North Walk - Bideford to Westward Ho, Ho Hum!

Sunday Oct 12th - Woke up to thick mist, so waited until later in the morning to head back to Bideford ( plus the Grand Prix was on!)

The plan was to head for Westward Ho which was a short 8 mile walk. From there I could get the bus back to Bideford, which wasn't the case if I had wanted to head on any further. Bideford is the base for heading to Lundy island - a popular trip.

There were some splendid old sailing yachts moored at the quay. The Coast path headed out of Bideford, down the estuary and through a pleasant area of woods before heading inland to avoid a stretch where a sea wall had collapsed and then on to Appledore.

In the 19th Century Appledore was a busy sailing Port and of course is still the home of Appledore Shipbuilders, one of North devon's biggest employers. It is a very pretty village with plenty of interesting back streets and gift shops and well preserved cottages. There is a big row going on at present in Appledore, with many of the locals campaigning against a proposed development of the old dry dock, which would see a large apartment block be built. Although the design looked very stylish, it would obscure many peoples view of the estuary and not really be in keeping with the quaint old village. Let's hope sense prevails, and with the dreaded Credit Crunch in full flow, plans are probably on the back burner anyway.

Appledore sits at the southern edge of the mouth of the Taw estuary. From here - it was flat walking all the way around the headland area - Northam Burrows Country Park and onto the long sands of Westward Ho - another popular surfing area. It was another beautiful day - more like August than October - and despite struggling to get out of bed that morning - I was enjoying walking this part of the coast. Everything always looks better when the sun shines of course.
Northam Burrows was a 600 acre area of Dunes and marshland as well as containing the Countries oldest golf course. Golfers had been losing balls in the dunes since 1846 apparently.

I walked the last couple of miles towards Westward Ho on the beach. The surf looked ideal and there were plenty of boarders trying to catch the waves.

Westward Ho itself is a typical family seaside resort - so not really my cup of tea - although as I had 45 minutes to wait for the next bus - I decided to get a Cream Tea down my neck whilst the opportunity was there, and very nice it was too. About time as well, I thought. This walk has been lacking in Cream teas for one reason and another.

Anyway - that was another 8 miles done - next stop will be the famous village of Clovelly.