Bude and Crackington Haven, Friday, June 5, 2026
The day began with a downpour; so we all dutifully put on our full rain gear. Which of course made it stop raining. By the time we had walked down from our hotel into the center of Bude, the sun was shining brightly. We walked past Bude Castle.
The path leads along a canal that runs to the beach.
At the end of the pavement, we passed the home of by Jeff G., our benefactor.
Up a flight of steps, we entered some gorgeous meadows that ran along the clifftops. Above them was the Compass Point Storm Tower, built in 1835 by architect George Wightwick for Sir Thomas Acland; modeled after the Tower of the Winds in Athens. It has twice been dismantled and moved further inland at landslips have taken away the cliffs.
We were soon walking through gorgeous meadowlands along the sea.
As we approached the four mile mark, we began to get views onto Widemouth Bay.
And the rest of the day’s walk, with seemingly endless steep drops and climbs out of valleys and onto cliffs, revealed itself.
When we reached Widemouth Bay, we found a pleasant cafe. I was feeling very good, but Sue was very concerned about the difficulty ahead and, rather than spoil her day, I bailed (no one’s fault but my own; I’m in better shape than I’ve been in several years, but this section of the path is the hardest we’ve done…by an order of magnitude). I spent a pleasant hour in the cafe waiting for the bus while the others marched on.
Part of the early going was along roads because landslips had taken out the path.
Rising above these houses, the path passes through remarkable, jungle-like vegetation.
Looking back toward Bude.
The path then descends to the small settlement of Black Rock.
Before rising onto the first serious cliff, Penhalt.
The winds were manageable today, but heavy rain fell occasionally.
After a reasonable bit of cliff walking, the path plunges down to Millook Haven before rising steeply onto Bynorth Cliff.
There was some serious exposure in this section.
And most of the ascents were over the dreaded long flights of steps, signaling very steep terrain.
This climb brought the crew to the high point for the day at Drizzard: 538 feet.
From this point on, the plunges into steep-sided valleys came thick and fast. Several of these brought serious exposure.
One of the valleys took the crew all the way down to the sea at a place called Cleave.
And, of course, up from the sea.
Near a place called Tresmorn, the walkers had the by now obligatory cow encounter.
The fun wasn’t over yet: there were two more touch descents and climbs.
Finally the endpoint at Crackington Haven came into view, 12 miles and eight hours of hard walking later.
We were staying at the only show in town, the Coombe Barton Inn.
Originally the home of the manager of a nearby slate quarry, the inn has a wonderful and obviously very popular pub. The walkers were pretty beat, but that didn’t stop them from lifting a glass and regaling me with tales of the walk.
We had a terrific dinner. Highlights were a haddock chowder, smoked mackerel paté, braised beef curry, and a prize winning sticky toffee pudding. And they have a very classy sommelier!
