12TH - 13TH June

12th June day 463

I woke early expecting a storm as predicted by the weather forecasts and  was pleasantly surprised by clear skies. It was still humid and very warm. After packing up my gear i set off to the lifeboat station again to meet the crew who were once again going to be out exercising with their new shannon. I arrived early and got my backup batteries on charge before heading to a nearby cafe for breakfast. I was very conscious that i only had two more packets of breakfast rations left and wanted to keep them for my next wild camp.

With 9am approaching quickly i called back at the station. There was a hive of activity in the crew room as everyone got debriefed. I kept out of the way and headed outside to find a place on the quay to watch as the new boat was launched. It was very different to any launch i had seen before.

It was 1pm by the time the excercises were finshed and the crew returned which meant i was running behind schedule to get to Appledore. With around 18 miles between me and the river taw, my next crossing, i knew it wouldn't be until later that evening i would arrive at the banks of the estuary.

Leaving Ilfracombe with cowboys shooting each other in the street, I'm not even joking, part of a victorian celebration i followed the coastal path. The climbs where steep and strenuous. They followed one after the other. The coastal path was indeed as I'd feared more physically demanding with every mile. It was actually making Scotland seem like a bit of a holiday. As i slowly conquered each summit the air became more humid and the clouds more densly packed. then it began to rain and it wouldn't stop for the rest of the day.

It was a long 8 miles but as i walked round morte point i did eventually see Woolacombe ahead. I was getting hungry and the evening was drawing in. With only 3 more mains and only 2 breakfast rations in my pack I decided to stop at the captains table cafe for burger and chips washed down with one of the best hot chocolates I've ever tasted come to think about it the burger was amazing too.

Leaving Woolacombe i headed down to the long sandy beach passing a row of colourful beach huts all with girls names such as rita, doris and Marian. It was still grim and i could hardly make out the tops of the surrounding hills. The clouds were low and with no air movement they lingered. At the far end of the beach I had to climb up to the cliffs again picking up the coastal path and followed it round baggy point.

Night was beginning to fall and with very little light i was once again wondering if or when I would find somewhere suitable to camp. Even though it was still raining i persevered which ultimately paid off. A small patch of grass once again on the edge of a cliff would become my home for the night.

13th June day 464

Although it had stopped raining during the night it didn't look to clever outside in fact it looked like it would possibly rain again. The plan for the day was to hike from where I'd camped down to the beach and across it then make my way round the headland and down onto the next beach which was extremely long. At the end of the second beach i would find myself at the mouth of the estuary opposite Appledore.

Low tide was at 10am and i knew i wouldn't be there by then but I did know the tide would have turned and would be coming in. On numerous occasions as with many of the pack raft crossings I'd done I'd been warned about how fast the current ran in and out of the river. That didn't bother me.  I always liked to see for myself.

It took several hours of hiking before i reached the point i was considering crossing. The tide was now indeed coming in and i could clearly see the current was flowing fast. Strong winds were also blowing in off the sea and the waters were choppy. Very choppy but nothing i couldn't handle.

Across from me i could see the all weather lifeboat of the Appledore rnli. I'd been given a contact number for martin the coxswain of the station. I figured I'd better give him the heads up that I'd be arriving momentarily and would meet him on the slipway to the boathouse which i could also see clearly across the estuary. "We're just launching the rib" he said "wait right there".

It was an unusual response i thought but then i figured that maybe they were offering to act as a safety boat for the crossing. It didn't take long before martin and the mechanic arrived. I watched as the little craft flew across the estuary make light work of the current and jumping the waves as it went. As the rib came up on shore martin called out "jump in, we're taking you back". I didn't really have much time to think. I already had my life jacket on and had been getting ready to unpack hoolley.  I grabbed my pack off the sand and swung my legs into the rib. It wasn't very graceful I'll admit.

In no time at all we were across the estuary, I'd been robbed of the excitement of paddling but had had it replaced by the excitement of high speed dash across the churning estuary. It hadn't been the first time they'd done such a crossing,  carol who'd joined me for part of the Pembrokeshire coastal path had also been taken across in the rib from the station to almost exactly where I'd been picked up. Maybe fate or destiny had something to do with it. I wasn't sure.

At the lifeboat station I was initially offered a coffee and then given the opportunity to freshen up using the showers while martin checked the condition of my life jacket. Thankfully he reported that other than a little salt corrosion on the self inflating gas canister everything was ok.

It was about 15:00 by the timeI left the guys and headed off away from Appledore towards westward ho! via the burrows, a nature reserve on a spit that forms the mouth of the taw estuary. Now as far as i am aware westward ho! is the only place name in Britain that has an exclamation mark in the name. I'd like to know why. There must surely be some interesting story behind it. Westward ho! appeared to be quite a newish town and one popular for the tourists. From here i would once again be entering the wilderness and tackling the undulating landscape that makes up devons northern coastline.

I continued hiking for several miles. I was now aiming to be in Clovelly the following day. There had been a heavy mist for the majority of the day but by 8pm it had started to lift. I could just about make out the town in the distance and i estimated it was about 8 more miles. Potentially i could have pretty much made it by nightfall but i was to be meeting martel the lom for the Clovelly lifeboat the Sunday afternoon and i didn't want to arrive too early. This gave me a great excuse to find somewhere to pitch early for a change and relax.

It seemed the closer to Southampton i got and spending more and more time around people lost in the normality of everyday life i myself was beginning to miss what most would call normality. The act of shopping for the evenings meal, standing in a kitchen preparing dinner, snuggling up on the sofa to watch a film.