Short little post from a day out on our North Devon weekend.
A grey day prompted a day out so we headed for Westward Ho! (only place name in the UK with an exclamation mark) and where I spent many happy family holidays as a kid
Safe to say its changed a lot since then. We visited around 10 years ago and it seemed very run down and sad. Since then they seem have improved things a great deal. Many of the very old chalets seems to have been renovated and the general area looks much happier and welcoming (it looked like an army barracks before). The only blight is that the planning department have allowed developers to build two huge apartment blocks right on the seafront. They obscure the view for many and as you’d expect all the money was spent on the interiors and the front. The rear which is what most people see is just an ugly wall of concrete. Really beggars belief that someone looked at the plans and thought that was fine. Makes you suspicious as the motivations of the people that approve such things!
Anyway we took a stroll along the seafront and around the seawater pool in the rocks which was still pleasant
We had a very nice lunch in a Thai restaurant and then took a wander on to the beach. We were hoping to do some body boarding and surfing but the waves looked a bit feeble
Afterwards we wanted a walk on the coast so headed to the dramatic headland at Hartland.
Right on cue just as we stepped from the car it started to drizzle. We went out anyway and enjoyed the briefest of wanders onto the top of the headland with views out over the rocks to the island of Lundy
The cliffs and views were spectacular but it was damp grey and dreary so we headed back to the campsite
The weather seemed to brighten on the way back so we detoured to the beach at Putsborough at the south end of Woolacombe beach
On a whim me and TBF went body boarding and surf kayaking for an hour and even though the waves were a bit small it was actually pretty good fun and finished off the day nicely
As an added treat the sun came out and gave us some nice late evening light while we got changed
We were pretty late back to the campsite but we’d eaten at lunchtime so a late sandwich saw us through. All in all a good day out
Now that is pretty wonderful, look at those beaches, delightful. Lovely scenery. Where’s my cosssie, I am heading south!
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North Devon has some stunning beaches and coastline and has a special place in my heart as I had some great holidays there when I was a nipper. You’d love a swim there although the beaches can get busy. Putsborough is a real pain to get to – seriously narrow lanes but it is much quieter as a result. Head south how before the water starts to cool down 🙂
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With scenery like that and a Devon location I’m surprised it was run down a while ago as I’d imagine it would always be popular. Loads of UK seaside towns seem to go through the same boom and bust cycle though yet most still have loads to offer walkers, even at their worst periods. Like the ‘glass sand’ shots and the cliffs.
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Possibly the owners had a few years of poor returns (its owned by a local family) and keeping it looking good was a challenge. Definitely been a lot of money spent in the past few years. We had some really hot and sunny holidays when I was a kid (including a stay in the summer of ’76 when there were standpipes everywhere) so I was looking through rose tinted specs. I always try those sand reflection shots when I’m on the beach. The gloomy skies show them up better than when the sun is out
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My goodness…just skimmed through…took one look at the kids and thought…jeez have I been away from blogs for that long?! Terrifying to think where the years have gone. Thanks for dropping by the new blog Andy…I’ve been trying for 6 years to come up with something since I realised the hillwalking would be fading out. Glad to see you have managed to keep things going!
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Hey Ken – been great to see you back in the blog world. Kids are growing up so fast and my oldest leaves home for university this weekend.
Liking the new blog, great idea although I need a free Spotify account so I can listen to the tracks (I remember Van de Graaf Generator – they were shockingly bad!)
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I despair when I hear the word University – makes me feel even older – but congratulations are most certainly in order for the achievement!
Based on the tracks on that post even I wouldn’t be rushing for an account free or otherwise 🙂 . I was so pleased the short samples were so bloody awful…really set the scene. VdGG were amazingly bad live too…and there was a lot longer to suffer than that piddly sample.
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Yeah, I feel really old now and not a little envious of the good times he has to come. Working for a living is such a drag!.
I would say looking forward to more musical posts but if your mates taste is as bad as VdGG then I may have unfriend you! 🙂
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I decided to get the worst over and done with…that way I could sort out the wimps and the less than totally committed. I accept that this may have been a big mistake on my part. 🙂 The good new is that VdGG and their like are unlikely to be ever mentioned again. I would like to say that there is a large queue to unfriend me – at least from the point of view that I could generate a large queue of any sorts.
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Been to both these places, Hartland point if I remember rightly had my mother hanging on to me and my brother for dear life!!!! Played golf a fair bit at Royal North Devon near Westward Ho!. Brilliant golf course and the oldest one in England (fact of the day)!!
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Well I never knew that – good fact of the day.
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I love the wide, glistening, tidal beach.
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I always like images of wet sand, the grey light seemed to make it stand out more
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Don’t think I’ve ever been to Westward Ho! Or anywhere else with an exclamation mark in the name, as far as I remember. Looks like you made the best of a drizzly day.
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Perhaps pace names with any kind of punctuation marks would liven things up a bit and possibly create another bagging, tick list. Then again, maybe not. Not too bad a day especially with a decent sunset to finish and of bit of wave action
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