Tuesday 28 April 2026

Day 8 of walking
Westward Ho! to Clovelly
Distance: 19.55km
Total distance: 176.32km
Climbing: 913m
Total climb: 4950m

It was great to be back on the path again this morning. Honestly yesterday in Westward Ho! was a bit boring although absolutely necessary for our recovery. Gone are the two dead flat days walking to Westward Ho!, we are back on the roller coaster.

The day began with a fairly gentle walk out of Westward Ho! along a disused railway but soon we were climbing exposed and open cliffs cut by steep and fairly testing combes. At times we had to descend the cliffs and walk short stretches on the stony beach. There were several of these and from the tops looking back we could see Saunton and Baggy Head where we walked about 5 days ago.

At Peppercombe, where there is an old stone coach house now used as a shelter, the nature of the path changed. Still a lot of climbing and descending but now in woodland. The floor of the woodland was a carpet of blue bells, about a hundred million of them!

We passed through only one hamlet today, that of Bucks Mills. It was just a little huddle of houses at the bottom of a combe with access to a rocky beach. We were mostly still in woodland of huge beech trees and gigantic rhododendron bushes and occasionally out in the open walking the perimeter of fields. There were now no real sea views just glimpses through the trees. The last 5 km section of the day was on Hobby Drive, a 19^th century bridleway, wide and gently undulating and took us all the way to Clovelly.

Clovelly is one of the loveliest villages on the entire South West Coast Path. It is 400 feet of narrow, steep cobbled street rolling down to the sea and a tiny harbour. The street is lined each side with wonderfully preserved cottages. It is the most photogenic village we will visit this trip. The gradient of the main street – which has the names Up-a-Long and Down-a-Long – is steep enough to prevent vehicles driving up or down it. There is a back road used by Land Rovers to shuttle the elderly and lazy up and down to the harbour. Goods to the houses and cafes are brought in by sled, sliding down the cobblestones. Rubbish is taken to the bottom where it is removed by boat. There are also donkeys and for a fee you can get a ride back up the cobbles.

The whole of Clovelly is privately owned by the Hamlyn family who acquired the village as part of the entire Clovelly Estate in1738. The estate was originally owned by William the Conqueror and only three families have owned it since. Christine Hamlyn inherited the estate in 1884 and she and her husband spent years restoring many of the cottages, Her initials and the date of restoration can be seen on many of the buildings.

We are staying in Clovelly down at the harbour in the Red Lion Hotel. It is a beautifully restored and appointed 4 star eighteenth century Inn standing right on the quay. Right outside our windows the sea is lapping against the harbour sea wall. There are 17 rooms, a restaurant, a bar with bar food and the cosiest snug bar you could imagine. This is luxury after a day on the roller coaster. The restaurant was way too pricey for us so it was burgers in the bar. They only do Burgers and pizza.

Useless trivia of the day: there are between 500 and 600 hotels called the Red Lion in the UK.

We are so glad to be back walking. It was colder today, only got up to 14° and there was a cold wind. All our friends seem to have gone. All day we saw only one guy going in our direction and two single guys coming toward us. At the top of Clovelly there was a Coast Path sign that said 99 miles from Minehead, so that was a little accomplishment. We felt good and strong after a rest day and enjoyed the cliffs, the woodland, the blue bells and are loving our accommodation tonight.

I will do a separate post with some photos of Clovelly