Synopsis: A short walk to Clovelly and then some time spent in this phenomenally beautiful village. A tough climb out of Clovelly, down Hobby Drive and on towards Buck’s Mill for lunch on the beach.
An ultra early start was required for this ambitious walk. I set my alarm for 4:30am and was at the Exeter bus station in time to catch the 6:10 bus to Tiverton the first stage of my trip to Clovelly. It was a little bit overcast on setting out from home but by the time that I arrived in Tiverton the sun was beginning to show itself through the clouds. There were banks of mists floating in the Exe Valley on this first leg of my trip.
I was a little surprised by the route the bus took out of Tiverton. It travelled along a back road that provided some quite stunning scenery. I don’t ever recall being on this route before, and yet I have travelled on the 155 bus route on previous occasions. As it’s early there is just me and the driver on the bus as we start the journey. Further into the journey I begin to recognise some places along the route such as Witheridge and South Molton. Perhaps I wasn’t too awake when we set out, but eventually my senses came back to me.
Clovelly Cross - service stationThe bus from Barnstaple dropped me at Clovelly Cross, about a mile from the village. There is this quaint little service station here, looking like a remnant from a bygone age (like me :-)). I had to walk along the road for a while before picking up a cross-country path that dropped me down to Clovelly by the war memorial. This is one of the photos that I found on the Francis Frith web site the night previous to this walk.
The war memorialIt was seeing the photos of Clovelly on the Francis Frith web site that convinced me I shouldn’t pass up a visit to this village despite time being limited on this walk. It is just such a beautiful place. I think the last time I visited the village would have been when I was out walking the South West Coast Path. The trouble with walking a long distance path is that you arrive in a place at the end of a long day’s walk and you don’t always give it your best. The sun was shining, Clovelly was looking beautiful, and there weren’t too many people around, and so I decide to spend some time just strolling about the place. The first sight that I come upon is the old war memorial at the top of the hill just as it appears in the 1930s.
Clovelly - a sledThe photographs from the Francis Frith collection might have been taken yesterday for all the change that has happened to the place. It’s only the lack of people in rustic dress and moustaches, replaced by people with mobile phones and digital cameras, that gives the game away. Even the little wooden sleds that at one time were pulled by donkeys adorn the streets. Actually ‘streets’ sounds too grandiose a term for the narrow cobbled thoroughfares of Clovelly. I did see one of the wooden sleds in service, carrying a cabinet and pulled by a man.
Clovelly quay - attending to lobster pots
Down on the quay a fisherman was tending to his lobster pots, a vestige from the time when Clovelly was a thriving fishing port. The Red Lion hotel still sits right down on the quay, in a situation that I would think affords a front seat view on winter storms. I’m not sure I’d choose to build a hotel just here, but I guess it has stood the test of time, as Clovelly looks much like it does in the Francis Frith photos.
Clovelly - gift shop
I was interested to see that the gift shop seems to exist just as it did in the 1960s, and is probably selling just the same stock as back then. I suppose Clovelly’s existence owes far more to tourists these days, than to the fishing trade of old.
Hobby Drive - beech trees newly in leafIt really is a long hard climb back out of Clovelly, a climb that quite took my breath away. I really don’t know how the old and infirmed manage, as there doesn’t appear to be any alternative to walking. However, once I got to the top I soon picked up the Hobby Drive, a wide and meandering drive that hugs the contours of the cliff. What was particularly lovely was to see the beech trees that line the route newly in leaf and looking gorgeous.
Hobby Drive – viewpoint
This is easy walking and I was soon able to make up some of the time lost in Clovelly. Some distance from Clovelly there is a Harbour View vantage point where the vegetation has been cut back and some benches set there looking back to Clovelly. A truly superb view point.
Buck's Valley Wood - bluebells
Although I was a little late leaving Clovelly at around 11:20, I decided to set as my objective Buck’s Mills for my lunch stop. I made it there by about 13:20.
Just before dropping down into the village itself I pass through Buck’s Valley Wood which is carpeted with blue bells everywhere you look. This wood is managed by the Woodland Trust. The bluebells looked lovely, but I still struggle to take good bluebell photographs. There must be a trick to it that no one has told me about. As the woods run right down to the village of Buck’s Mills the first I knew that I was approaching the village was finding that I was in it.
Buck's Mills - house of Mary Stella Edwards and Judith Ackland, artists, on the right
As I drop down towards the sea I catch sight of a notice board by a small house. This was a house used by Mary Stella Edwards and Judith Ackland as a. summer retreat at Buck’s Mill, now owned by the National Trust. This tiny house was apparently kept just as the two 'artists ladies had left it. There are works of the two ladies in the Victoria and Albert museum in London, and the Burton Gallery in Bideford. I did pop along to the Burton Gallery, but saw no sign of the ladies’s works, but this could have been because there was a photographic display on at the time. I was going to ask but I was politely ejected at closing time had come round.
Today’s walk was never going to be very long, as a lot of the day had to be given over to travelling to and from North Devon from Exeter. This was more than made up for by a most enjoyable visit to Clovelly. I was very tired by the end of the day, but it was a nice day out and worth the effort.
Walk Statistics:
Total Distance: 8.2 miles
Moving Time: 3hrs 13min
Stopped Time: 1hr 34min
Total Ascent: 484 metres
Maximum Elevation: 212 metres
Buses: 55, 155,319, 315 & H2
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