Braunton to Westward Ho!

We made an early start this morning, rising well before sun rise, and starting walking at 6:20am. We’d planned to catch the ferry from Instow to Appledore, which cuts 6 miles off the route by avoiding the estuary walk up to Bideford and subsequently the walk back. However, the ferry only runs at high tide, which today meant a 3 hour window between 11am and 2pm. So we had a long walk ahead of us.

Our walk to Braunton, and then to Barnstaple, and on to Instow. Could best be described, as being vastly improved with the addition of a bicycle. It was flat, tarmacked, and uninspiring. For most of its way it runs along an old railway line. We put our heads down and trudged along.

The weather had brightened by the time we reached Instow, and there were a couple of friendly volunteers who radioed the ferry to come and pick us up. The skipper was very chatty, and validated our decision by saying “it’s not cheating because it’s an option in the [South West Coast Path] book”.

We had an excellent full English for lunch at John’s in Appledore. We then continued on round a spit of land, Northern Country Park, a mix of golf course and grazing for sheep. From here we could see where we camped last night right across the water; quite a lot of walking to make it not very far!

We made it to Westward Ho! The only town in the UK with a exclamation mark in its name. We picked up a few supplies for dinner and carried on to our campsite a little further, past the town.