We left Twickenham at 7.10a.m., travelling by train to Exeter, then by rail replacement bus to Barnstaple. There was only a 15 minute gap before we got on the #319 bus to Bucks Cross, arriving at 13.55.

BUCKS MILLS to CLOVELLY Stage 13 (13th March 2008)

There was a one mile walk north and east from the main road to Bucks Mills. It was lightly drizzling after 4 days of wild storms and soaking rain. The path climbs in woods to the top of the cliff, close to an unappealing holiday centre, then stays close to the edge of the wood and strays in and out of the fields, returning to the woods, dipping down to cross a stream on a wooden bridge before joining the Hobby Drive for the next 2.5 miles. This is a wide metalled path which remains roughly on a fixed contour while winding around until it arrives just above Clovelly. The surface is apparently rough, made of many small stones but, after 200 years, their surfaces are polished like glass and slippery when wet!

Total distance on the path 4.5 miles (7.5km) Ascent 613 m

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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