Morwenstow to Hartland Quay

Right, final part of the Severe section seen off and a spectacular finish at Hartland Quay. A shorter leg than usual (and a lot less than yesterday) but as expected a tough one and we were happy to call it a day by 4 pm. Usual Komoot summary here.
We started in the churchyard at Morwenstow, with this weird effigy on a post with no explanation:

I have no idea what this is about.The church was renovated by Rev Hawker (he of the hut) and I learned from Rob at the Bush Inn that he also was responsible for building a school, the vicarage, a bridge in Duckpool and sundry other ventures. Clearly a philanthropist he did a lot to improve the situation of the villagers in his parish (although it turns out it was his wife's money that funded all this!) So maybe he's allowed an eccentricity or two. If it's his.




Apparently he also changed the name of the village from Morwinstow, meaning something like a wet windy place on the moor, to the current more pleasing (to his ear) name. I think this all predated Poldark's Morwenna, though.


The path took us straight back to the cliffs I'd left the night before and they were just as spectacular.

A particular feature along this section is the striated rock formations. Bearing in mind that these are sedimentary rocks and therefore were originally horizontal it is easy to see the extent of upheavals over the millennia. Some strata are now vertical.

And Litter Mouth certainly looks well named, for the abundance of rough rocks strewn over the beach.

It wasn't long before we left Cornwall, and they feel strongly about that sort of thing here, reminding us of the fact even on as remote a place as the coast path. There's an equivalent one the other side of course, announcing Cornwall.

From here to Hartland Quay there was very little habitation, it really is very bleak along here. Although it looks magnificent on a hot sunny day I'm guessing it's another story in a storm. Rob (again) told me they'd had to effectively close the Coast Path around Easter when there was so much rain the mud made it impossible. Now what does that remind me of? (clue: Fowey and what followed)

There was the occasional place like this where the owners have done a great job to renovate and extend. Definitely a good place to chill out

One curiosity was Ronald Duncan's writing hut.

 It sounds a Scottish sort of name but he was born Ronald Frederick Henry Dunkelsbühler in Zimbabwe. He was a poet, author and playwright, read English at Cambridge, wrote some libretti for Benjamin Britten (incl Rape of Lucretia) and was a noted pacifist, setting up a co-operative farm near here. He also wrote the script for Girl on a Motorcycle starring Marianne Faithfull. He wrote many of his poetry and plays at this hut and it is kept open during the day for anyone to use.

After a tough few ups and downs (we counted 4 on this section and I think there were at least 6 on yesterday's) we came to Welcome Mouth. Again you can see the continuing rock strata on the beach



Unbeknown to us the climb up from here is pretty much the last hurrah for the ascents and then it's easy walking along cliff tops . 
Nic was so pleased to be told that it was flat from here that he promptly proposed to the woman who told him, much to her husband's bemusement. 
The Landscape's just as amazing as before:

and the local herd came to check us out - very inquisitive as ever.

So finally we got to Hartland Quay. Given its location it's hard to get a good picture so I grabbed this one off the net and you can see why. It is in a superb position - driving down to it feels like you're going to go over the edge of the cliff!


The harbour dated back to the time of Henry VIII until a storm led to the complete destruction of the pier head and later the whole pier wall in 1887. Parts of the old formation stones can be seen at low tide. The old Customs House (where I'm staying) has been a hotel since 1886 and its former stables are now 'The Wrecker's Retreat' bar. There is an Abbey here in nearby Hartland which was the last to be disestablished by Henry VIII, who gave it to his sergeant of the wine cellar, appropriately enough. Parts of it featured in the BBC’s 2008 Sense and Sensibility. 

Mary Norton, who wrote the Borrowers novels, is buried nearby. Films shot here include Treasure Island (1950) and Solomon Kane (2009).

Couldn't resist a sunset photo, given I never quite made it to one in Portugal 😀

Tomorrow off to Clovelly though the path doesn't take us right through it. Last day for Nic who has to go back to London. It's been great to have his support - no-one got past today without a smart remark from one or the other of us!

Peter