The Barbican to Mount Batten

On a couple of occasions we have walked on the South West Coast Path from Turnchapel to Mount Batten and we frequently walk around Plymouth Hoe to the Barbican.  However, we have never walked from the Barbican to Turnchapel.  As our car was being serviced at a garage on Billacombe Road, we thought we would remedy this today.

We started walking from the end of the Laira Bridge towards Mount Batten.  To begin with it was not the most pleasant walk, but we soon came to Oreston and there was a lovely view of yachts on the River Plym.

Mount Batten as  really close across the water, but we had to walk 2 miles  round the edge of the river.

We continued walking around Hooe Lake and across the causeway at the bottom of Radford Park.  the castle astride the path looked out of place.

We continued walking up through woodland and then down the other side till we came to Turnchapel.   It was a good path all the way and well marked.  Although we had walked from Turnchapel to Mount Batten before we continued our walk to Mount Batten before catching the bus back to the Laira Bridge.

From Laira Bridge we started walking towards the Barbican.  As with the first part of this mornings walk this section of the South West Coast Path is not very pleasant as you walk past industrial units, with just glimpses of the river Plym between them.  However, after a while we were opposite Mount Batten and it was interesting to see this from the other side of the river.

St Christopher on wall at side of South West Coast Path

Before long we were walking into the Barbican.  This was not one of the most picturesque parts of the South West Coast Pat, but there was still some beautiful scenery and I was glad I had done it.

Bude, Coast and Canal

On the South West Coast Path website this walk,  http://www.southwestcoastpath.com/walksdb/34/, starts in Bude, however it was more convenient for us to start at Widemouth Bay and walk in the opposite direction

We anticipated that the car park by the beach at Widemouth would be expensive so drove past it to a car park on the cliff overlooking the beach.  We were very pleased when we got there to discover it was a free car park.  The car park led right on to the SW Coast Path and we were soon walking towards Bude.  The views were lovely, but probably been better it the tide had not been so low exposing all the rocks.  There was some heather and gorse in blossom on the cliff tops, but not as much as I had hoped.

The coast path was undulating, but there were not any really steep inclines.  Soon we were on the cliffs overlooking the beach at Bude, where we stopped for our lunch.

We proceeded to walk into Bude and crossed the canal to divert into the Heritage Centre which is situated in Bude Castle.  There was some lovely art work on display in the galleries here and the area around was attractively laid out gardens.  We were also impressed with the small craft shops along the edge of the canal.  After buying an icecream (and not been ripped off pricewise, which was refreshing) we started to walk along the towpath.  This was an excellent pathway and it was good to see people enjoying boating and canoeing along.  After passing a lock there were no more boats, and it was very tranquil.

After a couple of miles we came to Helebridge.  There was a large tea rooms here with activities for children, but we did not stop but headed across fields to return to Widemouth Bay.

This had been an excellent walk and one we would repeat again.

Hallsands to Lannicombe

It was high tide as we drove through Kingsbridge, which made this part of the journey very pretty.  But once we turned off the A379 the road was very narrow and windy which was not good for driving.  The last part to the Start Point lighthouse was particularly narrow with vegetation brushing the car as we drove past.  For such a remote car park we were surprised that we had to pay £3.50, but the views around Start Bay were spectacular and made it worthwhile.

To begin with we walked out to the Lighthouse, which was a concreted path.  We then retraced our steps to the South West coast path and followed this around the Point.  To begin with this was a rocky path and we had to be careful how we walked, but the views were superb.

As we walked we were amazed at the number of butterflies we saw.  Many of them were landing on the path in front in front of us.

This moth was dead on the path

As we approached Great Mattiscombe Sands the path improved and the walk from there to Lannicombe beach was relatively easy and fairly flat with only gradual short climbs.  The beach at Great Mattiscombe looked lovely with fine sand.  Lannicombe was more stoney, though we could see that as the tide went out there was sand.  There were only a few parking spaces at Lannicombe at the end of a track so I am glad that we did not drive there.  We had planned to turn around at Lannicombe, which was fortunate as there has been a landslide just past there and the footpath has a long diversion.

Initially we planned to walk across the fields from Lannicombe to Hallsands, but the coastal path was so scenic and such a good path we decided just to retrace our steps to Great Mattiscombe Sands.  We then took the direct path back to the car park, which was uphill, but a good path.

After a rest we then walked from the car park down to Hallsands. Again we had fantastic views around Start Bay all the way and loads of white butterflies fluttering around the fern on the bank at the side of the path. It was very interesting to see the information of the lost village of Hallsands on the viewing platform overlooking the village.

As we walked back we had the view of the Lighthouse.  Unfortunately it was quite a climb back to the car park, not particularly steep but a long climb that was not good at the end of a day's walk.  It would have been better if we had parked at Hallsands, which was free, and walked from there, and then the last part of the walk would have been downhill.