B2B Day 2 West Buckland to Simonsbath--Uphill all the way

For an OS map of today's walk (11.4 mi; 18.4 km; 1,908 ft total ascent) click here.

We enjoyed breakfast at Huxtable Farm—Sara had Scotch pancakes and Ken had an omelette and sausage, all delicious. We also enjoyed meeting the other guests at breakfast—Geoffrey and Sue who were on holiday and taking in an art show locally, and Doerte and Jutta who were walking the Tarka Trail.

We stopped briefly in the church at East Buckland—constructed in the mid-Victorian era along with a local school.

East Buckland Church

Today on BBC Breakfast, there was a news story on its being exactly 200 years since Queen Victoria was born. So Sara took a photo of this post-box from Victoria’s era (see the V R for “Victoria Regina” at the top?). She loves finding post-boxes with VR or GR on them—usually they are like this one, built into a wall so that they are not easily changed when there is a new monarch.

V R post box

We enjoyed retracing the route we shared with friends in 2013. This time, however, we did not get lost in the forest pathway. It was well waymarked, which we hadn’t remembered, and it was the lower path we took rather than the upper path we took the previous time. We sat on the upper path on plastic bags to eat our delicious (and ample!) packed lunch from Huxtable farm. A man walking his dog came on the path behind us and asked if we were having a sit-in protest, but we weren’t. 

Because Ken woke with a scratchy and sore throat, we made the decision to shorten the walk slightly and walk the roads the rest of the way. It seemed like a long, long climb uphill, with a 20% grade at first. It was a warm, sunny day, and we drank almost all of the water we brought, so we were glad that the Poltimore Arms was open. 

The Poltimore Arms

We had heard that the owner was a character, and he was indeed friendly and unique. We each had a pint of lemonade and used the bathrooms, which involved borrowing an electric torch/flashlight to go down the hall and find them (and use them), because he does not have electricity, just a generator which is turned on when necessary. There were several people inside, and it was a jovial atmosphere. We then set out on the road again to go uphill again. At one point, we had to pull to the side while a tractor herded sheep from one pasture to another. 

We did get some good views near the top, as the land changed from lush green to dry golden moorland.

The final stretch of the walk was downhill, to a bridge that crossed into Simonsbath (pronounced “Simmonsbath”). We were greeted by a set of flags by the road, including Canadian and American flags, and then turned right to walk to the Exmoor Forest Inn, where we are staying.

B2B Day 1 Barnstaple to West Buckland--It's like deja vu all over again

For an Ordnance Survey map of today's walk (11.3 mi; 18.2 km; 1,189) click here.

Obviously, even if a route is the same, you never have the same experience twice. Although the route for part of this day was the same as our walking pilgrimage in 2013, there were many things that felt different—and many that also felt the same. Here’s our experience of the day’s walk, moving sequentially through it.

Barnstaple:

The same: A lovely breakfast and send off from our host Jan at Herton B&B.

The same: The lovely weather, sunny and warm (though warmer than last time).

Different: Simon May is no longer vicar at Holy Trinity Church in Barnstable, so we didn’t go to the church for a blessing before beginning this year’s walk (though we had friends at our home church Bethel pray for us before we went). This meant we began walking a little earlier, leaving our B&B around 9:20.

Different: Overhearing a group of schoolchildren in Barnstaple about to head over the bridge:

Leader: “Children, this is the fifth time we are visiting the leisure centre, so what do we do when we cross the bridge?”

Loud chorus of children: “Walk single file!”

Leader: “Very good!”

The medieval bridge in Barnstaple: "Walk single file!"

Ken and I did a lot of walking single file on the roads, just to make sure we could both move over quickly if a car approached from either direction.

The same: We enjoyed walking alongside the park and river.

Bishop’s Tawton:

Different: There wasn’t a church work day this time, but we did actually visit the church and take a brief rest. According to the church guide, it is the only church in Devon with a tower topped by a crocketed spire.

St. John the Baptist, Bishop's Tawton

Tarka Trail to Landkey:

The same: Enjoyed the walk beside the river, and the scent of wild garlic.

The same but slightly different: Ken once again partly rolled one ankle when walking down a pitted cow pasture.

Different: Hearing one sheep bleating in two tones, the regular “baaa” escalating higher to “eeeeah!” at the end, kind of like Tarzan’s chest-beating cry.

A horseshoe in the sky for Joan!

Landkey:

The same: We bought food at the little store in Landkey to carry with us for dinner.

Different: Instead of accidentally pouring most of pint of lemonade into his pack (!), Ken spilled only a little lemonade on his hand while heading to an outside table at the pub in Landkey.

The route after Landkey:

Different: Instead of a long but beautiful detour up to Gunn, we took a more direct route along the valley near Swimbridge. This route was shorter but didn’t offer the grand views we had in 2013 (though were some nice valley views).

The same: Sara enjoyed all of the wildflowers in the hedgerows, especially the pink campion.

A hedgerow full of wildflowers (no campion, though)

Different: We liked walking the road through a forest on the way to West Buckland—no getting lost, the shade of trees, a slight breeze, views lower into a valley, and the smell of woods warmed by the sun.

West Buckland:

The same: We enjoyed little West Buckland and its church. We saw our 2013 entry in the church guest book, and added in this year’s entry that Ken’s new kidney had been going strong for eight years.

Leaving West Buckland:

The same: An ambiguous route across a sheep pasture (also potentially ankle-wrenchingly hummocky) that made us wonder if we’d find the way out at the bottom. But we did.

Huxtable Farm B&B:

Different: A greeting by two adorable lambs who came to the fence to say hi.

The lambs pose for our first sheep photo!

The same: Jackie greeted us with a delicious cream tea—scones, clotted cream, strawberry jam, and Earl Grey tea.

Different: While outside near sunset looking to take pictures across the lovely valley to West Buckland, to his surprise, for the first time in his life Ken saw—and took many pictures of—“sun dogs,” two small lights or “fake suns” on either side of the sun “caused by the refraction of sunlight through ice crystals in the atmosphere” (Wikipedia). 

Day Zero: After 30 years, it's just like riding a bike...

For an OS map of today's bike ride (12.9 mi; 20.8 km), click here.

For our “jet-lag day,” Ken had long planned that if the weather was good we would rent bikes and ride on the Tarka Trail, a former railway turned into a biking/walking path. The name “Tarka” comes from the novel Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson (1929). The man who helped set us up on our rented bikes was very good, and gave us some good tips about riding. 

The cycle hire at Barnstaple train station

The bikes each had names on them—Ken’s was “Hubert,” and Sara’s was “Kelly.” Ken hadn’t ridden a bike for about ten years; for Sara, it was probably more like thirty years. But after all . . . it’s just like riding a bike—you never forget, right? Sara was glad she didn't ask about how to change gears--she remembered that she used to have to pedal backwards to change gears on an old bike of her parents', but Ken hadn't heard of doing that. It was quite easy to change gears on these bikes, and no back-pedaling required!

We actually did fine after a little initial wobbliness. The weather was perfect, sunny and a good temperature for being outside. We saw sheep, cows, and painted horses. We got up enough speed that when we stopped, Sara noticed she had a few small dead flies on her chest—the kind you end up with on your windshield on a long road trip! Fortunately they were easy to brush off. 

Ken and "Hubert"

 

We stopped at the café at Fremington, which was extremely busy. Being a bit too early for lunch, we had our first ice cream of the day—Sara had salted caramel and Ken had lemon crunch (note for Dad: this was Cornish ice cream). 

After a nice break, we continued on to Instow, arriving around 2:00. We locked up the bikes and walked into the village, buying our second ice cream of the day—strawberry for Sara and white chocolate raspberry for Ken. There was a row of benches along a low stone wall facing out to the tidal river and the ocean. We found an empty one and enjoyed our ice cream, though this wasn’t quite as good. Oddly, both of them seemed to have jam in them (strawberry jam and raspberry jam). 

Outside the cafe at Fremington

 After sitting there for quite some time, just enjoying the view and the happy dogs playing on the beach, Ken volunteered to go back to the post office to get us some lunch. Soon after he left, an elderly woman and a younger one asked if the older one could sit on my bench, but I said there was plenty of room for both of them, so they sat and ate their ice cream and we chatted a bit. When they were about to go, the older woman asked if they had taken the seat of someone else, and I said no, my husband had gone to get us a sandwich for lunch and hadn’t yet gotten back. The younger woman said, “He’s probably spoiled for choice!” and I agreed he might be taking some time deciding. She said, “It looks like someone is coming with a sandwich now,” and sure enough, Ken was coming towards us with lunch. The women left to continue with their day, and we had our lunch—a hummous, olive, and sun-dried tomato baguette and crips (chips).

We decided that we had ridden far enough that we should turn around, so we walked back to our bikes and rode back to Fremington, where we shared another lemon crunch ice cream cone (that flavour was really good—refreshing and light). We also looked at the little museum there.

After thirty years . . .

We rode more swiftly back to Barnstaple, and were both a bit saddle sore and had stiff legs by the end. As we were coming off the path to go onto a normal road taking us back to the cycle hire, Sara got going too fast around the curve and went off the side of the path a bit, having to stop and then start again. But she didn’t run into any goalposts or juniper trees like she did when she was learning how to ride a bike, so that was a relief. All in all, it was a good experience getting on a bike again, especially with so many opportunities for ice cream!

Introducing the B to B (Barnstaple to Robin Hood's Bay)

Content coming soon!

Day 40 St. Margaret's-at-Cliffe to Dover: Journey's End

"Sara, they're going for the water!!!"

After calming down, contemplation...

For an OS map of today's walk click here.

This last day of the walk was beautiful, though we did not set out well-rested. Ken's allergies had gone wild the previous evening and early morning (interestingly, the same thing had happened on the last night of our Coast to Coast walk in 2008). Even the antihistamines didn't seem to help much, so his sneezing affected his sleep. Nevertheless, after a leisurely breakfast we set off on the path to St. Margaret's Bay.

We stopped at the small local shop to buy drinks, and Ken felt a bit teary at the thought that we didn't need to stock up on snacks for the trail anymore. I was thinking that it takes 30 days to form a habit, and we have certainly gotten into the habit of lacing on the boots, stocking up on snacks, filling our water bottles, etc.

The Traditional Ice Cream by the Sea

 It was a partly sunny day yet not too warm, absolutely perfect walking weather. We got down to the rocky beach at St. Margaret's Bay and sat on a slightly dilapidated art deco-styled bench, enjoying views of the ocean, ferries from Dover, some white chalk cliffs, and people out and about (though it was very quiet when we first arrived). I bought us some Magnum ice cream bars, because I knew that you couldn't go to the sea in England without having ice cream. We sat and enjoyed our treats companionably. I went down to look at the rocks and dip my toe in the ocean. I loved hearing the sound of the gulls and smelling the sea. We soaked up the scenery till 11:00, then began our walk along the cliff path to Dover. Because chalk erodes, sometimes it was a little scary, but overall the paths were far enough back from the cliffs themselves for us not to feel too alarmed by the heights. We could see France hazily in the distance, and enjoyed the distant sea views as well as the beautiful pink, blue, white and pale yellow wildflowers up close.

Sara Loves the Beach

Leaving St. Margaret's

 

On the Cliff Path to Dover

The White Cliffs...and Dover Harbour now in view

Dover Castle from the Cliff Path

Journey's End

The walk down to Dover was pleasant, and we found the end of the North Downs Way marker on the Esplanade—even though we had followed our own trails to get to Dover, it seemed a suitable ending spot for us. We had a long hug, and then took many, many photos, and got an English couple passing by to take one of us together. We then went down to the beach and dipped our toes in the water, and I again looked at the pebbles at the seashore.

Boot-Dipping at the Beach

It seemed strange to be done walking, though of course we still had to walk places. Our B&B host arrived at the same time we did, so that we were able to leave our packs at the B&B. We were extremely grateful for that, as we had a steep climb up to Dover Castle. We got to tour the wartime tunnels there (the 1940 evacuation from Dunkirk was organized from these tunnels in the cliff under Dover castle), as well as the medieval castle keep and tower, the Roman lighthouse, and the church. We squeezed in everything we wanted to see and left at the closing time of 6:00 p.m. For having finished the walk, we ended up doing a lot of walking up hills and stairs at the castle—we even ran a bit, to catch a "land train" that would take us from the tunnels up to the medieval castle.

For dinner, we went to a fish and chip shop (AKA 'chippy') near our B&B; it seemed appropriate to have fish in Dover. The fish and chips were good, as were the mushy peas and onion rings. It was a happy conclusion to our day and our walk. I'm glad that we have one more day before heading home, just to transition from walking to other aspects of life.

25,685 steps, 19.263 km, 757.4 cal
OS getamap measured distance: 5.68 mi (9.14 km) —does not include touring Dover Castle

And of course, like 2008 at the end of the Coast to Coast walk, the seals must come out at the finish line!

Day 39 Canterbury to St. Margarets-at-Cliffe: The Last Long Walk

Passing through...

...Patrixbourne

For an OS map of today's walk click here.

We got up at 6:30 a.m., knowing we would have a long walk today; indeed, our longest walk of the entire trip at around 19 miles. We went to the store to buy a lunch to take along and ate breakfast at McDonald's, our third North American meal of the trip. We set off around 8:00 a.m. and it was sunny and mildly warm, a lovely day for walking.

As we left the Canterbury suburbs, the paths were busy with people out for local walks. They were friendly and often greeted us on the path, checking to see if we needed directions. Many dogs greeted us as well: one licked Ken in the upper thigh, so that it looked as though Ken had had an "accident." That amused me far too much.

Patrixbourne Church

The small village of Patrixbourne was a highlight, with many beautiful houses and cottages strung along a curving main street. The church was interesting (and unlocked), and outside the church there was a good information board about the village. The Neolithic burials nearby revealed that the people then were rich, aristocratic, and tall. Just like us, really.

Higham Park Poppies

Later, as we passed the Georgian mansion of Higham Park, there were three very large fields to walk through, some filled with broad expanses of red poppies. Beautiful. After that long march we arrived in Womenswold, and at first, all of the people we saw going by were women, which seemed somehow appropriate. We sat outside the (locked) church for a rest on a bench in the churchyard. A man on a bicycle came by, tried the church door, then parked his bicycle and knocked on the door of a house opposite, asking if the person there was the one with the key to the church. He was, and so we and the cyclist were able to have a look round the church. Afterwards, we shared our bench with the cyclist, whose name was Michael. He has visited over 1,100 village churches! We had a nice chat and exchanged names and information before heading out again. We have certainly enjoyed meeting people on this journey. [We have since exchanged further correspondence and home-made England photo calendars: his filled with churches he's visited and ours with photos from our trips in 2008, 2011, and 2013.—Ken]

It was again a long stretch to the next village of Shepherdswell, which had a lovely, large central green. We stopped at the local pub for a drink and an afternoon rest, and then looked at the church, with its distinctive apsidal east end and dark roof beams contrasting with the bright walls.

Exultation on the Way to Waldershare

A later event of interest occurred after we passed through Waldershare Park. We came to a road junction and witnessed a tractor wrapping a round bale of hay in black plastic. We had never seen how these "marshmallows" were made, so it was quite fun to watch. There was also another tractor that was scooping up the grass, transforming it in the innards of the vehicle, and spitting it out as a rolled bale of hay. All of this grass cutting means that, as Ken's cold has gradually gone away, in its place grass seed allergies have been bothering him.

Having passed the 14 mile mark, we were now in the "home stretch": a 4 to 5 mile walk along a quiet country lane towards the village of St. Margarets-at-Cliffe, our destination. We had a fun surprise in the small village of West Langdon, where we came across a telephone booth that was labelled "The K6 Bring & Buy Book Shop." It had books on little shelves inside the booth, and you could buy some or leave some, with the proceeds going to the village. What a great use for a disused phone booth!

Telephone Booth Book Exchange!

We walked on to East Langdon, where we rested on a bench outside the locked church, feeling sore and tired, then painfully set off again to St. Margarets. We knew we had to approach it for the last half mile via a busy road, and were so grateful to see what looked like a mown path at the side of the road. I said, "Look, horse manure!" and Ken said, "Great!" It might seem strange to be excited by horse manure (except in the context of gardening), but we were happy because we knew that if it had been used as a bridleway, we humans on foot would be able to use it as a path to the village, avoiding the road traffic speeding by. The path was also used by rabbits, which were very cute! Sure enough, the path led us to Holm Oaks, our B & B, where we arrived at 5:50 p.m., almost exactly 10 hours—and 19 miles—after leaving Canterbury. After a delicious dinner of sirloin steak in Diane sauce (Ken) and pizza (me) at the Smugglers' Inn, we came back to the B & B to relax our weary selves in our comfortable room complete with a deep ensuite bathtub! We had accomplished our longest walk of the trip, and for our last day tomorrow there is only the short walk along the White Cliffs to Dover, the end of our journey.

47,792 steps, 35.844 km, 1532.9 cal
OS getamap measured distance: 18.01 mi (28.99 km)