Sunday 26 April 2026

Day 7 of walking

Instow to Westward Ho!
Distance: 20.71kms
Total distance: 156.79kms
Climbing: 160m
Total climb: 4037m

Today was sort of a repeat of yesterday. From Instow walk along one side of the River Torridge, cross the bridge at Bideford, walk all the way back along the other side of the river to Appledore, go round the corner to Westward Ho!

Caroline at Instow Barton provided a delicious breakfast. She had the option of having an omelette and we jumped at the chance of a variation from our usual poached egg with bacon, hash brown or tomato. When we arrived yesterday she gave us some of her home made cake and a hot drink. This morning at breakfast she gave us some of her home made cinnamon and apple roll with cream cheese icing. We asked her if this was an American tradition but she said not really, she had a bumper crop of apples this year and after making gallons of apple juice didn’t want to just feed the remainder to their horses. She peeled and pulped the apples to make cinnamon and apple roll for her guests.

From Instow and its heritage railway signal box the flat path followed the east bank of the estuary of the River Torridge. This old railway line was again busy with runners and cyclistsThere were a lot of groups of runners coming towards us and eventually we asked a lady what it was all about. She happened to be an instructor at a local gym. In two weeks there is a 10km event here and these were her gyms members out on a traing run. At the Bideford end of the path there is a small heritage railway museum and café in some restored railway carriages. At this point you cross the River Torridge over one of the longest mediaeval arched bridges in England. Yesterday Barnstaple had an arched bridge over the River Taw called Long Bridge and today Bideford had an arched bridge over the River Torridge also called Long Bridge. Bideford is a charming old port town, once the third busiest port in England. On the west side of the river is a quay with many wrecks of boats tied up, some used for cafes and restaurants. There was no railway on this side of the river so the path meanders about, sometimes on the river bank, around residences, down some alleys, through woodland, around an industrial area, a ship yard, up and down a bit, to arrive in Appledore.

Appledore is a charming old fishing village with little cottages and narrow cobblestoned alleys that are much too narrow for vehicles. It is quaint and quirky with colourfully painted houses, artists, studios, workshops, two old pubs and a promenade looking out over the estuary to Instow. There is a seasonal (April to October) ferry from Instow across to Appledore but it is tide and weather dependent. It would take about 15 minutes to do what we took most of the day to walk. There was a ferry at 1.30pm today but we left Instow at 9am at low tide. Besides it was a beautiful morning, the walk was interesting and we don’t cheat – well not yet anyway.

.Seven years ago we stopped in Appledore for lunch in a nice little café down a back street called the Market St Kitchen. Today is Sunday and our plan had been to get the Sunday Roast for lunch on Sundays. However we hadn’t worked much this morning and after Caroline’s breakfast we weren’t ready for a big meal. Our plans are always flexible so we decided to go and find the Kitchen and see what they had to offer. They had a Sunday special of beef with horse radish sauce and granary bread. This suited me and Barbara had tomato and lentil soup and granary bread. Seven years ago we both had the tomato and lentil soup. Granary bread, also called malted grain bread, is a brown bread made with malted wheat flakes giving it a nutty flavour, chewy texture and is high fibre. It could become a favourite.

From Appledore you could walk about a kilometre into Westward Ho! but the South West Coast Path takes you the scenic route of five kilometres around a headland, the Northam Burrows Country Park. This is a large coastal plain of sand dunes separated from the sea by a shingle ridge. The Taw and Torridge Rivers converge at this headland and flow out into the Bristol Channel. There were lots of little yachts racing off the headland.  Spitting distance across the water were the Braunton Burrows and Saunton Sand where we walked three days ago. The Country Park also shares the headland with the Royal North Devon Golf Club so once again you have watch out for wayward flying golf balls. This is the oldest links golf club in England. I think a links golf course is just one by the sea but then I am ignorant of most things golf. You enter Westward Ho! on the shingle ridge and suddenly you are hit with a crowded sea side resort. More about that tomorrow.

We are staying in the fairly characterless but comfy Waterfront Inn. We are here for two nights because tomorrow is the first of our “rest days”. What on earth will we do?