Barnstaple to Bideford

 

Friday 14th August

 

21 bus stop is right outside the hotel, so we set off back to Barnstaple, which is where we finished in July. Creatures of habit, we head for St Anne’s café again for a quick coffee before crossing the Barnstaple Long Bridge and finding the path on the far side of the river Taw.  We head back to Bideford via the estuary mouth at Instow.

Like the last section we walked in July, this is the Tarka Trail shared with bikers.  There are few at first but as the morning wears on they build up.  There are notices everywhere telling cyclists to slow down, ring bells and give priority to walkers.  Most of them do none of these things, and it becomes stressful to be forever looking over your shoulder so as to avoid the next peloton rushing up silently behind you. 

 Thankfully we leave the trail well before Instow and meander close to the water.

  At Instow there is a ferry which runs at high tide across the mouth of the River Torridge to Appledore. It cuts out walking all the way up the Torridge to Bideford and back down the other side. Tempting, or what?  However, we are committed because we have made Bideford our base for the week. There’s a lovely deli in Instow called John’s Deli.  We buy sandwiches for tomorrow. We enjoy a sunny lunch of crab meat in front of the Instow Arms and push on. 

 We pass the preserved signal box – the Tarka trail follows the old railway.  At one time, you could catch the Atlantic Coast Express from Waterloo and get all the way to Bideford without changing.  How great that would have been.

 

At this point, a word about the weather is required.  The last few days have been blisteringly hot, but the forecast for our week of walking is dire. As we approach the hotel, dark clouds follow us and the first drops of rain start to fall.  We left Barnstaple about 10.30. and we are back in our room by 16.00 brewing tea.  We’ve done 10 miles.  Knee and boots are holding up.