Minehead to Woolacombe

Saturday 10th October.

Having served our bed and breakfast guests their breakfast, we tidied up Nearwater and drove the 3.5 hours to Minehead.

We parked in the Railway Car Park and checked into the YMCA Beach Hotel.  The room overlooked the beach and was a decent size.
We had done a little research and had booked to Eat at The Indigo Lounge Indian Restaurant just a 10 minute walk away.  A good meal and very engaging staff.

Sunday 11th October (9.5 miles)

We started the day by driving to North Quay and parking the car in the council car park .  We paid £30 on the app for 7 days parking.  We then walked back to the start of the walk and took the obligatory selfie.  So at 10:00 we started the walk.  Today’s walk was mostly through woodlands before we descended to Bossington where we had hoped to have lunch at the tea rooms.  However we were met by a sign that the owners had decided to close for the rest of the season.  We therefore continued the 1.5 miles to Porlock and had scampi and chips at the Castle Inn at about 14:15.

We checked in into the Bay View b&b, where we had a wonderful room looking out towards the sea.  We ate a excellent roast beef dinner at the Royal Oak.

Monday 12th October

After an excellent breakfast our very helpful landlady Ruth drove us to Porlock Weir, where we started walking at 09:30.  Porlock Weir has a pretty harbour full of bilge keel yachts.

We then walked through woods with views of Wales across the Bristol Channel.

We walked all down a long quite steep road to Foreland Point to see the lighthouse.  We had lunch at the side of the road but after reading the guide book notes about the path around the lighthouse decided to walk back up the road and avoid the rather precarious path.

After a bit of somewhat exposed cliff walking we arrived at the Blue Ball Pub (about 3 miles short of Lynton) for a well earned pint.

After our rest at the Blue Ball, rather than return to the path we walked a short distance down the road and joined an inland path along the Lyn Valley down into Lynmouth.  This a pretty town, but 500 feet below Lynton where we were staying for the night.  Fortunately for those with tired legs there is an old Victorian water powered Furnicular Railway that lifts you up the hill to Lynton.  We stayed at the St Vincent Guest house and ate an excellent Tapas meal at the Oak Rooms.

Tuesday 13th October.

We started at 09:05 up a tarmac to the The Valley of the Rocks.  We heard the goats but did not see them.  Walking through more wooded area followed before some cliff walking as we arrived into Heddon’s Mouth.  There is a nice hotel, the Hunters Inn at the top of the Valley but we chose not to divert and pushed on up the steep side of the valley.  Then there was some cliff walking with little protection that neither my wife or I particularly enjoyed (we don’t have great heads for heights!)

Some nice rolling walking as we approached Great Hangman (the highest Point on the coast path).  The climb was not particularly hard and we were briefly the highest people of the coast path.

The picture shows the path leading towards Great Hangman .

We walked on past Little Hangman where we saw some deer then down into Combe Martin and a drink at the Focsle Inn.

We stayed at Channel Vista B&B and ate chilli at the Pack’o’Cards pub.

Wednesday 14th October.

An early start (08:45) for our last day.  We set ourselves the target of reaching Ilfracombe for our coffee stop.

We quickly seemed to arrive at Watermouth and passed the boatyard.  The tide was in and the views of the little bay were stunning.  Our few days were on the path had been blessed with lovely October weather.

Shortly after Watermouth we caught sight of Ilfracombe, but we were not quite there as the path drops down to Hele Bay and then there is an unexpected and steep climb before dropping down into Ilfracombe.

We did what everyone must do and walked along the harbour to inspect “Verity” Damian Hirst’s statue that guard’s the entrance to the harbour.

We had coffee under the 2 concrete towers in Ilfracome that are the theatre.

Then it was off to out lunch stop Lee Bay and the Crumpus Inn.  This was a little disappointing as the menu was very limited and the lentil soup provided to be forgettable.

After lunch some great coastal walking along to Bull Point and being a bit tired we talk a short cut through Mortenhoe (missing out Morte Point) before dropping down into Woolacombe.

We were greeted by the huge sands of Morte Bay and a cool surfer vibe bar “The Barn” for our end of walk drink.

We stayed at The Woolacombe Bay Hotel, a smart Victorian looking building overlooking the sands.

Our last evening meal was seafood at The Beach house Restaurant.

Overall this was fantastic stretch of coast line, with varied walking and great views. The picture is looking along the coast from just west of the Valley of Rocks.

Thursday 15th October

After an excellent breakfast at the hotel we took a taxi (Eze Cabs – £110) back to Minehead to pickup our car.

Picture is a selfie on top of Great Hangman.