Day 6: Hartland Quay to Clovelly

N.B. This is the last of six posts about my trip to the north coast of Cornwall and Devon to walk a portion of the South West Coast Path.  [Trip Overview] - [Start of Trip] 

Our host at the B&B recommended that we stick to the SWCP and give Clovelly a miss - a bit of a tourist trap.  However, we figured we'd already done the SWCP a lot over the past five days, and we were, in fact, tourists.  Since we were unlikely to come this way again, why not see Clovelly?

So we gave the SWCP a miss, instead, following back lanes and strolling along wide forest roads.  We came to an area where they raise grouse for hunting.  The grouse could conceivably fly away - they are not actually confined - but although they were shy of us, they were numerous and apparently quite comfortable with being well fed.

They weren't grousing about their lot in life.

We crossed an open field which had a gate standing alone in the middle of it -- sans wall.  Wonderfully surreal. I thought about taking a picture as we approached it, but thought I would have another chance from the far side of the field.  Unfortunately, due to the local topography, the gate quickly disappeared from view from the other side.  It was almost magical - but unfortunately it meant that I'd missed my photo opportunity.

We paid admission to the greenhouse/gardens associated with the Clovelly Estate (on the honor system).  Later on, Sarah and I were somewhat sorry we had honored the request for payment, because when we briefly exited the gift shop at Clovelly proper to make sure we understood where the bus stop was, we were charged full admission to re-enter.  Oh well.

Bill & the Honeybee

Figs

Grapes

There is just one street in Clovelly, and all the buildings (both residential and business) belong to the estate.  Everyone is a tenant.  It was pretty, but very limited - and the food and service was somewhat less than stellar at the establishments we patronized.  But the scones were good at the tea shop.

After we finished our tour of Clovelly, we caught a double-decker bus to Barnstaple for the last night of our trip.

Sarah wasn't able to book all three of us into the same B&B, and Bill was a little worried about the one he was going to stay in solo.  He had just picked up a funny vibe about it somehow, and we all hoped it would be OK.  When we went to meet him for dinner, he wouldn't say a word about what it was like, but insisted we come see for ourselves.  Our hearts sank.  Just how bad could it be?

We followed him over to the entrance.  He opened the door.  It was amazing.  Clean, modern, spacious, elegant, and comfortable.  A beautiful sofa, with a good sized television and a nice array of DVDs to watch.  An espresso machine.  (Bill explained that he had already eaten the wonderful slice of home-made cake that his host had graciously left for him.)  A beautiful bathroom.  We were relieved and delighted to see that he had fallen on his feet.  But wait - would we like to see upstairs?  Of course we would!  Our delight was slightly tinged with envy by this point.  Upstairs was a good sized loft style bedroom with a large, comfy-looking bed and a master bathroom (we had merely seen the guest bathroom downstairs).  Just as downstairs, everything was immaculate and tastefully decorated in a manner that was simple, warm and welcoming.  If you ever need a place to stay in Barnstaple, Weirholme-Annexe turned out to be a great choice.


We went into town and found a nice Indian restaurant (hooray!) then returned for movie night chez Bill - we watched episode 1 of season 2 of Sherlock, a show none of us had seen before.  It was really good. Tomorrow would be a travel day and the parting of the ways.

N.B. This is the last of six posts about my trip to the north coast of Cornwall and Devon to walk a portion of the South West Coast Path.  [Trip Overview] - [Start of Trip]