Long, flat, featureless and bloody hot !
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Day 5 - Braunton - Bideford
Author : Dave
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A sunny day in Devon
A well earned beer at the Kings Arms in Bideford.
This section was, without a doubt the flattest section to date - maybe
the flattest of the whole SWCP....we'll see. We left 'Mrs Braunton's'
b&b after a decent breakfast (just as well as it turned out) and
headed off down the hill to pick up the path that runs around the
estuary of the river Taw. It is a disused railway line and now used as a
footpath and cycle way. This is where the SWCP meets the Tarka trail
and is pleasant enough as flat tarmaced paths round river estuaries go.
We were set for an easy day after a few pretty arduous days earlier in
the week. Jason had bailed a few miles from the finish line the previous
day after checking his painful feet in Croyde Bay and finding they looked (and smelt) like a two day old donner kebab.
The day started warm and got warmer. Jason took about a quarter of a mile to build up his walking pace and, once there, kept a good pace. I however was suffering. Too hot ! The constant slog on the tarmac was also hurting my feet making the soles feel bruised. So, all things considered, we were both looking forward to our lunch stop which, rather than the usual packed lunch was a cafe stop at an old disused, refurbished train station. Open all year round except Christmas day and one other random day each for staff training. Well, it was April so Christmas was out of the way and what are the chances of it being closed on the one other day we were walking past. Yup - closed ! Bugger ! This path was featureless - river one side and woods and fields on the other. Eateries (in fact any buildings) were few and far between.
After finishing our subdued shared energy bar and remaining water we carried on uneventfully. Jason still took a full quarter mile to reach cruising speed and I plodded along on bruised feet while gradually melting under the relentless sun. After an hour or so we came across a burger van on the path in what seemed the middle of nowhere so we took the opportunity for a brew and sit down on the floor in the shade for 10 mins.
Feeling slightly more refreshed we continued on our way towards buildings and what seems like civilisation. This is when we met the first of many interesting people embarked on bigger projects than ours. This fella was an ex marine who was walking Lands End to John-o-Groats. He warned us that Cornwall, when we got there, was pretty hard. The undulations didn't sound so severe as North Devon but the makeshift steps were awkward, uneven, and of inconsistent heights making them hard work. He wasn't wrong. Seems these marines aren't prone to exaggeration.
The last few miles into Bideford were fairly uneventful and, it has to be said, uninteresting, broken up only by another tea stop with accompanying pasty and scroungy dog tied to the cafe/shack hidden amongst some sand dunes. In summary, this was a long, hot and flat day.
The day started warm and got warmer. Jason took about a quarter of a mile to build up his walking pace and, once there, kept a good pace. I however was suffering. Too hot ! The constant slog on the tarmac was also hurting my feet making the soles feel bruised. So, all things considered, we were both looking forward to our lunch stop which, rather than the usual packed lunch was a cafe stop at an old disused, refurbished train station. Open all year round except Christmas day and one other random day each for staff training. Well, it was April so Christmas was out of the way and what are the chances of it being closed on the one other day we were walking past. Yup - closed ! Bugger ! This path was featureless - river one side and woods and fields on the other. Eateries (in fact any buildings) were few and far between.
After finishing our subdued shared energy bar and remaining water we carried on uneventfully. Jason still took a full quarter mile to reach cruising speed and I plodded along on bruised feet while gradually melting under the relentless sun. After an hour or so we came across a burger van on the path in what seemed the middle of nowhere so we took the opportunity for a brew and sit down on the floor in the shade for 10 mins.
Feeling slightly more refreshed we continued on our way towards buildings and what seems like civilisation. This is when we met the first of many interesting people embarked on bigger projects than ours. This fella was an ex marine who was walking Lands End to John-o-Groats. He warned us that Cornwall, when we got there, was pretty hard. The undulations didn't sound so severe as North Devon but the makeshift steps were awkward, uneven, and of inconsistent heights making them hard work. He wasn't wrong. Seems these marines aren't prone to exaggeration.
The last few miles into Bideford were fairly uneventful and, it has to be said, uninteresting, broken up only by another tea stop with accompanying pasty and scroungy dog tied to the cafe/shack hidden amongst some sand dunes. In summary, this was a long, hot and flat day.
