Inveterate dabbler in business, travel, gadgets & life

Day 4 on the South West Coast Path and 551 miles to go.

Surfing at Saunton

I’m writing this in my room above the noisiest bar in town 🙁 the charming bar maid assures me she will have the place cleared by 11.30pm but then the hot rodders start laying down rubber outside all night long. So probably wasn’t the best place to pick 🙁 after a 25 mile walk.

Croyde to Bideford

The problem with todays three stages is that I’ve walked 25 miles to progress  (after I walk another 3 tomorrow to Appledore) by about 7 miles. All due to the huge River Taw estuary and it’s military areas and the lack of the River Torridge Ferry until 1.30pm tomorrow.

The walk itself is very flat, mainly on the old railway line so in reality I should have just taken the morning bus for 30 mins 🙂 and continued from Appledore.

Biggest discovery of the day for me was the sheer number of surfers, at first they looked like birds on the water.

Tonight T-Mobile decided I had reached 80% of some unspecified target, so that they would no longer allow tethering. That after only using it last night for uploading my pics and using Skype. It really is quite staggering how the government allows the operators to get away with such crap service, maybe they should invoke the Monopolies Commission if it still exists! The coverage is abysmal and their internet policy is based on some unspecified “fair usage”. Compare that to Turkey’s excellent 3G coverage and the ability to buy 1G of data cards for about £15.

All the stats are at the usual place and the route is on Everytrail :
South West Coast Path: Croyde to Bideford at EveryTrail

The pictures will be at Google+

Day 3 on the South West Coast Path and 576 miles to go.

South west coast path sign

barefoot on Woolacombe beachNot sure how many more of these postsI can do!  Every day has such amazing views and gorgeous weather 🙂

Today was the shortest so far only 15 miles walked although it was a record for ice creams consumed! since Woolacombe is such a holiday honey pot. Arriving their bought back memories of Nick’s first holiday in 1975, it’s still much the same except for the HUGE numbers of surfers with their boards and rubber kit. In fact te whole Devon coast is a bit of a time warp, this was bought home after reading Cory Doctorow’s twitters about been stuck in immigration at LHR T5 [blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/doctorow/status/190739532101070848″] which is about as far removed from walking through villages like Lee Bay as you can get.

I finally ended in Croyde desperate to find a b&b the first 5 were all full 🙁 So I ended up paying £65 for a basic b&b (with no wi-fi). the warning sign is AA recommended!  The whole village is a  a wallet busting place. I mean £4.70 for a Guinness in a PH.

I’ve managed to get a small blood blister on the side of my left heel , I attacked it with the army knife plus cut of the sides of the insole so hopefully it will be gone tomorrow.

Images can be found on Google+ here

The next few days look easier as it’s an old railway line 🙂

Here is the Everytrail and my stats are here:
South West Coast Path – Ilfracombe to Croyde at EveryTrail

Leave only footprints

footprints in the sand

footprints in the sandOne of my mottoes when travelling has been:

Leave only footprints
Take only memories 

So whilst walking across Woolacombe beach as part of my South West Coast Path trip I couldn’t resist taking the above photo.

In fact one of my ambitions in 2000 was to walk around the coast of the UK as far as possible in barefeet and carrying a coracle for the estuaries. 🙂

I started (without a coracle) by walking from Scarborough to Redcar in 2000 followed by Kings Lynn to Cromer at various times since.

I’m now on the South West Coast Path which will add another few miles to the total…

 

Day 2 and 590 miles to go on the South West Coast Path

This was an Ian of a day (sorry Mr Corker couldn’t resist that).

South West CoastpathA totally superb walk in every way. Fantastic weather, excellent views , well kept paths and signposted plus bumping into Fiona the girl guide helped with the navigation to Great Hangman and beyond.

I’m settled into the Harcourt Hotel in the centre of Ilfracombe which fully meets my specs. of in room wifi, decent shower & a bed 🙂 for a reasonable price of £33, after my Fish, Chips & Guinness at The George & Dragon for £10.90.

Today I was unable to use Posterous to post any iPhone pics but maybe that was to do with the totally rubbish cell connections.

I’ve now created a spreadsheet of all the trip data, this will be updated daily, click here.

Pictures can be viewed can no longer be viewed on Google+ but are now on Flickr here https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffjones/albums/72157708237762234

Unfortunately, Everytrail went out of business. However, AllTrails extricated all the data so my route and pics are now at https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/lynmouth-to-ilfracomb-day2-of-south-west-coast-path–2