Trip 4 - 29-30 May 2015 North Devon and Somerset, Ilfracombe and Watermouth Bay

Trip 4 - North Somerset and North Devon

Friday 29th May 2015

The weather has been diabolical so far this summer.  Summer really has not yet arrived.  Half term week and I had taken the Fridya off work so that we could go away for a few days, but it did not look good.  We packed E in torrential rain and wondered what an earth we were doing!  Packing the van in the rain is never good....We really wanted to test out the awning with its newly repaired poles though.  Off we went.  Fortunately the weather improved as we drove further south, getting off the motorway at Bridgewater and then driving along the coast through Kilve and on towards Dunster where we stopped for lunch at Dunster Marsh where we had a good view of Dunster castle.

We drove into Dunster but it was very busy and there was nowhere to park.

http://www.visitdunster.co.uk/visitdunster-Exmoor-National_Park-Dunster_Castle.html

Maybe next time.

So on towards Porlock and then through the gorgeous Exmoor National Park.  Amazing scenery.

And on towards the sea

 We were staying a few miles outside Ilfracombe at Watermouth Cove at a site called

http://www.watermouthpark.co.uk/

It was reasonably priced and some pitches had a view of the sea.  Because of the wet weather forecast we decided to go for a more sheltered spot and did not risk putting the awning up.  We took advantage of the great sunny weather and went to explore the harbour and coastline.

The coast path led to a small tower from which you could see views of the sea

and on close inspection a seal! Swimming just down by the rocks!

 We walked back to the campsite and enjoyed out supper in the evening sun, later sitting on the hill enjoying the warmth.

 Went for a quick visit to the pub at the bottom of the site - The Dolphin - then back to the van.

Saturday 30th May 2015

The weather forecast was not good for Saturday so we decided not to commit to another night on the site, but to drive around and explore a little.

Firstly we went into Ilfracombe.  I had not been here for about 25 years and it had not made much impression then due to bad weather and lack of funds.  It is a town established in Victorian times and ther are many beautiful old buildings, many of which had been thriving hotels in days gone by, you could still see the splendour there if you looked hard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilfracombe

We walked down to the harbour - and found a great little fudge shop where you could see them making it in the shop!  Had to buy some and support local shops!

https://rolysfudge.co.uk/stores/rolys-fudge-ilfracombe/

 and local artists!

From Ilfracombe we headed for Braunton Burrows

http://www.northdevonbiosphere.org.uk/braunton-burrows.html

The weather held out and on looking at the map we thought we could manage the half hour to the coast and back.

What a wonderful place, though as we found, very easy to get lost!  Massive sand dunes, lots of bright blue butterflies and lots of wild flowers and when we got to the beach lots of driftwood to collect for future projects!

The weather was kind to us and stayed good the whole day, though still supposed to be bad on Sunday.  We headed towards home and stopped in Minehead for supper with a sea view!

We contemplated staying in Minehead another night, but just didn't want to get up in the morning to wet and windy.  Headed home and it was the right thing to do, Sunday was wet!