BARNSTAPLE to INSTOW Stage 10 (15th August 2007)

Set off to walk to the river Taw at around 13.15. We took the route over the new high bridge over the river to and then the SWCP follows the line of the Tarka Trail along a disused railway line to Fremington Quay. We stopped there at 14.30 for lunch at a really good cafe which is open all year round. About 1.5 miles beyond the cafe the SWCP turns right off the Tarka Trail to follow along the top of a dyke, close to the estuary edge. After two disused piers (from the old power station) the path descends onto the sandy beach, around a stony point then along sand again to . We arrived here at 16.30 and immediately caught a bus back to Barnstaple.
Total time (including stops) around 4.0 hours. Total distance walked on path 11.9 km, Ascent 222m

The South West Coast Path is the longest of the official UK National Trails, running from Minehead in Somerset round the English south west peninsula coast to Poole in Dorset. The total length is just over 1000 kilometres or, more precisely, 630 miles. Only very dedicated walkers could contemplate completing the whole walk in one go, although plenty of people have done just this. Received opinion is that it would take around 6 weeks, even for the most dedicated.

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