Destination Clovelly. Our b&b backed onto the harbour beach.
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Day 6 - Bideford - Clovelly
Author : Dave
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A day of two halves.
View from our room window at the b&b.
The day started well. Leaving the Corner b&b after our 'submariners' breakfast (just like an English fry-up but cooked by an ex-submariner) we wandered out of Bideford towards Appledore, and Westward Ho! (the only place in Britain with an exclamation mark in the name. The day was bright with a brisk wind making it considerably cooler than the previous day. Jason's feet were in relatively good shape and we set off at a decent pace. The first part of the day was flat, easy and fairly uneventful walking around the peninsula by the golf course over the pebble ridge. As we pass through Westward Ho! we could see Clovelly in the distance tucked at the bottom of the cliff and because of the shape of the bay we knew we would be able to see it on and off pretty much all day, and it didn't look to far off at all. I could feel an early finish coming on.
After Westward Ho! the path became more undulating and Jason's initial pace slowed a bit. The paths were good and we made steady progress through mixed woodland, open gorse sections and dropping down to pebbly beaches only to slog back up the other side. All the time with glimps of Clovelly appearing through the trees on and off which didn't seem to be getting any closer, and Jason's pace was starting to slow a bit more.
As the afternoon went on, it clouded over and started to rain. By this point I would walk for 15 minutes and then wait 15 minutes for Jason to catch up. He was by now walking so slowly it was quite hard to actually see movement. When the engine management system on a modern car detects a fault, a engine warning light comes on and the car goes into a 'limp home mode'. This mode will reduce the speed of the car to a crawl but it'll chug for a while......well, Jason has his own personal engine light - and it was on ! Unfortunately, there was no option for calling the AA on this lonely section of path. The only thing that fixes his engine light in this situation is dinner, sleep and vast quantities of ale. He was now into a 10 minute walk, 10 minute rest. The day was getting on and the weather was taking a turn for the worst Clovelly was below us but the path went on and wound down slowly down hill. Then I saw it ! A small track winding straight down the steep loose slope through the woods directly into Clovelly. After a fair bit of wandering around we found our b&b. Mr b&b bloke showed us to our room and it turned out it overlooked the harbour itself. Quite impressive. He then, at great length explained that the sewage was pumped and therefore went through a macerator. For those not 'in the know' it's a blender for poo. These have their limitations it seems and we were asked to take great care not to put our sanitary towels or tampons down the toilet. When we laughed, he gave us a very old fashioned look and very seriously told us it was an unpleasant job to fix one of these so we both nodded solemnly and promised to put them in the little bags provided !?
After Westward Ho! the path became more undulating and Jason's initial pace slowed a bit. The paths were good and we made steady progress through mixed woodland, open gorse sections and dropping down to pebbly beaches only to slog back up the other side. All the time with glimps of Clovelly appearing through the trees on and off which didn't seem to be getting any closer, and Jason's pace was starting to slow a bit more.
As the afternoon went on, it clouded over and started to rain. By this point I would walk for 15 minutes and then wait 15 minutes for Jason to catch up. He was by now walking so slowly it was quite hard to actually see movement. When the engine management system on a modern car detects a fault, a engine warning light comes on and the car goes into a 'limp home mode'. This mode will reduce the speed of the car to a crawl but it'll chug for a while......well, Jason has his own personal engine light - and it was on ! Unfortunately, there was no option for calling the AA on this lonely section of path. The only thing that fixes his engine light in this situation is dinner, sleep and vast quantities of ale. He was now into a 10 minute walk, 10 minute rest. The day was getting on and the weather was taking a turn for the worst Clovelly was below us but the path went on and wound down slowly down hill. Then I saw it ! A small track winding straight down the steep loose slope through the woods directly into Clovelly. After a fair bit of wandering around we found our b&b. Mr b&b bloke showed us to our room and it turned out it overlooked the harbour itself. Quite impressive. He then, at great length explained that the sewage was pumped and therefore went through a macerator. For those not 'in the know' it's a blender for poo. These have their limitations it seems and we were asked to take great care not to put our sanitary towels or tampons down the toilet. When we laughed, he gave us a very old fashioned look and very seriously told us it was an unpleasant job to fix one of these so we both nodded solemnly and promised to put them in the little bags provided !?
