SOUTH WEST COAST PATH

SATURDAY, 13TH JUNE 2026

Start location: Braunton (SS 48397 35438)

End point: Instow (SS 47285 30190)

Map: Explorer 139

It looks like I’m in for a quite nice day weather wise today. It won’t be baking but it should be a warm and dry day.

Barnstaple low tide 09:09

Barnstaple high tide 17:20

Today’s walk is a walk which, on paper, looks a bit on the boring side, walking largely on old railway tracks. But hey! The birds are singing and the wild flowers are looking lovely.

I start the day at the car park at Velator Quay and walk up to the roundabout at Velator on the way in to Braunton.

A sign here points to Barnstaple along a tarmac cycleway and there are plenty of signs around showing that the cycleway used to be a railway.

The path is surprisingly busy this early in the morning with walkers, dog walkers, cyclists and joggers all over the place.

I pass a sign threatening that I could be arrested and prosecuted under the National Security Act.

The Barnstaple to Ilfracombe Railway was built in 1874 by the London and South Western Railway as an extension of a rail network that stretched right back to Waterloo Station in London but closed in 1970. The line between Braunton and Barnstaple was subsequently bought by North Devon District Council and made into a footpath and in the late 1980s was upgraded to a cycleway and is now part of National Cycleway Network number 27.

The flowers are out in all their glory and I see plenty of ribwort plantains, knapweeds, buddleia, elderflower, buttercups, ox-eye daisies and hogweed.

The walking is easy and I pass RMB Chivenor, home to Commando Logistic Regiment Royal Marines and 24 Commando Regiment Royal Engineers.

I manage to capture a speckled wood butterfly on camera.

I pass under bridges and pass by the Waterside Cafe.

I pass a wrecked boat and the wooded path gives way to views across the River Taw over towards Fremington Quay. I have plenty of cyclists and runners for company as I approach Barnstaple.

I pass behind Heanton Court Pub and Restaurant.

The route continues by an industrial estate where a flock of geese rises up from the River Taw.

I continue along the path heading towards the A361.

The route continues along the tarmac path underneath the Taw Bridge carrying the A361.

I cross Yeo Bridge to reach Barnstaple.

It’s now time for my only (major!) ascent of the day. I climb up the 14 steps onto Long Bridge. I walk across the ancient bridge putting up with the traffic as best I can. It won’t last long.

I leave Barnstaple behind me via a tarmac path which seems to be new and walk underneath the other side of the bridge carrying the A361.

I pass Taw Wharf, a new housing development, that wasn’t here the last time I passed through.

I join a path along old railway tracks along the south side of the estuary of the River Taw and I’m now back on National Cycle Network 27.

The Taw Vale Railway and Dock Company laid the track between Fremington and Barnstaple in 1846 and was originally a goods line operated by horses. The company repackaged itself as the North Devon Railway who then extended the railway through Instow to the original station at Cross Parks at East-the-Water at Bideford. The Bideford Railway Heritage Centre website contains a full history of the railway.

The path is used by plenty of cyclists, joggers and dog walkers.

The path moves away from the river and goes through Fremington Cuttings.

I reach the old Fremington station which now houses the Fremington Quay Cafe and the Fremington Quay Heritage Centre. Fremington Quay was once a bustling port, importing and exporting goods all around the world.

I cross a bridge over a tidal inlet and continue along the trackbed away from the river.

I pass a Gaia Trust Nature Reserve at Home Farm Marsh.

I then pass Yelland Stone Row, a Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age double row of paired stones where I chat with a couple walking their dog and share my Ordnance Survey map so that they can work out how to get back onto the road.

I then pass Tarka Trail Camping.

The coast path turns right and heads across the salt marsh but I’m quite happy to keep going along the Traka Trail.

I come across the site of the former Yelland Power Station, once a vast, coal fired power station, built in 1955 and now I can’t see any remains.

I come across foxgloves and flag iris right at the end of their flowering season and then pass Instow Pond.

I visit the North Devon Cricket Club tucked away behind the path. The thatched pavilion is a grade 2 listed building dating back to the late 1700s. There’s a game in play today so I stop for a bit to take in the action.

I go through a car park and drop down onto Instow Sands. The tide is miles out and there are surprisingly few people on the beach for a rather nice Saturday.

FLORA AND FAUNA

Flora and fauna encountered on the walk today includes :-

blackcaps
chiffchaffs
wrens
chaffinch
curlew
hogweed
buddleia
goats-beard
elderflower
knapweed
perforate st john’s-wort
ragwort
oystercatchers
song thrush
small tortoiseshell
pheasant
swallows
little egret
speckled wood butterfly
red campion
herb robert
oxeye daisy
bird’s-foot trefoil
stinking iris
ribwort plantain
rabbit
whitethroat
skylarks
tufted vetch
rosebay willowherb
scarlet pimpernel
tansy
meadow crane’s bill
sheep’s sorrel
cat’s-ear
rape
ribbed melilot
field scabious
red clover
honeysuckle
oak
meadowsweet
yellow flag iris
poppies
viper’s-bugloss

PODCAST

The podcast of today's walk will be available shortly. You can subscribe via Apple Podcasts.

MARKS OUT OF TEN?

According to my phone I've walked 12.1 miles which amounts to 28917 steps. It has taken me 4 and a half hours. The weather has been pretty decent for a change and although the walk looks rather boring on paper I’ve rather enjoyed it. Nine out of ten!

braunton to instow

SOUTH WEST COAST PATH

SATURDAY, 13TH JUNE 2026

FLORA AND FAUNA

PODCAST

MARKS OUT OF TEN?

WALK DETAILS

MAP