The South West Coast Path goes up the river, across the river and down the river (and a little around the coast!).

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Well really near Bideford at a small seaside village called Instow. Very comfortable in our room at the Wayfarer Inn. A pub so old it does not have to try to be ‘olde worlde’, it just is. There are enough knots and rope splices on the walls here the place could be training central for Boy Scouts. Mix that with those old bronze diving helmets, model ships complete with rigging, porthole windows and any other maritime memorabilia that seems cliche and you’ve got it except the stuff here is real. The Cindy Lauper music is not exactly in keeping but sea shanties may be a bit over the top. The stairs here are super steep, I think in an effort to counter our easy day’s walk. For the first time there was booking mixup with the pub expecting us yesterday! But our luggage was here and everything else has locked in fine. They checked us in no worries but it may have been fortunate that it wasn’t a Saturday night.

We managed to have a waist deep wade at the beach here and a tiny explore of the foreshore but the lure of a shower and a cider is very difficult to resist. Julie is just having a cup of tea and then we should be able to air drop photos to each other then share them. OK got ’em.



Today’s walk was relatively easy. Just over 30000 steps compared with 46000 on Saturday and virtually no change in elevation, unless you consider the steps to our room! The stairs are so steep I’m worried about nose bleeds! But the path meant that we made excellent time and even took a ‘long cut’ towards the end of the walk. It’s all river estuary country today, some suburban silhouette in the distance (from Barnstaple) and a little coastal dune walking but nothing serious and probably enough to make you think there is a God trying to even things out a bit.

Partaking in the cider treatment so all good here. Even Julie is finding some she likes although bizarrely it comes from Scandinavia! It’s a bit like selling ice to eskimos but…

No other real news here although with a couple of easier days we are starting to settle into the walking pattern and rhythm.




There are lots of photos (26) so go searching.

Caio for now.

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