Woolacombe to Saunton Sands: Walking the North Devon Beaches of the South West Coast Path

South West Coast Path: Woolacombe to Saunton Sands

“You will get there but right now you are here (and here is wonderful)” - Walk The Earth

Kickstarted the day with an amble into Woolacombe popping into a shop to stock up on supplies. Lady behind the checkout was interested in our walk, but Dan was blocking the door, so we headed out.

Sun getting warmer as we headed on the coast path and along Marine Drive. A lovely opportunity to actually walk next to each other & chat! We were aiming for a bench we knew from previous walks, but we walked straight past it! We think they had cut the grass since we last saw it as it looked completely different!

Ended up on a beautiful bench with a back (a luxury!) overlooking Putsborough Beach and had a snack break. Saw the couple walking to Padstow again! Nice to see familiar faces.

We set off again around Baggy Point. The path getting a lot busier as it's a popular stretch and the weather was beautiful! Pastel purple flowers are starting to spring up on the coastline which makes a magical day even more magical.

We traversed down to Croyde and stopped in tea rooms for a cream tea for lunch. Unfortunately this probably wasn't enough food as we were hungry not long after!

Walking across the beach, luckily the tide was out and made for easy walking. We crossed the river lower down on the beach with our waterproof shoes, to save on walking through the sand dunes above.

Up and around the Saunton headland, we stopped on a bench beneath the old coastguard look out (would love this for an artist studio/tiny house!). The tide was so low we could see surfers at Saunton so clearly! They looked to nearly be beneath the Grand Designs white house.

Up the hill we went, crossing down the road to the left (seems the wrong way, and they might be doing a different route for this soon?). Then up and around to the right. The path higher than, but following the road around the headland. With beautiful views over Saunton Sands it's still one of my favourite views. It helped that the sun was shining and the waves looked beautiful!!

If the tide wasn't so low (extreme spring tides) I would've been tempted to surf! But the lack of energy, a wetsuit and not wanting to walk another mile carrying a surfboard to the beach, meant when we got to Saunton we instead chilled on the beach, with an ice-cream!

After a long rest, we decided to chance our luck with the tide, as we knew we had 4 miles of Saunton beach to walk down and there was going to be an extreme high tide later that evening.

Being one of our favourite beaches, we have always wanted to walk down the length, so we saw this as our opportunity to do so. We saw some amazing driftwood den structures, but otherwise the going was pretty samey. Keeping a watchful eye on the tide which was drawing ever closer!

Rounding two bends and we still couldn't see Crows Point, we (I) started to get worried about the tide. Finally crows point came into sight! We just made it past an old building platform, scrambling through some rocks before the tide leapt at our feet. We stopped to check the route and it turns out we don't need to go all the way to the end of Crows Point, instead we can cut in through the dunes on the coast path. We look back around and see the tide sweeping away our footsteps, we only just made it in time!

Our feet tired and pockets unable to afford a hotel in Braunton, we searched for a place to stop to cook tea and found a semi secluded area in the dunes near the car park, but still on the coast path. Probably our closest camping pitch to the coast path so far! We pitched up late and left super early and of course left no trace. We were also treated to a beautiful sunset!

Today's painting captures the curve of Crows Point at the far end of Saunton Sands beach. The golden glow of the sunset, the incoming tide on the right and high sand dunes on the left.

Today's Miles: 15.16 miles

Steps: 38,814 (Holly), 24,989 (Dan) - Dan's step counter not very accurate since getting two poles!

Overview

A well walked path in and around all the beaches. One of our favourite parts of the world, it was nice to do it all in one day. However, I would recommend doing the walks in stages though to full appreciate and get time on each beach.

Walking on sand is HARD! Especially with a heavy rucksack sinking your feet in more. Sometimes the better view points are from above.

The other hikers opted to cut Saunton off and stayed in Lobb Fields and walked into Braunton down the road the next day.

We will obviously be back to this area as we love it for surfing, however we'd like to come back and do Morte Point and around the valley before dropping down into Woolacombe.