Day 4 - Saunton, Braunton, Barnstaple, Instow, Appledore, Westward Ho!

Total: 88+m / Daily: ~22m  / Sunny / Bikes: 100s

Last night I pitched my tent next to a little wooden building with the name 'The Shack' carved on a plate above the door frame. Having read 'The Shack', I was a little concerned that I might come across The Holy Trinity in my unconscious state but actually had quite a comfortable night sleep. As a hiker, sleeping on the edge of an 'Area of Specialist Natural Interest' roughly translates as, 'if you sleep here there will be birds!' low flying birds at that. Many birds!

Today began with a long walk along the beach, where the hard sand turned to soft sand for no apparent reason and walking poles were useless. Having said that it was soft underfoot, but somewhat slow going. Missing the turn off the beach into the dunes took me to the edge of the estuary and added 2 or so miles to the day.

I then followed the edge of the estuary into Braunton and linked up with cycle route 'The Tarka Trail' which connects the various towns and forms part of the Devon Coast to Coast Cycle Route. This meant concrete, lots and lots of concrete. So much concrete that I think the bottom of my feet had began to bruise, on the plus side, the flat meant that my knee was quite happy to pound tarmac all day.

I spent a good 3 hours in the Fremington Quay cafe hiding from the midday sun and decided to sit inside, a mistake considering there was no breeze and no air conditioning. The waitress told me that their kitchen thermometer read 37℃ yesterday, not exactly ideal working conditions!

The Instow Ferry which links Instow with Appledore is listed in the SWCP Association guide as an 'alternative route' but as far as I'm concerned, rivers simply don't count as coast and you should cross them as soon as possible. The book sometimes suggests the ferry and other times (like today) just lists that they exist. The same of true of the (new) Barnstaple bridge, the official route marches you along more concrete into the town and back out. I have enough of a challenge on my hands without having to trace rivers inland!

Feeling ok after fish and chips on the quaysidein Appledore, I wandered on to Westward Ho! ... (that must be shouted whilst pointing west, as if riding a horse) Are there any other place names with an exclamation mark in them? I suspect none with a name to match! The amount of icecream being sold made most of the national papers at some point over the last few days and I suspect Westward Ho! contributed its fair share, the little stalls were everywhere and all appeared to be trading well.

Walking out of the town I met an elderly couple sitting on a bench about 2 miles outside of town who were interested to hear my story. The man was an ex scout leader and DoE assessor for 15 years and had many questions about distances, gear, supplies etc. And he took an interest in my cooking facilities. Show and tell over, I walked a further mile to pitch on flat grass next to a family enjoying a fire together on what I gathered was their first camping trip.

Sunset was brilliant and I briefly thought about how the miles I had gained today would help with my planned day off at Hartland on Monday.

* Photo of my arm shows that it was so hot that when I tried to read the paper, the crossword ended up on my arm.

Day 3 - Ilfracombe, Woolacombe, Croyde

Total: 54m / ~19m  / Sunny / Sunseakers:1000+

The first thing I did today (after sitting up) was to take 2 painkillers. The walk into Ilfracombe wasn't too bad and I feel my pole technique is improving although I'm all over the place going downhill. I was thinking about painkillers and then onto ice as a painkiller. The only reason ice is applied is to numb pain, this can then trick the body into producing less fluid as it thinks the problem is going away, thereby reducing swelling. All of this information comes off the side of my new tubegrip knee support, which (rather worryingly) is white. White is a bad idea for long walks for rather obvious reasons, perhaps it can become my clothes washing indicator.

A fantastic walk around Lee Bay, Bull Point and Morte Point took me past inaccessible sandy coves, a stunning lighthouse with converted holidays cottages, rocky outcrops and undulating hills (of which these ones did slightly more undulating than I was expecting). My first sight of Woolacombe was thousands of sunseakers on the vast sandy beach and the little town perched on the edge. It was slightly later than I had hoped and I found welcome shade at the Sea Breeze Ice Cream and Coffee Shop.

Lunch was accompanied by a show as a lady from Birmingham became more and more irate with her broken down car. One man suggested that it 'sounds like a fault with the petrol pump,' how can you tell? I have no idea whether he was qualified to make that comment, all I know is that it sounds like it won't start!

Across Woolacombe beach I climbed up around the headland and was able to see right the way across the next huge bay (with Barnstaple in the middle) all the way to Hartland, where where I will hopefully be spending Monday night in the YHA.

The Saunton Hotel, starting at £110 per room per night was a little out of my price range, so a pizza beside the beach and sleeping in my tent will do nicely!

If you look carefully at the rock photo you will see two people. One abseiled down the rope attached coiled in his bag and the other clipped in and came down the same rope.