So time for a bit of a change, after lots of Dartmoor, the Erme/Plym trail and South Wales we needed to redress the coastal balance. So far this year we’d only walked once by the coast (here at Rock) and that wasn’t enough. Normally during the year we look to book a longer section of the coastal path, over three days, stopping overnight twice and then coming home. This trip requires some decent bus transport at either end, meaning we can park, start our walk, and then get back without a pricey taxi ride at the end. What I have left is a bit tricky in the bus department, however I’ve come up with another option. The overnight cheap hotel on a Sunday night (the cheapest night of the week) and we are all familiar with the brand I have chosen, conveniently they have some of their hotels placed in some good spots to pick off parts that I need to do. So this year we have Barnstaple, Weymouth and Bideford booked, in order to walk some of the more awkward spots, with these probably needing to be repeated again, as the areas are pretty long and the one day drive back and forth isn’t really on anymore. So off we went to Barnstaple early on a Sunday, with a walk planned for that day and a second for the Monday, just one day off work needed for these trips, love a long weekend 😉. Infact we’ve taken 3 days off to have 6 days of walking, which is a better way of doing it than the 3 days in a row we booked last year. So on to the walk, we drove up the hour and a half to Barnstaple, parking up on the outskirts of the town in a road. Clearly we’d picked an area that has many people parking to set off walking, as one set off locals seemed to take umbridge at our choice of parking spot. But without talking to me, I left the car where it was and we set off (I’d have moved it, if it caused him issues getting his car out, he drove out fine minutes later). This walk is all by the estuary, down to Instow and completed this part of the path, which I’d done with the boys out of Bideford previously (here). There is no climbs or drops, just an old railway track to the village, with an option at the end to head off on a loop around Instow Barton and into the village, we took it to vary the views. Apart from the hard tarmac path all the way, its a good walk, full of birdlife and insects. Instow was busy on our arrival, the tide was out so the ‘beach’ at Instow was full. We didn’t linger, but instead headed through to get the bus back to Barnstaple. A good 7 miles ticked off and plans for some of the same the next day. only around the opposite side of the estuary.

Start – Barnstaple

Route – South West Coastal Path – Fremington Quay – Yelland Marsh – Instow Barton – Instow Sands – Instow

Distance – 7 miles  Start time – 11am  Time taken – 4hrs 15mins  Highest Point – Nothing worth talking about

Weather – Sunshine and some white fluffy clouds