Our original plans were to move to another site today, however, there are strong winds forecast and the outlook for our next destination in south Devon is a bit bleak. A couple of phone calls confirm that it is okay for us to stay on Seabreeze CL for another night and not a problem with the owners of the next site.
The weather during the morning is not at all special, intermittent hailstorms, not the sort of thing you expect in April in Devon. So I settle down to make the most of the rough weather and do some work. Then it is time for us to get out and get some fresh air and there is plenty of it about today.
Lynnie has one major requirement for our walk today, no mud! Not an easy planning task, as OS maps are unable to predict where mud might be encountered as a result of recent torrential rainfall. After some discussion we opt for a trip to Clovelly, which we can link with a walk along the coastal path.
I visited Clovelly as a nipper and we took Ben and Lolly to see this quaint fishing village when they were small. Lynnie had a distant relative, three or four generations ago, that lived in the village and her mum used to describe the cottage that they lived in. So part of our quest is to spot the cottage.
When last here the car park resembled a field and it was a case of paying a small contribution to maintain the Estate owned village. Now it is £7 a head. Clovelly is an interesting village, but it seems to me that you are really paying £7 to walk down a cobbled main street, albeit a very steep, pretty and old-fashioned main street, that provides numerous opportunities for you to part with your money.
I can see that organisations and individuals should be able, if they wish, to charge for access to property. But when it comes to charging access to a whole village I think it is a bit much.
We wander down the cobbled street, with my wallet deep in my pocket, until we reach the harbour wall. It is interesting and pretty, but a bit too twee for me. I much prefer the real life of Buck’s Mills.
A wander off the main street in search of Lynnie’s relative’s cottage proves unsuccessful, so we head back to the top of the village and decide to pick up the Coastal Path heading west.
This is an easy route to follow and we march along. There are sections that are bit too close to the cliff edge for my liking but we pick up a track that takes us parallel to the path and is a few yards further inland.
Eventually we reach Mouth Mill and stop to admire the views and take a peak at yet another limekiln. Freddy’s do like a good limekiln.
Our route continues by following the Coastal Path across a stream and then leaving it to walk up a track on our left. We continue inland on this track with the stream to our left through the bottom of Brownsham Wood until we come to a junction of paths. Here we turn left to cross the stream and then take a left before turning right within a few yards to take a footpath up a stony track.
At the top of the track we go through a gate into a field and carry on through another field, all the while climbing. As we cross the second field we get splendid views out to sea.
At the top corner of the field we join a track and follow this through the farmyard of Court Farm before walking on to see a church in front of us. Here we follow the tarmac lane around to join the road that leads back to the car park at the Clovelly visitor centre.
My Suunto Traverse calculates the walk as four and half miles. A pleasant stroll on a Sunday afternoon.
10th April 2016
[To follow this walk you will need Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 126 – Clovelly & Hartland]
© Two Dogs and an Awning (2016)