Instow to Westward Ho!

24 April 2023

Distance on Coast Path: 20.0km

Total distance: 20.0km; ascent: 106m

Walking time: 4h 27′

Total time: 6h 04′

Overnight: Yeo Dale Hotel, Barnstaple

My phone pinged as I was getting ready for breakfast. It was a WhatsApp from Ida; she was in Barnstaple planning to bus and walk to Westward Ho!, and asking if I’d like company from Bideford to WH. (Sorry, but I can’t keep typing the whole name complete with exclamation mark, it’s too annoying.) I replied I certainly would, and we arranged to meet by the bridge in Bideford.

The 5 kilometres from Instow to Bideford follow the old railway track. There’s even a restored level crossing and some railway track at the old Instow station. There were dog walkers, runners and cyclists on the path but not so many as to be a problem. The track ends at Bideford where there is a small museum and visitor centre/café in an old railway carriage at the station. It was closed. I saw Ida walking across the bridge and went down to meet her.

As far as Appledore the Path follows closely along or above the estuary shore except for a short section which goes round the back of a huge building – like a vast shed – which I’d wondered about as I saw it earlier from the other side of the estuary. There had been no visible identification from that side and the OS 1:25000 map only showed it as ‘Shipbuilding Yard’. Coast Path walkers won’t know it’s owned by Harland & Wolff until they reach the entrance gate with low-key security as they drop back to the shoreline on the far side. We, however, had the benefit a few minutes earlier of a very chatty man in a car who seemed intrigued by our presence and gave us plenty of background information from his 30 years of living next door to the yard.

So far the weather had been fine, with sunshine and cloud. But we had hardly passed the shipyard when I heard rather than felt a few bits of hail on my hat. A black cloud had rolled in over the low hill to the west; there was a tremendous clap of thunder and within a minute it was hailing so hard the air was full of ice bullets. Desperately looking around for shelter we saw inside an open industrial gate a small single-storey building with an overhanging porch. We dashed for it and watched the storm as we started to find our waterproofs.

Harland & Wolff to the rescue (hail not included)!
© Google Streetview

We were still getting into our things when the door opened and a man wearing a full orange boiler suit and hard hat came out. Were we going to get thrown out? “You two look like you could use a cup of tea”, he said. “Come on inside.”

And so while the kettle boiled and cups of tea and coffee were prepared we learned that we were in the Harland & Wolff Apprentice Training Centre, and our new friend was the engineer in charge. We chatted for a while, then he disappeared “to do a few things” while we finished our drinks. When he came back he presented us each with a Harland & Wolff pen as a farewell and good luck gift. Even a small act of kindness from a stranger endures in the memory.

The hail had turned to rain by now and it was still raining as we reached Appledore. On the waterfront there was a forlorn ice cream van and I immediately remembered a tweet I’d received the day before from a friend back home.

My friend had further told me he was born in Bideford, and in a later message that his father had worked at the shipyard.

I told Ida about Hocking’s. “We must have one!”, she said. “I really don’t feel like an ice cream in this weather”, I replied. But she insisted, walked over to the van and bought two. The girl in the van said they used higher fat content and better quality cream than most manufacturers. We ate them in the rain, and they were indeed good.

Irsha Street, Appledore

Coming round the northern point of Appledore via the picturesque Irsha Street we missed the point where the Path offers a ‘low tide’ and ‘high tide’ alternative, but the difference is only a few hundred metres. The two come together again at the start of a loop following close to the shoreline of the promontory of Northam Burrows Country Park. This is a flat area of short grass and includes a golf course. In the rain there was little of interest, but even the liminal spaces had their own kind of stark beauty.

Liminal space (photo: Ida M G)

As we looked at the explanatory board at the start of the loop we were joined by the couple I had met before and who kept me company for a time near Instow. We walked together round the promontory almost into WH, when they diverted to meet up with friends who had a static caravan nearby.

The town was my end point for the day and this visit, but Ida was going on to a campsite she had booked. She wanted to eat before continuing – fish and chips if possible – and I was happy to have a tea or coffee so we ended up in The Pig on the Beach where we were the only customers.

Later, a little drier, fish and chips eaten, tea and coffee drunk, we said our goodbyes and well-wishes and went off in opposite directions, she to her campsite and me to the bus stop for the bus to Barnstaple and the train home the next day.