Ilfracombe to Woolacombe (backwards)

By: Mike

Woolacombe Bay

Saturday 11th July

We finished last September in a chip shop on the quay at Ilfracombe.  After discussion, we reckoned it would be easier to do this section in reverse, so, all bright and bushy-tailed, we parked up in Woolacombe (£10 for the day) and headed out towards our first objective, Morte Point.  It's a cracker of a day and we have a picnic bought at the lovely community shop in West Down.  What could possibly go wrong? Plenty actually.  Sunburn and boot pain....

The path is busy, and steep. The sun is strong


The picture shows Chris bare-shouldered before the sun did its damage.

We stopped for lunch at the Bull Point lighthouse.  A nice little pasty for me.  Roll with cheese for Chris.  Sitting on the grass I noticed that my left boot was showing a bit of a gap between the upper and the sole.

A bloke was painting the lighthouse.  Rather abstract by the look of it.  We relaxed in the sunshine.


Soon after, disaster struck.  My ancient but comfy boots simple fell apart. I moved quickly from panic to boy scout mode and used the bootlace to lash the boot back together. I stripped out the cord from my backpack to use as a short bootlace.  Amazingly this held long enough to get me to Ilfracombe.
The afternoon wore on. Two steep descents and climbs, the second up from the beach at Lee - a long hot lane which tested us.  Then a nice flat path along the top and a gentle descent into Ilfracombe.  We walked the length of it's sad shuttered high street before finding a cup of tea and a taxi back to Woolacombe.

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