Clovelly to Hartland Quay

Clovelly to Hartland Quay - Monday 29th August 2011

Path Facts - Length: 10.3 miles, Ascent: 2323 feet

8am breakfast again then set off at 9.20am. From Burscott the path descends again to the visitor centre at Clovelly before heading through a field with huge iron gates reminiscent of Jurassic Park (watch out for velociraptors). 

There is a stretch of woodland path on leaving Clovelly (apparently the shelter gives Clovelly it’s own micro-climate). An objet d’art known as The Angel Wings is on this stretch. It is a wood carved shelter, made by a former butler of Clovelly Court.

The terrain become really mixed which makes for some interesting walking. Woodland, some open space with gorse and cliff top paths, constantly changing.

There were some great views along the increasingly rugged coast and out to Lundy then the radar dome at Hartland Point appeared in the distance and became a landscape feature for much of the walk.

Stopped at Hartland Point at the great tea shop there. My first cream tea of the trip and one of the best I’ve ever had. There’s a good viewing point here where you can see the lighthouse, Lundy and remnants of shipwrecks.

Hartland Point is a bit of a landmark on the path as it turns from west to South at this point and new vistas open up to the South West. Such occasions usually create long speculative discussions of exactly what we can see off in the distance. A later discussion with a local chap at Hartland Quay confirmed that Trevose Head was the West-most visible point from here. Trevose Head brings back certain memories for me because we used to walk there from Mawgan Porth when we came to Cornwall on holiday.

The coast views from Hartland Point to Hartland Quay are great. The cliffs and rocks are rugged and impressive.

We arrived at Hartland Quay just before 4pm which allowed us to visit the great museum there. It is mostly dedicated to shipwrecks and has lots of old photographs and related stories as well as some items from the wrecks. There’s a particularly interesting section on why this area is so dangerous. There is a combination of two wind currents, some very jagged rocks, fog etc. It is also one of the routes into the Bristol Channel. Hence there is a high volume of shipping and hundreds of wrecks over the years. Entry to the museum is £1!

Checked into the hotel and, I have to say, this was the best view from the window of any accommodation I’ve ever been in. Epic!

Went for a bit of a walk round the quay before supper and a sherbet or two. Hartland Quay is renowned for spectacular sunsets which it didn’t quite deliver on this occasion, but no reason to complain.

Info:

Accommodation – Hartland Quay Hotel

Location ***** Couldn’t be better
Room *****
Facilities **** bath, no shower
Noise ****
Food *** for breakfast (see below for evening meal)
Ambience ***** more for the location than the hotel itself
Price ** £90 for the room

http://www.hartlandquayhotel.co.uk/

Food – Hartland Quay Hotel

Quality * They messed up both our orders. Andy ordered some kind of crumble and ended up with some kind of hot pot. I ordered a spinach/mushroom lasagne and ended up with a salmon bake. At least Andy’s was still veg.
Price *** avg
 
Beer

Tribute ****
Trelawny ****

The Walker’s Strategy Section

This may be the first time I’ve ever washed my clothes in the bath that I’m actually bathing in but I think I may have discovered a new eco-friendly technique. A bit of fore-thought in this area would reduce the amount of kit in the pack as well.