Advertisement
Published: March 30th 2023
CLOVELLY, HARTLAND & LUNDY
I had a lovely few days in Eastbourne and managed to celebrate my birthday actually on the day, the first time since we started travelling. It is always good to meet up with friends. Then I moved to Camberley, again to celebrate birthdays and eat and drink. I kept telling myself I could cut back on both once I reached Lundy.
The day I was due to leave we woke up to see the garden and cars covered in snow. A beautiful winter picture but not ideal to travel in especially over Salisbury Plain. I turned over and went back to sleep. Barry & Carolyn had kindly suggested I stay longer until the weather improved. I needed no encouragement once I saw the snow!
But the next day was fine as the rain had washed the snow away and I had a very easy journey during the morning. After lunch it all changed.
The forecast had been for light showers and I saw a few
of those at the start of the trip but then in the afternoon the rain became truly torrential. I have rarely seen it so heavy. Visibility fell to nothing. Even with the wipers working at high speed there were a couple of times when I had to pull in for a few minutes as I could see nothing. It felt as though I was constantly driving into a couple of fire hoses turned up to maximum. Then, because the downpour went on unchecked for so long, flash floods washed down the road making it difficult to see exactly where the road was. Not surprisingly there was an accident so that caused a short hold up but it was a relief to be stationary for a few minutes to rest my eyes.
Eventually I arrived in Hartland and found the airbnb which conveniently has a free council car park next door. It is a small annexe but comfortable although it took some heating as the temperature outside was very low.
I had three days there and visited Bideford and Clovelly twice. Clovelly fascinated me. It is a
familiar sight as it is often depicted on jigsaws. The village has been kept largely as it was a couple of hundred years ago, if not longer. Since the 1100s it has been owned by only three families. It is built in a tiny, narrow steep combe or valley, well hidden from sight which helped it escape the attention of pirates and Revenue men and was ideally placed for fishing and smuggling. The narrow road down between the cottages is cobbled with stones from the beach so difficult to walk down and even more of a struggle to walk back up.
Vehicles are not allowed to use it but every property has a sled which can be loaded and pulled up or lowered down the road for supplies. Donkeys were used to haul loads up and down but now their only work is to give children rides on the beach in the summer. There were only a handful of visitors when I was there so I enjoyed walking around unhampered by crowds. I am not sure it would be such a pleasant experience in summer.
There are two pubs and I stopped at one, The Red Lion right on the jetty, for a lovely coffee. It was far too cold that day to consider anything other than a hot drink.
I returned a couple of days later to walk along the headland and really appreciated then how well hidden the village is. Even with bare trees it was very hard to spot apart from when standing at the top of the street in what is more of a cleft between rocks than a true valley.
Soon it was time to prepare for my trip to Lundy. During the winter the only way to access the island is by helicopter. It is a quick 7-10 minute hop across the Bristol Channel as it lies ten miles off the Devon coast. The island is owned by the National Trust but managed by the Landmark Trust which restores and maintains historic buildings. The exceptions to this are the two lighthouses which are owned and managed by Trinity House. and the small church which is owned by the Church.
The whole experience of going and staying there is very complicated. The instructions are to phone the Lundy Office after 8pm the night before you are due to fly. A message then tells you what time to be at the heliport, if you are lucky. If the weather forecast is bad it might mean waiting until the next day. I wasn’t sure if we would go as scheduled as the day before was very windy. However the message said to be there by 9.45am but not to arrive before 9.30am when it opens. If you wish to park a car you have to bring the correct amount in cash.
The amount of luggage you can take is strictly limited. The allowance is one bag weighing no more than 10 kilos and a backpack of no more than 5 kilos. I don’t know how I managed it as I hadn’t had chance to weigh them but my two bags were exactly 15 kilos. That is not a lot for a fortnight. Most people only stay for 3 or 4 nights, Friday to Monday, or Monday to
Friday. They are the only days the helicopters go across.
I set off for the 10 minute drive to the heliport at 9.10 thinking it would take me a little longer than the SatNav estimated but not wanting to arrive before 9.30. I chose the route which was labelled ‘ fewest turns’ in the hope that the roads might be slightly wider than the quick route. I had remembered when I reached Hartland that what I don’t like about Devon are the narrow, steep winding lanes so I was a little anxious about the journey.
It was just as well I didn’t know what lay ahead. I set off and within a couple of minutes I was driving down a lane so narrow with hedges and stone walls bordering the track that parking sensors on both sides of the car were screaming at me constantly. That is horribly unnerving! Then at a bend on the top of a hill I met a van coming the opposite way. There was no way we could pass as it was single track. The van driver
tried to pull into a gate at the side but there still wasn’t space and she churned up the mud so much she nearly got stuck. After a few tries I decided the only way was to reverse back down a quarter of a mile hoping nothing was going to come racing up at speed. Again both sensors were shouting loudly all the way down.
So once the van passed I was able to go up the hill again keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn’t meet another vehicle. I didn’t thankfully. But then when I reached a junction I realised I had another problem. When the sensors are buzzing because the hedges are so close, it overrides the SatNav so there was no voice telling me which way to turn. Help! I made a decision and turned right but as soon as I could safely stop, by a sign for a farm, I called the Lundy Office to ask if I should be passing that farm. Unfortunately the person answering didn’t know but said , ‘carry on to the end of the road’. Fine, if I was on the right
road! At which point an alarm message came up on the dashboard to say a tyre had lost pressure. By this time it was 9.45. I carried on just hoping I was going the right way. It was and in a couple of minutes I was there, paid for the parking, had my luggage taken off me and was told where to park. It is very well organised.
It had been a scary drive and rather than going for a ride in a helicopter, I just wanted to lie down in a quiet room until my heart rate was back to normal. That was not an option. There was only the crowded waiting room. I was checked in and given a flight number, 4, and told to watch a safety video. The wind was even stronger by this time and I saw the helicopter come in to land and watched it swaying in the wind. Then someone came into the waiting room and said the pilot had decided not to fly for another hour or so in the hope the wind would drop. At that time it was Force 5 gusting
to 7. It is the gusting that grounds the helicopter.
The wind did reduce fractionally so a couple of hours later Flight 4 was called. There are only six passengers on each flight and the turnaround of the passengers is streamlined to run like clockwork. The helicopter lands with people coming from Lundy, the engines and rotor blades ( or whatever they are called) keep turning, returning passengers jump down, their luggage is unloaded, the 6 people heading out are already lined up and quickly marched to the helicopter, fastened in while their bags are stowed and off it goes. The whole turnaround is less than ten minutes.
As I stood in line to board I looked down at my feet and saw my trainers. Aaaagh, I should have changed into my walking boots before leaving the car. I asked if there was time to run to the car but was told there wasn’t. At least my trainers are quite sturdy.
Space inside the helicopter is limited making it very cosy for six. I was
seated with two couples, one of which had a boy about four with them. They tried to get him to wear ear defenders as he doesn’t like loud noises, which started him screaming and he didn’t stop until we landed. I wish I had been given ear defenders against him! I was so grateful it was a short flight. He was the only child I saw on the island. The view as we took off over the edge of the cliff with the wind throwing the sea in huge waves against the jagged rocks below was wonderful and terrifying at the same time.
So soon we landed on Lundy ( the word is Norse for Puffin Island ) with a sense of relief, could anything else go wrong that day? It did start to calm down. Although I didn’t get into my accommodation until four, I had a walk, bought supplies from the small shop and had a drink in the Marisco Tavern in front of a huge open fire. At 5pm a ranger gave a talk about the flora and fauna on Lundy and where to find it. The Tavern
is a warm friendly place and I felt after the stressful day I could treat myself to the game pie, which was delicious. So feeling relaxed and well fed I set off on the half kilometre walk back to my cottage, torch in hand as there are no lights on Lundy.
I hadn’t realised that it had started raining heavily, in fact after a couple of minutes it was clear it was sleet or hail as it was being painfully driven into my face by the never ending wind. I slogged along with the visibility only about twenty feet, just keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn’t get lost. Then I saw torchlight ahead and eventually saw a group of four people walking very slowly. They were worried about getting lost too. I heard one say, in a strong northern accent, ‘blimey, we’re being overtaken,……… and it’s a woman too!’ They were all men but clearly not used to walking or the wild conditions. They looked in need of help. Together we managed to find our way back, climb the stile (some more easily than others) and realised we
were neighbours. By the time I was inside, my clothes were drenched but the cottage is warm and cosy. The next day I overtook the same group so they nicknamed me ‘ Miss Speedy’ but I have to say it’s no great accolade as a tortoise with a limp could overtake them, especially on their way home from the pub.
Lundy is a granite island, with one small area of slate. You can see from the photo that most of it is a grass, scrub and marshy plateaux rising to 128metres. The village is at the southern end where there is a small combe leading down to the jetty. Next to the village is the farm and the field where the helicopter lands. The West Side Land ( as the west coast is called) is the wild coast with the highest cliffs, the sea birds and usually the strongest winds. The East Side Land (east coast) is still steep but the tops of the cliffs are not as high or as rugged. There are more wild flowers on the east coast.
My second day the sun shone but the wind was still Force 5. I wanted to get an idea of how long it took to cross the island south to north. Three miles sounds easy but over the rough ground, avoiding marsh land where possible and finding places to look over the cliffs without vertigo, then stopping to watch birds and animals, the time can double or triple easily. I walked as far as Jenny’s Cove, only a third of the length of the island. It is policy here to have no signs so it was difficult to know where I was and it was far too windy to open the map but luckily other walkers passed occasionally and most were regulars on Lundy so knew exactly where we were. It really is a stunning place with wild scenery and lots of birds.
In the afternoon I went down to the jetty which is a mile up and down the beach road, the only real road on the island, which is so steep and windy it made me dizzy. I did get a good view of South Light. Old Light
was the first lighthouse built on Lundy in 1820 and my cottage was the store for it. Unfortunately they soon realised that as it had been built on higher ground in bad weather it wasn’t visible because of fog. In 1863 they decided to supplement it with a fog signalling station known as the Battery. It had two cannons which were fired as warnings to ships. Eventually two more lighthouses were installed, South Light at the south eastern edge of the island and North Light on the northern most point..
My cottage looks tiny and like a nun or monk’s cell from the outside but inside it is much bigger (another TARDIS) and amazingly well equipped. A keen cook would find everything they need here including Le Creuset pans. One thing is not well supplied. It is the toilet paper. On the inventory it says one roll is provided per WC and I found mine waiting in the shower room, no spare roll in sight. Now that raises lots of questions. For example, if there is a group of four, how do they manage? As most people stay only
three or four days but I am here 15, will they bring me more? I started to appreciate I might be overthinking this as I found myself monitoring my use, feeling doubtful mine would last even to the next turnover day on Friday. Thankfully I came to my senses and went to the shop (which is only open three hours in the morning apart from on turnover days) where there is a huge stack of individual toilet rolls, and bought a couple. Clearly, from the size of the stack, I am not the only one with this anxiety. The one roll provided has to be thought of as a welcome gift rather than supplies!
The island has an unexpectedly fascinating history, these are a few of the highlights. Despite its inaccessibility, there is evidence of occupation as early as 8,500 BC and there is an early Bronze Age (2,500-800 BC) settlement at Gannets Combe. The burial ground ( next to my cottage) is an important Christian site containing memorial stones from between the 5th to the 8th centuries.
The first
family to be mentioned on Lundy was that of Robert de Marisco in 1154, when Henry ll granted Lundy to the Knights Templar, to defend the island, but it fell into the hands of the Marisco family. His son, William de Marisco, used the island as a pirate base for many years. He was captured and imprisoned in 1216 but Henry lll then restored Lundy to William in return for a promise of loyalty and good behaviour.
William’s nephew, also called William, was implicated in a treason plot and hung, drawn and quartered. Henry lll was anxious to secure control of Lundy so he built a very small fort or castle and established a permanent garrison.
In 1332 the King appointed the Earl of Salisbury and his heirs to guard Lundy and for over 400 years it was handed down through inheritance or marriage from one noble family to another most of whom never even visited the island. In Elizabeth l’s reign piracy flourished again as ships brought precious goods back to Britain. The queen threatened to take the island away from
View back south from the north
If you can see a dot on the top of the hill, that is the Old Light where I stayedthe owner, Sir Bernard Grenville, if he did not improve its defences so he built fortifications at Brazen Ward.
In about 1744 Thomas Benson, a ship owner, merchant and MP for Barnstaple leased Lundy and was given a contract to transport convicts to America. He transported them as far as Lundy where he set them to work, farming and building. He seems to have wheedled his way out of that trouble but later was involved in an insurance fraud when he loaded a ship, the Nightingale, with valuable cargo which left the mainland. It sailed to Lundy where the cargo was offloaded and hidden in a cave which is still called Benson’s cave. The Nightingale then set off westwards where it was set on fire and scuttled. The crew were rescued by another ship. Benson received the insurance payment but shortly afterwards a crew member confessed. The captain was convicted and hung and Benson fled to Portugal where he died.
There were a number of different owners until William Hudson Heaven bought Lundy in 1836 for £9,870 and this lead to a
more stable period for the island. He could afford to buy it because the government had paid him compensation on the emancipation of slaves in his sugar plantations. He ran Lundy as a small kingdom, which was called, The Kingdom of Heaven locally and he established quarries, and built houses. There was also quite an industry collecting seabird eggs and selling them on the mainland for food. His son, Reverend Hudson Groset Heaven inherited and built a church. By 1916 when it had passed to another relative, the finances collapsed and Lundy had to be sold yet again.
Eventually it was bought in1925 by Martin Coles Harman. He introduced a number of animal species including Sika deer, Soay sheep, Highland cattle and ponies, descendants of which can be seen on the island today. Sadly, the wallabies did not survive! The Soay sheep are feral but now there is also a huge sheep flock managed by the farm. He also established puffin stamps and coins. The coins did not last long as they were illegal but puffin stamps can still be purchased in the Lundy office.
There have been many ships wrecked on the island and the names of some are remembered in the Tavern bar. There are the remains of two tall poles on the West Side which were used for training purposes. If a ship was in trouble on the rocks, rockets were fired with rope attached to try and get the ropes over the ship’s mast so they could haul the ship in. So the poles acted as the mast to give people on the island chance to improve their aim with the rockets. There was a rocket room to store rockets.
Most of the history above came from a book in my cottage, The Landmark Trust, Lundy History Album, but it can all be found on Wikipedia too.
So back to the present. The first couple of days were very cold and windy but I did manage to get out for walks. Then there was a day and a half of rain and mist, so I stayed in. It was quite enjoyable as I read and did some trip
planning. There is a small library of books in my cottage including local history. flora and fauna. Lundy even has an endemic plant species, the Lundy cabbage. It is not edible and even if it was it is protected so can’t be picked. There are also two endemic beetles which live on the cabbage, so tiny they are almost invisible. In fact the whole of Lundy is now a no-take zone, including the marine reserve around it and everything is kept as wild and untouched as possible which is why there are no lights or signs. I believe it is also a dark sky area but as it has been so foggy my stargazing has been negligible.
I chatted to someone in the Tavern who told me that it is possible to access Wifi in the church. It was a surprise because in the literature it said no Wifi was available. The church, which doesn’t have a congregation, requests donations for the use of the Wifi which can be paid by card through a very snazzy and modern machine. The band width is only really up to downloading messages
and that takes some time.
However, the really good news (especially given the amount of rain here) is that I had left my car keys in the office and asked if anyone had time on the next turnover day, could they collect my boots. They did! On Friday they were delivered efficiently with my keys attached. I was really grateful, both for my boots and my keys as I didn’t have a clue who had taken them.
After a day and a half of confinement because of the weather, the next day was lovely, still windy but only Force 4, and clear. I set off early in case it changed, and walked the full length of the island right up to the North Light. It was superb, for four hours I saw no-one as I walked from cliff to cliff, watching huge numbers of guillemots floating together on the sea. Puffins do the same but they have only just started returning to the island. They sit on the sea and wait for their partner to return.
Sheep climbing over the wall
I wanted to open a gate to pass them but thought I would let them go over the wall first but then I looked left- see next photo Then as I was watching guillemots on a cliff I finally spotted puffins. There are not many yet and I was too far away to get a good photo but they were there! To get closer I would have had to climb down into a ravine facing the cliff. I am not sure I could but I wouldn’t think of trying when I am alone, especially as I don’t have a phone signal on the island. I would hate to get stuck.
As I walked I passed lots of Soay sheep, which move out of the way and if they are on top of a cliff they just jump down it. They have fantastic climbing skills. Earlier when I started the walk I was on a track and as I turned round a bend suddenly there was a small group of very large, horned, highland cattle (see photo). It was a moment when I wished I was in a group. They didn’t look as if they wanted to move so I did a large detour around them. We had been told that
they are quite docile but I wasn’t going to put that to the test.
As I sit typing this the wind is very noisy, rattling everything around. Usually wind is described as whistling around buildings. Not here. The wind sounds like thunder as it crashes and batters against everything. There have only been a few short hours when it has stopped. I now know to lean my case against the front door to minimise the noise. The first night I kept being awoken by loud thumps. The wind was so strong it sounded like someone was throwing themselves against the door. But the case and a few bits of card jammed in the lock have solved that problem. The weather really does create a different world here so it is hard to believe we are only ten miles off the coast.
The mist and dampness of rain blowing in the wind have been here about 50% of my stay so far. And it changes so quickly! One morning the sun shone, the sky was clear so I put
on my coat, hat, boots etc, picked up binoculars and camera and opened the door, and ……..nothing. Everything had disappeared into mist again. Visibility was about 20 metres. Two hours later it cleared. Usually when it rains it doesn’t come straight down, it wanders around horizontally. But somehow it adds to the mystery of the island and as long as I have food, books and podcasts, and I am warm, then it is strangely enjoyable.
One evening I peered out through the curtain to see if the mist was lifting to see a sheep happily walking around the top of the wall outside my door.
Another day I was reluctant to go out as it was so windy. After telling myself I was being a wimp I put on coat etc and went. Wow! The wind was so strong it was blowing me sideways. I stayed well back from the cliffs but it took all my time to keep my woolly hat on my head. Walking back up the hill into the wind was almost impossible, I put
one foot in front of the other but didn’t seem to make any headway. After an hour I gave up and went back. The next day I looked at the weather charts in the Tavern. It had been Force 7 all day and gusting higher. Maybe staying in was not so much wimpish as sensible!
Another turnover day arrived but it was misty and windy all day so the helicopter could not operate. No-one left or came to the island that day. Those who were here could just stay in their accommodation another night but I am not sure what happens to people who have to arrive the night before on the mainland or have a long drive. Perhaps there is a last minute panic to find beds for the night in Hartland.
Finally, on my 13th day here it is clear and sunny with just a strong breeze, so I set off for a walk. Then I realised that we must have had a lot more rain overnight as the puddles on the tracks were
much bigger, making it difficult to get through gates without going up to my ankles in muddy water and the grass was sodden all over. Strangely I had not heard the rain at all. I wanted to get through a small side gate but some sheep were on the other side climbing over a half collapsed stone wall. I was going to wait for them to climb it before I opened the gate until I looked up the slope to see at least 100 sheep racing down in line to climb the wall in the same place (see photos). Why do they follow like that?
I woke up on my 14th and last full day thinking that something was wrong. For a moment I couldn’t work out what is was and then it dawned on me, there was perfect silence. No wind! It was such a surprise and the first time it had happened. It was a lovely sunny day so I went down to the jetty and spotted a seal with two pups. The pups played in the water while their mother watched from her haul out spot.
Tonight is my last night. At 10pm there is going to be a short talk about Manx Shearwaters and then we are going to see them. I am not quite sure how that will work in the dark but I can tell you more when I am back on dry land.
Last night was something of a non event. We had a five minute talk then a 15 minute walk out to a cliff top position above the Manx shearwater colony. The birds have an amazing migration pattern. Each year at the end of the summer they fly south down the west coast of Africa, cross over to South America, then up to North America and finally across the Atlantic back to Lundy which has the largest population in the world.
On arriving at the right spot in the dark, we had to sit on the bracken at the top of the slope above the cliff, with torches switched off. Stuart, the ranger, then went down the slope to find the bird. He was going
to ring it. We saw his red head torch for a while but after 15 minutes or so, it disappeared. The wind had picked up to Force 5, and coming straight into our faces. The slope was so steep we were struggling not to slide down.
After 30 minutes some people gave up and went to bed. After 45 minutes more went and those of us left, just four, didn’t want to go despite being very cold. We hadn’t seen Stuart for all that time so we were hoping he was ok but we felt if he finally came back with a bird to find everyone had left he would feel very disappointed. We needn’t have worried , he came back after an hour empty handed. The birds hadn’t come home yet or had decided it was too cold to come out of their burrows. It was disappointing but we were just relieved to be able to go to our beds!
Yesterday I returned to the mainland and set off to see friends in Ferndown near Bournemouth. Lundy was a wonderful place to visit despite the
weather and I would love to return. Most of the people who visit are regulars which is not surprising as it could easily become an addiction because of its beauty and isolation.
The Landmark team do an amazing job managing the logistics of getting people and supplies to the island even when the weather stops the helicopter operating. Nothing seems to throw them out of kilter and they are always cheerful, welcoming and fun.
So now I will make my way back to Worcester slowly and think about whether we want to buy a house there.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.081s; Tpl: 0.021s; cc: 12; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0509s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
