Buck`s Cross to Bideford - Friday May 19th

From the walk diary:

Friday May 19th 7.14 am.

"It was very wild in the night, the doors and windows were shaking, the wind was roaring in the trees. It made me a little nervous even, perhaps worrying about today, and the walk along the cliff paths. Rose had been worried about it too, afraid I would be blown off the cliff . Anyway, although the wind is still strong,  it is dry. I am more concerned about being soaked through, if I can`t use my umbrella because of the wind.

Despite the wind, I slept well, and now sunshine fills the room. There are baby birds nestling in in the wall by the kitchen area, I can hear them fluttering.

I had a nice evening with Rose and her family last night. She cooked roast beef, a treat I have very rarely, with roast potatoes, gravy, Yorkshires and vegetables. They also gave me some wine to drink. Two of her children were there, Che who works at the Red Lion and Jorgi who goes to Bideford College. Eddie, her other son, is in London and an actor. Her husband Richard is an antiques dealer and also an electrician.

We talked quite a bit about the Art Trek. Rose has some new work that is very interesting, especially a painting she showed me in their living room with beautiful textures.  The thing we most like about the Art Trek is the fact that it gives people a chance to meet artists in their own homes, among works in progress, it`s not just about selling work. I will certainly have very little to sell this year, this is the time I would normally be painting for it. I haven`t made many sketches during the walk, partly because I`ve been too busy walking/meeting people, learning about their sites, etc but also because I prefer to walk a location several times before I think of doing a painting of it.

Today will about ten miles, the longest walk without being able to sit down anywhere on the route for a break. I get stiff I sit down on the ground, or anywhere damp, so I am not going to stop for a break during the walk. It would be different if it was warm and dry, of course, then I could sit on a wall, or rock."


Richard and Rose
Rose and Richard said they would walk down to Buck`s Mills withme. Here they are with their two dogs, Bracken and - I think - Byrony.
It is a lovely walk down to Buck`s Mills, through a wooded valley. They walked down the lane with me. and before saying goodbye Rose took the photo of me (on the right) by the coast path sign.
sayng goodbye

The sun had come out and - as usual - although I was sad to say to goodbye I felt a thrill of excitement about going on. Each day had been an adventure. The only worry I had was that I might have difficulties on the downhill sections of the cliff path. because of past problems, I have to be very careful not to twist my right ankle, which makes steep slippery downhills very nerve-wracking.
bluebells on the cliff path
The cliff path was an endless and stunning display of bluebells, dappled with sunshine. Sometimes there primroses too still, and other wild flowers. It was wonderful - at first. But as I went on, the downhills became harder to handle. I even began to dread the uphills, because every time you go up, you have to go down again.
The weather changed too. The sunshine gave way to dark cloud, and rain.
I know Peppercombe well, and because of that, somehow forgot to pay attention to where I was going, and ended up on the beach.
It was high tide. I didn`t really want to walk on the pebbles, but at least they would be flat. I had arranged to meet Rose at 2.30 in Bideford, and was conscious of being already a long way behind schedule, because of those difficult downhil stretches .
I set off up the beach, planning to take the cliff path again further on, where it comes down once more. The pebbles were OK to
the beach
 
walk on, although I had to be careful. I was grateful for a strong stick that I had picked up early on - a makeshift walking stick.
Suddenly I realised that ahead of me the cliff jutted out almost into the sea. Perhaps it was a very high tide - the storm the night before had stirred the waves up, they were crashing on the beach. As I neared the cliff I had thoughts of giant waves that suck people out to sea. I had always wondered how they could be so stupid as to go so close to the sea on such a day. Now I had done the same thing, and I have to admit it was a little scary. At the same time, also stupidly, I couldn`t face going all the way back.
To cut a long story short, I`m writing this, so I obviously made it across safely, but it was rather frightening, slithering across wet pebbles, not sure whether they were wet from the sea or the rain, and it was a great relief to reach the other side - where I fell over and nearly did twist my ankle. But it was OK.
The rest of the cliff path wasn`t much fun - it was raining and quite cold, and again the downhills were a strain. On a good day it would be wonderful.... but when at last I reached the footpath to Abbotsham it was with a sigh of relief.
Bideford


Back
I called Rose on my mobile - she was happy to wait. She was the one with the baggage this time, and we agreed to meet at the Burton Gallery.
Walking towards Bideford, I could see the hills above Instow, and, after Bradworthy, I was very conscious of how much the 15 turbines that Hector Christie wants to put on Tapeley Hill would dominate the landscape.
It was strange being back in a town, with the traffic and noise, but the prospect of tea in the Burton cafe, and something dry to put on was welcoming.
After saying goodbye to Rose I waited at the bus stop with my luggage.. The buses to Barnstaple are very good, every 15 minutes, but it was one of those days... there had been a hold up on the link road, and the bus was half an hour late, and then took twice as long as normal to reach Barnstaple.  My son David met me and helped carry the heavier rucksack the last mile or so home, where a pile of mail and nearly 300 emails were waiting to be dealt with..

Another excerpt from the walk diary:

"I went quickly through Abbotsham, calling Rose, and we arranged to meet at the Burton Art Gallery. It was strange, reaching civilisation again. Bideford was busy. I came in past Bideford College where Jorgi goes to school, and Commonsense Computing where I bought my printer. Up high still, I could see the hills across the Taw, and realised that if Hector Christie was allowed to put up his turbines at Tapeley Park they would be very dominant.

Rose met me outside the Burton Art Gallery. It is one of the best Galleries in North Devon, I wish Barnstaple had a Gallery like it. My rucksack was in the car, but she had brought a towel and some extra warm clothes for me to put on, so thoughtful of her – I was so grateful, because I was very damp and cold. I changed in the loos, then we had tea in the cafe and a quick look at some paintings, before fetching my stuff from the car and walking to the nearby bus-stop. She would have driven me home, and wanted to wait, but the buses are very regular, and anyway, I wanted to use the bus.

We said goodbye, and I hope I thanked her enough for all her kindnesses. The bus shelters at Bideford are new, and I have to say, as a frequent bus traveller, that whoever designed them doesn`t seem to have had any idea about what it is like to wait for a bus in the cold or wet. They face the road, the wind blows across you, and unless the rain comes from the east, so does the rain.

I am an ardent supporter of public transport – why don`t those who are in charge of running it think a little bit more about the comfort of passengers? Sometimes it feels as if they don`t care, as if they presume that only the poor, the old, and the unimportant travel on the bus.

But I wont blame the bus company for what happened next ... or to be precise, what didnt happen next. The bus didnt come. Not for ages and ages, anyway. There had been an accident on the Link road and the traffic was jammed up between between barnstaple and Bideford.

When the bus did finally come, the journey took ages. We crawled along, cars ahead of us crawling too, as far as I could see. We were stuck in traffic, surrounded by buildings, and I remembered the road between Meddon and Wolsery, that was only a few miles away, the beauty and solitude, the one deer that crossed the empty road ahead of me. But I was glad to be warm and dry, especially with Rose`s fleece hugging me – and I longed for a hot bath.

David met me and helped carry my bags the last one and a half miles home. I then I had my bath, before starting work on the PC, with about 170 photos to download and sort, and 267 new emails. I was on the PC until 11.30 pm before finally giving up, and getting into my own bed for the night."