To a Long Steep Hill

    Let’s hear it for the Royal Hotel   Excellent food, nice bar, willing staff and they have got the virus defences absolutely right.   The only negative is that our room is a little tired and ready for a makeover.   The location could not be better for our purposes.   It’s right on the SWCP and the bus routes we need. However, it is somewhat caught in the general decline of the town.   It faces a derelict wharf.   Behind is the closed railway and station. There are empty houses on one side, and an abandoned bistro on the other.   Sad!  One tip: If you are like us and like a nice strong coffee for breakfast, order an americano with hot milk from the bar. Yum.  

  Wednesday 19th  August   We are both frankly knackered.   Weather is still unsettled and our next section (Clovelly to Hartland Quay) is one of the longest and hardest on the entire path.   There is really nowhere to break off to make it shorter.   So, we decide to take a day off.   We head over the bridge to the Pannier Market and Butchers Row.   It is deserted and the market is mostly empty.   Half the craft shops on Butchers Row are closed. Two guys are sitting outside a second hand book stall in the deserted Pannier Market.   I select The Cruel Coast, about wrecks on the North Devon Shore (very bad) It’s a lee shore for the prevailing west wind with few safe harbours. Hundreds of sailing ships were lost. Then I spot a first edition of A E Houseman, Last Poems.   The two men are council maintenance workers, but they agree to take my money and pass it on to the book shop owner. £20.00 for the two books.     ...

  It all starts so well.   We have time before we need to be at Barnstaple station to take pictures of the Lundy ferry.   There have been neap tides all week so it has been operating from Ilfracombe.   Yesterday the water was deep enough for it to return to its Bideford base.   Then, disaster!   Getting off the bus at the station, I drop my wallet.   Chris quickly phones Stagecoach, the bus company and I run over the bridge to the bus station, but the bus has already gone on, and the information office is shut.   In the wallet are all my credit cards, driving license, Freedom pass and quite a lot of cash plus my train ticket.   Within minutes of getting on the train I am confronted by the ticket inspector.   But – surprise – he is a nice helpful chap.   Since I bought the tickets on line, there will be an email record on my phone.   Yes! There it is, complete with reference code.   So at least I can get home. ...