Wednesday 18th April: Weather: 6°C to 12°C: Sunny for 30 minutes, misty morning, overcast afternoon
Clovelly to Elmscott: 21k walk: 7hrs 30 mins from 8.45am to 4.15pm: Ascent and descent 1000 metres
Accommodation: Wyvern House Bude
Elmscott to Bude
Sun on the breakfast table
Leaving Elmscott Farm
It’s cold, 7°C and misty, and no sun
Wild surf and mist, Welcombe Mouth
Ronald Duncan’s hut with “view"
This is Ronald Duncan
Marsland and Christoper Cadbury
Duck Pool
Duck Pool for obvious reasons
Lunch at Duck Pool
Steep climb out of Duck Pool
At the cliff top
View back to the Masts of GCHQ
Sandy Beach on way to Bude
Cliff top walking to Bude
Afternoon tea, trying to book ahead
Sandy beaches into Bude
Beach sheds at Bude
Highlight was seeing the sun for 10 minutes this morning before the mist rolled in. No really, it was a great day down country farm lanes then coastal cliffs travelling over roads we’d cycled on 38 years ago in 1980, before getting to Bude at 4.15pm.
We awoke to brilliant sunshine streaming in the window and after packing and going down to breakfast, it was still sunny. Breakfast was a magnificent spread by Thirza, laid on an antique table bathed in sunlight. The English grapefruit is just superb, followed by muesli, toast and a cooked breakfast which we package up for lunch/dinner.
We’re out the door at 8.45am dressed lightly in a tee shirt and no long sleeves expecting a very warm day above 20°C, as per the weather forecast (It was 29°C in London today!!!). But 5 minutes down the road, the mist rolls in and realising it’s only 7°C, have to stop to put extra layers on. The SWCP had been diverted to a farm road because of cliff subsidence (not surprising after yesterday afternoon’s cliff walk and seeing large chunks of cliff dropped to either a lower level, or completely onto the rocks below).
It’s still very misty, with only 100 metres visibility so a decision is made to continue down the farm lanes running like a roller coaster parallel to the coast path until the mist lifts. It’s very pretty and quiet through the farmlands with only 2 vehicles passing us in 2 hrs. The road finishes at a path leading down to Welcombe Mouth on the coast and it’s time to check just how much coastline we can see through the mist. None! But there is a small hut perched on a ridge where the poet Ronald Duncan came to write while resting his eyes on the ocean view. It’s a perfect spot for a cup of coffee, despite the lack of view.
Best to pick up the farm lanes at Marsland and avoid the coast path for a few more hours. Up through a pretty Nature Reserve established by Christopher Cadbury of chocolate fame, and on to country lanes again. The lane becomes a busier road at Masts near Mowenstowe, passing by a huge satellite complex called the GCHQ Bude - gobbledygook for a top secret surveillance place surrounded by high perimeter fences and security cameras.
Down a steep road into the Coombe Valley then along a dead end road to Duck Pool, named for obvious reasons - there’s a pool dammed up by rocks behind the surf with ducks. A good spot for lunch at 1pm sitting on a grassy patch sheltering from a cold breeze. Cold toast, cheese, tomatoes and butter to use up our left overs. The mist is lifting and it seems like it might be ok to tackle the coast path.
It’s up and down and through beautiful green paddocks of sheep and after 2 hours, we can see the township of Bude in the distance. It’s time for an afternoon tea on a convenient seat with coastal views of headlands all the way to Padstow. The phone signal is good here and we need to do some checking on accommodation for tomorrow night at Crackington which has been proving difficult for the past few nights when we’ve spent hours booking ahead. After 6 “no answer” phone calls and 4 “sorry we’re full” emails, we need to re-think our plan. Crackington is only a small village with limited accommodation, and being a Friday night tomorrow night, finding accommodation was always going to be difficult. We’ll sort it out in Bude.
Arriving into Bude, we walk past a dozen small beach sheds on the shore line. On re-reading my diary notes from 1980, I had noted that thee were all painted purple back then but are more colourful now. In another 30 minutes at 4.15 we’re at Wyvern House checking in. We’ve had this idea about doing a shuttle bus/walk for the next two days and staying two nights in Bude - we’ve done this before in Italy. This would mean walking from Bude to Crackington on Saturday morning and catching a bus back to the same accommodation in Bude, then on Sunday morning, catching a bus down to Crackington, then walking into Tintagel. Paula our host checks that it’s ok for 2 nights at Wyvern House, and it is, and we check bus times and they work out perfectly. So here we are for 2 nights, problem solved.
Time to wander up to Sainsbury’s which we can see across the golf links, and buy bread, beer, cheese and 3 capsicums to have with our left over breakfast, spread on a towel on the bed. Very comfortable.