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
