23/10/2020 - Woolacombe to Saunton Sands (7.83mls)

The final walk of the week was from Woolacombe to Saunton Sands which was where David and Fiona had finished in 2014. Arriving in Woolacombe late morning we went for coffee with Fiona who then left to drive to RHS Rosemoor for the rest of the day.

The rest of the team decided to take the most direct route to Putsborough, not officially the SWCP route which is more inland, but which is advised in the SWCP leaflet as the best route. A bright but a little cloudy day but very pleasant walking along the hard sand for the length of Woolacombe beach.

Part way there is a stream which spills out on to the beach but we were able to hop across this without getting too wet and then eventually reached the steps off the beach at the far end to climb up to Napps Cliff and look back to Woolacombe now in sunshine ...

After a long walk along the coast towards Baggy Point we reached the rocket post, erected in the 1930s, and which was used by coastguards to practice firing a line on to stranded ships.

Justine of course quickly climbed up the post for a photo but DavidL failed miserably to capture the most photogenic moment!

Baggy Point and the surrounding area was used as part of the US Army Assault Training Centre in WW2 in preparation for the D-Day landings in Normandy.

A short walk from here to Croyde Bay where Justine realised that she had paused and then not restarted Strava when we had stopped at Baggy Point. While the Davids had a biscuit bar she then gamely walked up and down to add the lost distance to the Strava track - what a star! Again we walked along Croyde beach to climb up to the road at the far side near where there was an old Coastguard lookout but where in front a very posh Coastguard Lookout type house is being constructed.

The walk then continued around the headland on a muddy at times path to finally drop down to the beach at Saunton Sands to wait for Fiona to arrive from RHS Rosemoor (about 1hour away). We stopped off in our favourite watering hole in Woolacombe for a drink on the way home after what was a gentle walk compared to the previous 5 days with very few major sets of up and down steps.