instow to westward ho!

in

SOUTH WEST COAST PATH

sunday, 5TH june 2022

The weather forecast for today is pure filth!

Yelland Marsh high tide 10:16

Yelland Marsh low tide 16:50

The weather forecast for today is filthy and it has rained heavily overnight but when I get up there seems to be a break in the weather so it is time to head back to Instow and continue the walk to Westward Ho!

The ferry is running from 09:30 to 11:40 today so I’ve arrived fairly early to catch the ferry at about 09:50. I have the ferry to myself, except for the crew that is! The journey over costs me a paltry £2 and they’ve gone card payments only and contactless!!

ferry at appledore

I reach the other side of the River Torridge at Appledore and walk along the waterfront and pass the parish church of Saint Mary's, just in time for the church bells to start peeling.

I reach the older part of Appledore at Irsha Street where I pass the Beaver Inn (@TheBeaverInn).

The houses are crammed in here and I take some photos of the house signs.

The Royal George (@trg_appledore) is close to the Beaver Inn and was shut and looking a bit run down the last time I passed here but is back up and running which is great to see.

royal george

I pass in front of the lifeboat station. 

appledore lifeboat station

The coast path just past here had been undercut by the storms of 2014 the last time I was here but I’m able to walk along the beach again which takes me all the way to Northam Burrows Country Park, very close to Westward Ho!

northam burrows country park

I’ve got a bit of a trek though rounding the burrows and I walk along the grassy banks of the park, where skylarks are singing. I pass the site of what was once RAF Northam of which little remains except the concrete bases of radar masts.

raf northam

raf northam

After an uneventful walk I start to head back towards Westward Ho! again. I climb over the pebbly ridge to drop down onto the sand exposed at low tide and start to walk along the beach but it’s hard going as I keep sinking deeply into the sand.

pebbly ridge

I clamber back over the pebbly ridge and continue through the dune system, passing the golf course here and then Pebble Ridge Kitchen. The sun is even starting to come out which I wasn’t expecting.

I clamber back over the pebbly ridge one last time by the Lifeguard Station and drop down onto the beach at Westward Ho!

lifeguard station

It is now an easy walk along the beach into Westward Ho! but I was wrong. The tide is too far in for me to come ashore at the slipway so I have to climb over the pebbly ridge one last time (honest!) but it’s much easier at this end of the beach as the pebbles are much smaller.

westward ho!

I amble through a rather busy town to reach the car park where my lift awaits. I’ve somehow managed to dodge a decidedly dodgy weather forecast.

FLORA AND FAUNA

It has been such a short walk that I haven’t encountered much today but flora and fauna encountered on the walk today includes :-

  • skylarks

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 5.3 miles which amounts to 11884 steps. It has taken me one and three quarter hours. The weather has been surprisingly dry and the sun even came out at one point. Seven out of ten!

WALK DETAILS

map

braunton to instow

in

SOUTH WEST COAST PATH

saturday, 4th june 2022

I have been keeping an eye on the weather forecast for this week for a while and, except for tomorrow, it has been pretty good so I’m a little surprised to wake up this morning to find it raining, grey, overcast and not very warm. I mean, seriously?! Why is the wind blowing from the east in June?

Barnstaple high tide 09:41

Barnstaple low tide 13:47

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. It’s overcast but at least it’s not raining.

velator quay

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.

I pass a sign threatening that I could be arrested and prosecuted under the Official Secrets 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.

national cycleway network 27

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

I manage to take a photograph of a skipper butterfly but they look so alike that I’m not sure which type it is.

skipper butterfly

The walking is easy and I pass RMB Chivenor, home to Commando Logistic Regiment Royal Marines and 24 Commando Regiment Royal Engineers and 22 Squadron ‘A’ Flight Search and Rescue Force RAF.

rmb chivenor

I pass under bridges and pass by the Waterside Cafe.

railway bridge

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.

wrecked boat

view over to fremington quay

heanton court

I pass Tarka Trail sign number 3 with a link to an audio clip. I somehow missed Tarka Trail sign number 1 at Velator Quay and Tarka Trail sign number 2 at Heanton Court. I’ll try and look out for more later on in the walk. The signs were installed in January 2016.

tarka trail 3

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

geese

wham bam i am a man!

national cycle network 27

I come across a song thrush perched on a wall who doesn’t seem to mind my presence.

song thrush

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

I cross Yeo Bridge to reach Barnstaple where I pass The Watergate. A wedding seems to be taking place there but everyone seems to have paused for a fag break!

the watergate

I walk across the ancient Long Bridge.

long bridge

I leave Barnstaple behind me via a tarmac path but it’s been seven years since I’ve been this way and things have changed a bit. There aren’t any signs and I can’t remember which way to go so firstly choose the wrong path (possibly) next to Oliver Buildings. A sign informs me that the development here is coming soon but judging by the state of the building it won’t be any time in the near future.

oliver buildings

I retrace my steps when I don’t recognize anything and choose another path which is immediately more recognizeable and come across murals by Mel Saggs in the underpasses. These murals have been gaffitti-ized themselves since the last time I was here.

I join another 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.

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.

cyclists

tarka trail 4

tarka trail 5

tarka trail 7

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

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.

fremington quay

I cross a bridge over a tidal inlet, where I hear and see a solitary curlew, and continue along the trackbed away from the river.

I pass a Gaia Trust Nature Reserve at Home Farm Marsh and then Yelland Stone Row, a Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age double row of paired stones. 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.

turn right

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.

yelland power station

I come across foxgloves and flag iris and then pass Tarka Trail sign number 10 at Instow Pond. I seem to have missed Tarka Trail sign number 8 at Fremington and Tarka Trail sign number 9 at Isley Marsh.

foxgloves

flag iris

tarka trail 10

I visit the North Devon Cricket Club (@instowcricket) 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 but the action is very slow so I don’t stop for too long.

It has now started raining but I can’t really complain as I’m close to my destination and I’ve managed to avoid rain all day long.

I go through a car park and drop down onto Instow Sands. We were early travelling down yesterday and so popped here for an hour in lovely weather when it was pretty busy. Today though there is only a few hardy dog walkers.

instow sands

instow sands

The tide is too low for the Instow to Appledore ferry to be running at all today, so I’ll attempt to come back later in the week when the ferry is running to complete the walk to Westward Ho!

FLORA AND FAUNA

Flora and fauna encountered on the walk today includes :-

  • blackcaps

  • robins

  • wrens

  • hogweed

  • ribwort plantain

  • knapweed

  • ox-eye daisies

  • herb robert

  • dog rose

  • common dog-violet

  • red campion

  • canada geese

  • song thrush

  • tufted vetch

  • curlew

  • goat’s beard

  • bird’s-foot trefoil

  • cow parsley

  • swallows

  • speckled wood butterfly

  • skylarks

  • foxgloves

  • yellow flag iris

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 12.7 miles which amounts to 28601 steps. It has taken me four and a half hours. The weather has been a bit on the dull side and the walking has been very easy but it has been a thoroughly enjoyable walk mostly along old railway tracks. Nine out of ten!

WALK DETAILS

MAP

mel saggs

cyclists

beach collection