Day 13: Duckpool to Hartland Quay (15 miles)

I wake up at 4:30am from a peaceful night except for a few gusts of wind have the tent expanding and contracting with a loud thwack. I debate whether to go out and put out some guy-ropes, but the wind settles and I snuggle back down for a bit. The first oystercatcher call wakens me shortly before 5, ( I’m a light sleeper if you hadn't already gathered!) and I go out to see what the weather looks like. There’s heavy grey cloud out to sea and my sleeping bag seems ever more appealing. I’ll leave it awhile longer. It’s amazing though how quickly the days are lengthening even within this week.

Approaching 6am and my mind is buzzing so I decide to start properly planning the day and the business of starting the day. The birds are quiet this morning - a single wren, a couple of gulls and a few oystercatchers. It reminds me, Martin and I met a keen older gentleman who was a keen birdwatcher. He had been out at Porthgwarra nature reserve and bemoaned the lack of passerines (migrant birds), saying the government just isn’t interested in Cornwall. I think perhaps the problem is wider than that - climate change, shooting of migrant birds in the Mediterranean. Around us in the Surrey hills I’ve been delighted to see the return of the buzzards - often 8-12 soaring and mewing above the house, and the appearance of the red kites, but there’s certainly been a reduction of the migrant birds where we are - rarely any cuckoos, and no redwings or field fare visiting the garden.

I realise I haven’t seen any Cornish choughs for a couple of days - perhaps they don’t come this far north, and I’m yet to see a gannet, one of my favourite birds. And although I’ve heard the peregrines I’m yet to set eyes on one.

Coming up to 7am and I dismantle the tent and pack up. The wind is getting up so will have to be careful nothing blows over the cliff. Gulls and a raven are circling over head - waiting to see if there are any leftovers from breakfast perhaps - sorry guys.

Duckpool is one of my favourite places - lingering on path above and watching fulmars and jackdaws with nest material circling round to mount the cliff face. I see a small flock of linnets at Steeple Point - I realise now that I’ve seen them before but not really registered them or logged the sighting. I saw them especially around Pentire Point if I recall rightly.

I am being very careful with my knees! They are both strapped up and every so often one or the other likes to twinge to get more worried. So I’m very slow coming downhill - and uphill but that’s as much to do with stamina and carrying the backpack as anything else.

Lundy has been in sight since yesterday when it was clear - today there is low cloud. A colleague/friend has told me you can foretell the weather by its appearance - during today I have to say it’s been cast in sun, shadow and heavy cloud. Here it’s been heavy cloud for the majority of the day.

I’ve worked out (I think) that there are 12 valleys to Clovelly, with 10 apparently to Hartland Quay (HQ), so I’m keeping a log of each as I go, an estimating an hour for each.

✓ 1 Duckpool 8am

✓ 2 Stanbury Mouth 9:10

✓ 3 Tidna Shute 10:03

So far so good. I stop for a scone and twix as I’m starting to slacken having felt good this morning. I realise after that I’d stopped near hawkers hut - so close to Morwenstow which is where I had stopped in 2022 to break the leg between Hartland Quay and Bude. So I think I’m doing pretty well for the moment.

There are song thrushes singing in the valleys as I proceed and buzzards mewing over head, the first I’ve seen so far. I realise then that it’s only 1.75 miles to the Cornish border at Marsland mouth- I feel rather melancholy about leaving Cornwall behind. For the moment Lundy is clear of cloud and lit up by the sun. Before I’ve only seen it as a dark grey mass but I do see the colour of its rocks and vegetation - almost as though I could touch it.

✓ 4 HQ Morwenna’s Well 11:20

✓ 5 Yeol Mouth 11:45

✓ 6 Litter mouth up to Marsland Cliff

✓ 7 Marsland Mouth Descending to Marsland mouth and the Devon border 12:30.

Nature and landscape of course know no boundaries so I will continue to enjoy those although I will miss Kernow/Cornwall. Oystercatchers are calling down below. I see a bird of prey flying swiftly across and landing on a cliff nearby. It’s predominantly grey backed and I wonder if it could be a peregrine. But not certain enough to be sure.

I meet a couple of Dutch men heavily laden walking a part of the South West Coastal Path - we swop notes on backpacks and tents and they take a photo of the QR code so they can follow the blog.

Farewell Cornwall. I decide to have lunch on the bench where last time I had watched and chatted to a friendly group of women swimmers who tried to persuade me to join them - I declined but often wondered after whether I shouldn’t have just made the time and muddled along with my tiny towel!

At the top of the slope I stop at the poets house - that of Ronald Duncan. I chatted to a couple having lunch there and the woman pointed out the beautiful poem about his daughter which I'd not noticed before, called Briony. They also took a photo of the QR code which is proving was a good idea.

✓ 8 Marsland Mouth 13:30

✓9 Welcombe Mouth.

I filtered 1 litre water here having disturbed a yellow wagtail from these low waterfalls. I rested on a bench at the top of the climb, invited by a lovely couple who were staying in the valley. I found it a great comfort speaking with them and was touched when they ran after me to take my details. These connections as I walk along the path are a great help.

I pass by Embery - an old iron fort falling into sea, apparently there is less than a quarter of it remaining intact the rest hoping the crumbling cliffs below. I see some large birds of prey - buzzard size but hovering like a kestrel. They have a Brown upper wing with striking black edges all round. Splayed wing tips flashing white underneath. Heavy looking with what I’d describe as thick socks to the legs. But then to my delight at Manley Cliff I do see a peregrine and bless it, it flies by three times just to make sure I get the picture. Glorious.

✓ 10 Speke Mill 16:40

It’s here that with strengthening winds and threatening rain clouds I have a change of heart. As I will be walking right past Hartland Quay Hotel where I stayed last time I decide I’d be mad not to at least check if they have a room - they do so, that’s where I’m headed now!

Speke Mill has a beautiful waterfall and I slow my pace to make the most of being outside although it’s being pretty cold with that wind. And much to my pleasure there is another lovely waterfall at the northern side of St Catherine’s Tor, with a fascinating old building as part of a massive stone wall - I’m intrigued whether someone had lived there - not a bad alternative to a tent but not in the sad state it’s in now. But I’d love to know its history.

And so I arrive at the Hotel. A proper bed and a bath! Bliss. Lasagne sets me up for the night. With 2 more nights at B&Bs I’m in danger of being spoiled. I must steel myself for a return to camping on Sunday!