Day 9: Clovelly to Hartland Quay

Weather: Partly sunny with a cool southerly breeze

Distance covered today:17.9 km (11.1 mi)

Last night's B&B: New Inn Hotel

% Complete: Cumulative distance:  18.1%: 183.6 km

Total Ascent/Total Descent: 762m/783m

GPS satellite track of today's route: Day 2 (click!)

What errant nonsense! I should have realised that you can’t just instantly reconnect with the zeitgeist of a long-distance walk by re-entering the middle of it after a year’s break. By now, I should be experienced enough to know that one’s mood develops subtly over the period of the walk, and one moves through very distinct phases. It was utter foolishness to suppose that I could return to Westward Ho! after a year’s absence and resume the walk in precisely the same state of mind as I had left it. My negative observations yesterday about the day-trippers enjoying their hard-earned long weekend leisure were just about as out of place as me picking on the fellow walker in a bad mood, of whose circumstances I was absolutely unaware.

I realised this today as I encountered some of the people I had chanced upon yesterday and, with me in a different frame of mind, found myself communicating with them in a much more amenable manner. Unsurprisingly, they responded positively and cheerfully. True, they are mostly enjoying the long weekend, but anyone attempting walks as demanding as this during a couple of days off from work, deserves my respect and certainly not my derision. I apologise to them and to you, and can only blame this medium and its unedited instancy, which is both a strength and, as in this case, a weakness.

Naturally, being me, I won’t resile from all of my opinions of yesterday! For some time now I have been developing a mathematical function which will estimate the probability that someone you meet along a long-distance path will greet you in a more than perfunctory manner as you pass. I still have a long way to go, but I am closer to understanding the variables! For instance, the distance to the nearest conurbation is a significant factor, as are the number of people on the trail, whether the other person is in a group or on their own, whether they are in conversation or walking quietly in single file. There are other less obvious variables, such as the weather and especially a positive change in the weather. Everyone is much more communicative on a sunny day after a cold or wet patch. The presence of dogs is a major variable, especially if both parties have them. Children tend to be a negative factor; their parents are generally too involved in encouraging or disciplining them to notice anyone else. Another obvious factor is the time since last meeting someone, though this is of course correlated with the number of people on the trail. All this may be obvious, but yesterday taught me that your own mood is also a factor, as is the mood of the other person.  Clearly I failed yesterday to take that into account.

To cap it all, I just went down to the pub to have supper, and who should I meet but one of the trios who kept accelerating past me yesterday (and today!).  It turns out that they are indeed semi-professional walkers as part of their role as senior scouts, with very impressive business credentials on the side. We bought each other a couple of beers and shared tales of the trail. Their company was excellent. They were most amused at my trials of yesterday, but also very understanding. To my relief they said that they had not noticed any negative behaviour on my part. We parted hoping to meet again tomorrow.  How the worm turns!

Having got all that off my chest, I recognise that I haven’t even started to comment on today’s walk.  It was a game of three thirds; the first being a lung-busting continuation of the worst of the SWCP, followed by a curiously undulating canter over reasonably flat country and finally a short, sharp shock of ups and downs through magnificent scenery as I approached Hartland Quay. Fortunately, the weather was highly favourable and I was more sensible, actually walking more slowly over less demanding geography than yesterday. My change in mood undoubtedly also helped, especially my recognition that this was not a race, but a truly lovely experience.

I had a late startle as I headed from the cliffs towards the sea, following the directions on my gadget. On the map it appeared that my B&B was actually on the coastal rocks, which seemed highly improbable. I couldn’t see anything between me and the sea. Surely I had made a huge planning error! Then suddenly I emerged over a rise to see the hotel perched magnificently and improbably just above the high-tide line and looking directly out to sea!

What a perfect place!

Clovelly harbour

A parting view of the improbably steep high street in the morning sun

Back on the trail, more examples of wistful, Romantic-era constructions to provide shelter for polite sea-viewers

Clovelly Court in its park

Yet another eccentric viewing shelter

I'm not sure whether these are Dartmoor or Exmoor Ponies, but either way, they are a long way from home,except that they are on National Trust property.

Very steep cliffs leading up to Hartland Point

A confusing picture, taken vertically down a 125m cliff to the sea below. This is the first time I've sen something like this since Pembrokeshire

I came upon another lime kiln,

Only to discover this jovial gentleman,who informed me that he is the security for a film-set. Apparently they are filming the movie "Guernsey" in this location and specifically at Clovelly this morning. He is making sure we don't vandalise this site up the coast!. 

And protecting the artificial ivy on this bridge! (The three people in picture were eventually my dinner guests tonight!)

Ferns and bluebells

The two natural arches at Blackchurch Rock off Mouthmill Beach

Red Campion amidst the Stitchwort 

The radar station at West Titchberry Cliff

The lighthouse at Hartland Point, with Lundy Island still in the background

More remarkable geography as huge forces have tilted the sedimentary layers skywards 

It seems as if the whole peninsula has been tilted onto its side, and then the sea has worn away the upper layers

A waterfall in the middle of a drought!

Yet another huge tilted rock, covered in gorse on one side

More impressively tilted rock

And yet more,stretching out to sea

A sheer cliff

Suddenly another strange deserted house in the middle of nowhere!

Afternoon sunshine on a placid sea

Purple flowers (!) amongst a sea of primrose

A ruined folly close to Stoke Church and Hartland Abbey, the very last monastery to be savaged by Henry VIII

Two lambs for Phyllis, alarmingly on the point of extinction at a vertical cliff!  Where is mum when you need her?

The road to Hartland Quay