Ilfracombe

While on holiday in Combe Martin we caught the bus to Ilfracombe to walk along the South West Coast Path around this town.  From  the Landmark Theatre we started to walk towards Torrs Park.  There was a steep path up to the cliffs and then a zig zag path up to a viewpoint, but the views along the way were lovely.

View back to Ilfracombe

Beaches at Ilfracombe

View up the coast towards Bull Point

View towards Ilfracombe and beyond

 On the way back we walked slightly inland, which was a gentler slope and took us through the National Trust Car Park and then through the gardens above the Landmark Theatre.  This was  much quicker than the route we had taken on the way out.

Once back in Ilfracombe we walked around Capstone Hill to the harbour.  The big attraction in the harbour is Damien Hirst's sculpture, Verity.  Unfortunately there was a fair in the harbour car park so it was not easy to see the sculpure without fairground vehicles being in the way.  Nevertheless, it was imposing although not particularly to my taste.

After eating our lunch watching gig racers practising and other boats bobbing around on the rough sea we headed back to Ilfracombe town to catch the bus back to Combe Martin to collect the car and visit Marwood Gardens.

Par to Fowey

We caught the train from Plymouth to Par - a pleasant journey as the train (the 9.24 to Penzance) was very quiet, having started in Plymouth.  From Par station we walked down to Par Beach a distance of about .75 miles.  We walked along the back of the beach on the dunes to the far end.  Par is a lovely large sandy beach, it is a pity about the industrial site at the side of it.

As we walked through the car park we missed any southwest coast path sign and so walked to the road and a long way around until we came to the southwest coast path from the Saints Way.  Once we were on the path it was easy to follow it to Fowey.  As usual the path went up and down, but the views were spectacular all the way.

A view back to Par Beach

 After a while we came to Polkerris and we thought this was a lovely beach and harbour.  The sand was fine and there was lots to watch as people were canoeing and windsurfing .  There was also a lovely art gallery there to browse around.

Polkerris

The next stop on our journey was  Gribben Head.  It seemed to be a long time before we saw the tower on the top of this headland and there was lots a climbing so we were glad to be able to rest when we got there.  Up to this point we had been having views of St Austell Bay, but once we were over the top we could see the River Fowey estuary and coast down towards Polperro.

View from Gribben Head

Looking back to Gribbin Head

The walk continued undulating, with some steeper parts, but it helped to see the finishing line.  On the outskirts of Fowey the path signage was confusing as there appeared to be 2 different ways you could take and still stay on the coast path!   Initially we stayed on the top path and started to walk through woods, but that took us away from the coast and so we turned around and headed down to Readymoney Cove.  This was another pretty beach and the walk into Fowey from here was lovely with views of the river and boats between houses.  

A view from Fowey

View across to Polruan

 Once in Fowey we spent an hour wandering among the shops and admiring the views before heading up the hill to catch the bus back to Par Station.  This had been one of the prettiest sections of the coast path we have done and well worth the effort expended.