Heatwave. Brings back memories of my teens with songs like ‘Boogie Nights’ and ‘Always and Forever’, but this is a different sort of heatwave, one which saps your energy and your will to live, rather than makes you want to dance. Anyway, we start this day with a full complement: Andrew’s ankle is feeling tickety-boo, great news, ‘Five are together again’! The day starts with the SWCP running adjacent to Woolacombe Sands, a beach famous for its surfing and even at 9am it was packed. As we walked away from the car park you soon realised that it’s only packed at the northern end; if you could be bothered to walk just 10 minutes down the beach, you’d have it to yourself! The scenery was singular in nature, as the path wound its way through the deep dune, restricting the view to sand and more sand.
We slowly rise above the beach and head out over a peninsula to Baggy Point, a place used by the Americans during WWII to train for the D-Day Landings. There’s also a strange white pole stuck into the ground with no apparent use… ah but a little digging and everything becomes obvious:
‘The pole was installed by the Coastguard in the 1930s as a training tool. Coastguard volunteers would fire their ropes towards the top of the pole, simulating firing ropes up towards a ship that had been grounded on the rocks. Once attached to the pole the ropes would be used to slide a “breaches buoy” over to the ship so that stranded Mariners could be winched to safety’.
These days though, the pole is used for climbing practice by passers-by, it seems.
For some reason we splintered into four groups at this point, that means we each went our own way, as there are only four of us! I went down to take a closer look at Baggy Point, Andrew and Caroline stopped for a rest and drink, whilst Carolynn carried on along the upper path looking for shade. Caroline followed the SWCP towards Baggy Point and the lower path, as did I, whilst Andrew followed Carolynn along the upper path… it seems that the high road and the low road do, eventually meet, doesn’t mean to say the people walking on either path will, though! Carolynn found her shade, just not where the rest of us expected and it took us some time to locate her. She, though, was oblivious as she sat calmly waiting in that precious shade!
Next stop Croyde and lunch at a cafe where no one appeared to speak much English. Getting a drink was challenging, to say the least. Carolynn’s fervour for ordering pints seemed to have come to an end and she ordered two halves instead – apparently, there is a difference; I’m struggling to see it, myself! We hit Croyde as it was preparing for its very own Glastonbury-style music festival… shame we couldn’t stop! Carolynn and I walked along Croyde Bay on the hard wet sand whilst Andrew, Caroline and Lottie struggled over the thigh aching dunes as Lottie wasn’t allowed on the beach. Guilt troubled my every step, thinking of the three of them struggling, two steps up, one step back in the loose, steep, sun-baked dunes… mmm maybe not!
The rest of the afternoon’s walk was both tedious and hot and the car couldn’t come soon enough. The day finished at the beginning! With a pint at the same local hostelry as the previous day. Then homeward bound, to return again in July. 100km walked, I think a wonderful achievement from a lady that would never walk more than five or six kilometres and that had to be on a canal path.