

storm tower

I wander along grassy slopes where I pass Efford Beacon trig point, number S5629.

trig point S5629

I now have lovely views back over stinky Bude. 

view over bude

I pass what was once the Elements Cafe Bar, Italian Restaurant and Hotel which is now in a sorry state of disrepair. I then wander through Phillip's Point Nature Reserve and enjoy the spring flowers here.

elements cafe bar

I pass Higher Longbeak and then Lower Longbeak with its funerary round barrow.

I descend towards Widemouth Sand, passing the Bay View Inn. I walk along the beach at Widemouth Bay heading towards Black Rock before leaving the beach and heading back up onto the cliffs.

I head along a rocky track before crossing a stream. I head along the minor road passing what was once the Outdoor Adventure Centre but is now OA Surf Club.

oa surf club

I pass Ocean View, a new development of a 5 bedroomed house with an indoor pool, gym, steam room, sauna and cinema room, all within a two acre plot. That’s not going to be cheap!

ocean view

I climb up onto Penhalt Cliff where I have some lovely views back towards Bude at Penhalt Cliff Poundstock car park.

penhalt cliff poundstock car park

view from the car park

I pass Foxhole Point and then Bridwill Point before climbing steeply down to Millook. I wander down the road and head out onto pebbly Millook Haven Beach.

I climb steeply up the road and then regain the cliffs and have lovely views ahead of me. The wildflowers around here are looking at their very best and the geology is not bad either.

I enter woods at Dizzard Point, which are blissfully peaceful before entering fields and bush covered slopes, passing Chipman Cliff, Stoneivy Rock and the cave at Mot's Hole.

dizzard

Along the way I pass Dizzard Point trig point, number S5612.

I pass some ponies munching on the vegetation and they don’t take any notice of me.

I have magnificent views ahead of me before coming across the deepest valley I think I've ever come across. It doesn't even appear to be marked on my Ordnance Survey map but the National Trust have it down as Lower Tresmorn. There's nothing 'lower' about it. The photograph does it no justice. I clamber slowly down the valley, cross a footbridge and then clamber gingerly up the other side.

At the bottom of the valley I come across a small copper butterfly.

small copper butterfly

The path heads out to Castle Point and passes Little Barton Strand and Great Barton Strand and heads towards Pencannow Point before darting back towards Crackington Haven.

I now have lovely views over Crackington Haven and I head down the slopes to the village, enjoying the flowers next to the path.

I pass the Coombe Barton Inn where a saxophonist is playing and head down to enjoy the beach here as well as the heavily folded rocks. It’s close to low tide so I have to walk a long way down the beach to reach the sea.

crackington haven

crackington haven

FLORA AND FAUNA

Flora and fauna encountered on the walk today includes :-

  • sea thrift

  • gorse

  • song thrushes

  • skylarks

  • swallows

  • oystercatchers

  • bluebells

  • greater stitchwort

  • bracken

  • herb robert

  • red campion

  • cowslips

  • common dog-violet

  • common sorrel

  • germander speedwell

  • celandines

  • bugle

  • cuckooflower

  • alexanders

  • sand martins

  • bladder campion

  • chiffchaffs

  • chaffinches

  • peacock butterfly

  • blackcaps

  • speckled wood butterfly

  • small copper butterfly

PODCAST

The podcast of today's walk is now available. You can subscribe via Apple Podcasts or listen using the player below.

MARKS OUT OF TEN?

According to my phone I've walked 12.2 miles which amounts to 30591 steps. It has taken me five and a quarter hours.

It has been a lovely day today walking in North Cornwall which I haven’t seen for seven years. Ten out of ten!

WALK DETAILS

MAP

view from car park

small copper butterfly

crackington haven

crackington haven

beach collection