South West Coast Path – Day 6
(Braunton) Barnstaple to Instow
23 April 2023
Distance on Coast Path: 12.6km
Total distance: 12.6km; ascent: 40m
Walking time: 2h 38′
Total time: 4h 33′
Overnight: The Wayfarer Inn
Walking towards Braunton along the dyke in the rain yesterday, head down and tired, I decided I both needed and deserved a rest day. With accommodation booked in advance staying put wasn’t an option but a short day was, and there’s a bus service between Braunton and Barnstaple which runs on Sundays. Which is why Day 6 started at Barnstaple bus station.
From Barnstaple to Instow and on to Bideford the Coast Path follows the course of an old railway, the Bideford Extension of what was in 1855 the London and South West Railway. It closed in 1965 but is now enjoying a new life as a smooth, level walking and cycling path. The first part runs alongside the marshes at the edge of the river. I saw some shelduck in the grasses, and cormorants on a stranded tree trunk out in the river.
A few kilometres out of Barnstaple is the restored station of Fremington Quay, once an important dock for china clay, coal and other cargo. There is a small museum/visitor centre setting out the history of the station and the railway line, and a café. I took the opportunity and bought a hot chocolate and a piece of cake.
It had started raining as I went into the café – the steady sort of rain that demands waterproofs before leaving shelter. The next photo taken just after the station captures the dull damp mood, though my own spirits were much less gloomy!
The next 3 kilometres are dead straight – you can see the whole length in front of you. The estuary is away on the right; the land in between is being managed as a biodiversity site.
At the end of the straight the railway curves left but the Path leaves the track for a diversion along the shoreline. It passes around the site of an old power station, now mostly demolished although two substantial jetties still jut out into the estuary. Derelict boats and other junk litter the shore.
Now I was near Instow it had finally stopped raining and the sun was out so I stopped at a bench to take off my waterproofs. A couple said ‘Hello’; we recognised each other from meeting on the trail a day or two before though I cannot now remember exactly when. I did remember that they were walking the Path using the services of a holiday company which organises everything – accommodation, route notes and GPS, luggage forwarding, the lot. As they said, it was expensive but for them it was worth it. We walked a short way together but they had gone ahead by the time I walked into Instow.
Later that evening I walked over the sands to the waterline and watched the incoming tide filling the ripples in the sand.
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