Clovelly to Hartland Quay: The Clearest View of Lundy Island on the South West Coast Path

South West Coast Path: Clovelly to Hartland Quay

“A glimmer a day keeps the negativity at bay”

A terrible nights sleep for me! Either too hot or too cold, a loud road right next to the campsite, a cockrell calling, a grumbly belly and achy feet. But besides this the campsite was pretty cool with a pizza oven, honesty box shop with a kettle you could use and seating area under sail tarps.

The campsite owner kindly agreed to drop us back down to the coast path in Clovelly, so we packed up and got in with him. The day started off very peaceful walking through the Clovelly Court gardens through a field with cows (which started following us!) and then along some wooded areas.

We dropped steeply into a valley which had a really cool derelict building I'd love to convert! Stream, sea view, remote! But with only a footpath probably not very practical!

We climbed steeply up a zig zag path to some wild flower meadow fields.

After the fields, there were some steep steps that went down into valley. Looking at a map, we found a less steep alternative (better for Dan's knee), that took us through some pretty woods with a little stream. Definitely a picturesque place for a walk and future exploring, using the National Trust car park thats not far away.

We rejoined the coast path and traversed fields with beautiful views to our right. We could see Saunton and Croyde beaches that we had walked around not many days before and also had an amazing view of Lundy island. Probably the clearest we have ever seen it!

We stopped for a break on a section of path as the surrounding fields were just long grass, and chatted to passing walkers. A white globe came into view and we thought we were nearing Hartland point and a mini cafe for lunch! We made it to the cafe and although limited in range, gave us some substance for the journey onwards and meant we didn't have to get the stove out. There was a cold wind so we ate up and moved on.

A more jagged coastline emerged, with the path traversing the cliff tops. We undulated up and down and found some pretty gems including a waterfall that looked so inviting on this hot day!

We followed the path down into a bowl like valley, which actually acted like a wind tunnel and made for difficult climbing the other side with rucksacks on! Pretty flowers sprinkled the coastline here and we sat on a bench to rest and take in the view for a while.

My feet were killing so we took it slow on the next section with a rest break in a valley with a beautiful cottage which you can hire.

Up again and we were on the top of the cliffs above Hartland quay. We were going to go down to the pub for dinner, but the campsite was level with us and we didn't want to drop down to come back up again. We were indecisive, but tiredness ended up trumping hunger so we headed to the campsite for another dinner of noodles!

Today's painting highlights the jagged rock formations as we approached Hartland Quay.

Today's Miles: 11.76 miles

Steps: 31,490 (Holly), 20,234 (Dan)

Overview

It was actually quite a nice walk. I'd like to go back to the area around Blackchurch rock to explore down to the beach and I liked the wooded area.

It was also nice along the length, with varied coastlines and fairly high level paths. Would recommend.