Day 9 - Westward Ho! to Clovelly - 10 Miles

I got up for breakfast, which was quite nice. The waves were crashing up onto the pebble ridge, looking out beyond a german speaking pair – An old man and his ill neice who were sitting at the table in front of the large bay window looking out over Westward Ho! The sky was overcast again and it looked windy, though it looked a BIT brighter than yesterday at least! I packed up the trusty rucksack and set off down the hill towards the Spar shop. I bought a 2 litre bottle of diet lemonade and a slice of cheese, onion and potato pie stuff, like Homity pie, for lunch. That stowed, I set off into the wind again, the roar of the big breakers off to my right as I walked along the 'front'. After the holiday park, and the last, once fairly grand, brick house of the town, I left Westward Ho! behind. It's an odd place and fairly unattractive, so not a bad thing to be doing, and I was quite looking forward to the less boring, none estuarine day ahead of me!

Crashing waves and angry sky from the start of the days walk on Westward Ho! 'front'.

Looking back at dismal Westward Ho! and its last, once grand, brick house.

I carried on, the wind definitely less forceful than yesterday, but still blowing right into my face. I gradually climbed on a stoney, flat and wide path, above the wavecut platform to my right, which slowly exposed itself throughout the morning as the tide went out. As I trudged onwards the path became progressively more up and down, which I hadn't really been expecting too much today!! Hmmm! What made it worse was that I was struggling with even these ups considerably. The views made it all worthwhile though – pebbly beaches made of the same huge grey and white veined pebbles found on Westward Ho!'s ridge, above a wide wavecut platform. The path stretched ahead over small hummocky and truncated, round shouldered headlands.

I caught up with a late middle aged man as we climbed/struggled up another hill past Greencliff – one of the larger ascents for the day. We both agreed it was strenuous, which made me even more worried about the route ahead and the bits my guide book calls strenuous! Sigh!! We had a chinwag for a while and then I carried on ahead.

The way ahead rumples up into progressively larger headlands!	Looking down at the wonderful characteristic grey pebbles of the beach above the wavecut platform not yet exposed.
The way ahead and the next larger headland.	A small stream and waterfall at the beach in one of the valleys
Looking ahead and the wavecut platform is now being exposed by the receding tide.	And looking back the way I've come.

I stopped for a snack break at a stream mouth just before Peppercombe in the lee of a small cliffy lump. While I ate my pie and had a drink he caught me up and we had another chinwag for a while. I set off first again and headed off to Peppercombe. It was a lovely little wooded valley with a stone farm building etc. It was yet another steep climb out of the valley, but the woodlands made a beautiful change. Such a fantastic time of year to experience them too, with the carpets of bluebells and primroses mixed in in places. The trees were wonderful too – gnarled and stunted oaks all with their seaward facing branches stunted and their leeward branches stretching out up the cliff slopes. While I was walking along here I started to notice pain in my left foot, below my outside ankle bone. This is a problem I had experienced mildly before on other walks. Luckily the shin/ankle pain I'd begun to experience yesterday hadn't got any worse!!

All along this section Clovelly was visible – indeed it had been since not long after leaving Westward Ho!, even with the veils of very light rain that periodically had drifted across the bay all morning from the direction of Lundy to obscure the detail of the route ahead somewhat.

Lovely big tree by an old barn at Peppercombe.	And a tangle of undergrowth over the stream here.
	The path climbs steeply from Peppercombe and a very different section of the walk.... woods and bluebells.
Clovelly visible and a LITTLE nearer from here!	And looking back the way I've come from Westward Ho! just beyond the furthest headland.

There was a ferocious descent to Buck's Mills, which was a lovely valley-bound hamlet of a few white cottages perched above a steeply descending track down to the beach/wavecut platform below. By the time I got down, I was in enough pain from the left foot to take a pain killer while having a rest on a bench at the top of the steep little track leading down to the beach. This was now EXTREMELY worrying – taking pain killers at such an early and supposedly easy stage of the week's walking!!

The climb out of Buck's Mill was equally ferocious, but a beautiful woodland climb again. The trees here tended to be much more grand than previously – stately beech trees, much larger than the previous oaks and creating shelter so that even those were larger. It was lovely. After skirting the sewerage plant for a small holiday camp, the beautiful beeches resumed and the path wound in and out around trickling streams – Lovely! It eventually emerged onto a field edge, which I followed around the cliff and woodland edge. After that I at last joined the stoney, flat and quite wide track, which I assumed was the 'Hobby Drive' I'd read about, that winds fairly flatly in and out of numerous combes, all the way to Clovelly. I was hobbling quite badly by this point!!! Good grief!!! My body is useless! I want another one!!!

Descent to the tiny hamlet of Buck's Mills... Clovelly still visible ahead!	Lovely Beech trees after Buck's Mills.
More and more blue bells all the way.	The view from the beginning of Hobby Drive.
Looking back the way I have come from Hobby Drive.	A bench along Hobby Drive inscribed to mark the extension of the Drive that I have just walked along... so only the original part to go now!

After I'd been hobbling in and out of every valley for a mile or so my friend John from Torquay, who'd arranged to come and meet me for the evening, texted to say he was about 15 miles away, and not long after to say that he'd arrived already. I told him I was still hobbling in along Hobby Drive and he said he'd wander along to meet me. We bumped into each other not much afterwards – Yay!! – which meant that I was finally nearly at Clovelly. We walked back together – me painfully limping!!

We made the final descent to the village itself, to find my B&B for the night – The New Inn, at the top of the steep and cobbled street. I checked in. The room was cheap because it was not ensuite and in the annexe across the street. It was really rather nice though!!! A twin room with an odd temporary looking shower next to the sink – a shower tray with a very flimsy canopy around it. I dumped my bag and went for a well earned pint in the bar opposite, just across the steep and narrow cobbled street. I left John with another pint while I quickly went back and had a shower – the flimsy affair seemed to work fine. We decided to wander down the 'main' street to the Red Lion pub on the harbour quay at the bottom. The place really is wonderful. It was nice to visit somewhere I'd never been before!!!

First glimpse of Clovelly at hand, but lots more meandering in and out of valleys yet!!	And finally after John meets me above the village itself!
The top of the cobbled and stepped main street with my B&B the New Inn visible.	Looking back up the steep main street from just below the New Inn.

John on the steep path down to the harbour.

And the harbour itself with Buck's Mills just visible if you know where you're looking.

Looking back up the hill at the bottom half of the village from the harbour wall.

The restaurant meals at The Red Lion were quite pricey at £20 for 2 courses, so after a chinwag leaning up the harbour wall for a while we investigated the bar and bar snacks. They WERE in fact doing them though the bar maid had to find out and seemed initially dubious. We both ordered scampi and chips with a side order of garlic bread for a quid extra. It was all very nice for the money? That eaten, we decided to go back up the hill and stop for another couple of drinks at my hotel at the top of the road. I was really tired and getting sloshed by this point and so John went about 9.45ish. It was really lovely of him to come all the way from Torquay to see me though. A real pleasant diversion from my own company on this holiday!! Thank you very much to him!!

Map of the day's walk:(click to enlarge)