Clovelly

Appledore knitters

Panorama looking back from Appledore 

The best thing about Westward Ho!

Runner up

It was all suspiciously flat round to Appledore, and even to Westward Ho!, which was an unremarkable place.  But then the hills returned, andcI was on hilly lanes from then on.  Quiet lanes.  A newt ran across my path.  A swallow nearly flew into me.  A mouse scampered across the road.  Not many cars.  I stopped to take a photo of a pretty house, and the owner came out for a chat, and then invited me in to her garden for  a view across to Clovelly.

Clovelly in the distance 

Nice house

Clovelly is approached from the main road at around 270 metres.  About half way down, cars are diverted to a car park and people haven't walk down a cobbled path.  I cycled a bit further down but saw a 1 in 4 sign and decided to walk, rather carefully as metal cleats don't grip on cobbles.  A pretty place, pretty touristy too.  Worth a visit but I wouldn't want to live there.

Clovelly 

Returning up the cobbles wasn't as bad as coming down.  I had a bit better grip, the slope eased off the higher you climbed, and I was also distracted by eating a Pasty.  Incredibly, at the top, there were a collection of different sized sleds for transporting things up or down the cobbles.  Who pulls them?

Sleds

After Clovelly I rode to Hartland Point, another place where the coastline takes a step south, and was able to walk right to the point, with great views back east to Woolacombe, north to Lundy Island, south to Bude, and west to North America.

Top secret Hartland Point Radar tower

Lighthouse, and Lundy Island

One of the things Devon beats Somerset hands-down in is potholes.  Some of the road surfaces on smaller roads are atrocious.

And another thing.  When I was toiling up a very steep hill this afternoon,  I was going so slowly that my Garmin thought I had stopped!  It's no joke, as it means my Garmin may not have recorded the worst of my climbing efforts.

I had booked a bed in a YHA Bunkhouse, which was just like a regular YHA but without a restaurant.   Lovely little place run by two volunteers who were sisters.  There are just two of us staying here tonight.

Elmscot YHA bunkhouse