With the nice weather we’ve been having lately, we decided to make the most of it and explore another coastal walk. We decided on North Devon, mainly because we haven’t explored a lot of North Devon walks, but also because there’s a lighthouse on this walk, and anyone that knows me, knows I love lighthouses. The walk we did starts off in a little village close to Woolacombe, called Mortehoe. Here we parked in the main pay and display car park and turned left up the road where we spotted a pub (The Ship Aground) and then the local church (St Mary’s), looking beautiful in the sunshine with lots of flowers decorating the entrance.
St Mary’s Church to the left, and local pub, ‘The Ship Aground’ to the right.
From here we carried on walking down the road to our left, keeping the Church on our right. We then passed lots of pretty houses and another Church. Here we spotted a public footpath to our right, but we ignored this one and instead walked down a bit further until we spotted the National Trust gated footpath that led onto the coast path. Once through the gate we were treated to some stunning views of the glistening sea and the spectacular Woolacombe beach where we could see many families and surfers enjoying the sun, as we walked past lambs grazing on the land.
Footpath leading to Morte point, with sea views in the distance.
As we followed the footpath up a hill, we stopped to look back and take in the views; as it was such a clear day, looking past the numerous surfers on the water we were able to see Baggy Point jutting out in the distance. This path soon descended down a hill, still with views of the sea and Woolacombe beach to the left, and the small Churchyard to the right.
Views of Woolacombe beach and Baggy Point.
As we followed this path through another gate, we found that it becomes a bit narrow as we walked between some gorse. We then turned left onto a wider path that would lead us to Morte Point. It was here that we realised we could have taken a clearer path earlier on, that would have also joined onto Morte Point and not been so narrow, but the one we walked was still passable and took us to where we aimed to go.
Views of Morte Point from the Coast path.
The views from this part of the coast path are far from disappointing. We stopped for a moment to watch the waves crashing on the jagged rocks below before climbing up some rocky steps to continue along the coast path. As we turned a corner we could spot our destination, Bull Point Lighthouse, in the distance. which in the intense heat felt like miles away!
Taking in the views of the sea and surf.
About to climb the rocky steps.
A glimpse of Bull Point lighthouse in the distance.
Looking down at the bay of rocks below, I remarked to Jo that we hadn’t yet spotted any seals, and at that moment, I then saw a seal pop it’s head out of the water, and then as we walked a bit further on, we spotted another seal, bobbing about in the waves. We decided to take a drinks break here on one of the benches at the top of the hill to see if we could spot any more seals (we didn’t!) before heading in the direction of the lighthouse.
Sea views and Bull Point Lighthouse in the distance.
As we carried on, we reached a fork in the path with a signpost telling us Mortehoe Village was to the right. In spite of the heat we thought we’d press on to the lighthouse, so we took the path to the left to carry on along the coast which eventually lead us through a gate and more steps to climb. From here we had views of Whiting Cove, which can sometimes be popular with sunbathing seals. As we got a closer view of the cove we looked out for any more seals but couldn’t see any, so we carried on down more steps, through yet another gate and followed the signpost for Bull Point.
Views of Whiting Cove below, before taking the steps down towards Rockham Bay.
We spotted Rockham Bay with a boardwalk staircase leading down to it, but as we got closer, we saw a sign saying these steps down to the bay were closed... We quickly realised why: the wooden steps had collapsed, possibly in a recent storm, and now left the bay inaccessible.
Rockham beach, you can just about see where the wooden steps have collapsed.
From here, we had a bit of a hill climb, which was made more strenuous in the heatwave we were having this week. Once at the top, we had a quick stop to admire the views around us before taking the steps down and then up yet another hill. From this post, you can probably tell there’s several hills and steps to climb on this stretch of the South West Coast path, but the views make it worth the effort! Once at the top of this hill we looked back at the frothy surf crashing on the rocks below before reading the Informative map about Bull Point. Once we reached the top of the next slope, we were greeted with Bull Point Lighthouse standing proudly on Bull Point itself. This lighthouse was actually relocated here from Mortehoe back in the 1970s. There is no public access to the lighthouse itself, but there are holiday cottages here that you can stay in, owned by Trinity house, which if like me, you have a (strange?) interest in lighthouses, you’ll know Trinity House are a charity that own and run most lighthouses in the UK.
Looking back at yet another hill we just climbed.
Bull Point Lighthouse and holiday cottages.
After a quick break to look at the lighthouse, we decided to take the road to the right, which as a signpost told us, would lead back to Mortehoe, 1 mile away. We would have carried on to Sandy Cove and Lee Bay but it was already nearly 5pm so we decided we would do that walk another day. This route back to Mortehoe took us up a country lane decorated with plenty of foxgloves. A short walk up the lane and we were soon met with a holiday park and houses. From here, we took the road straight down the hill into the village, with views of the sea peeking between the houses on our right.
Sea views in the distance.
I soon spotted the post office at the bottom of the road, which I recognised from the start of our walk as it sold quirky and cute holiday souvenirs that were displayed in the windows. After having a quick glimpse in the post office window, we crossed the road and entered the car park that we had began our walk in. For anyone wondering, I worked out we walked around 4.5miles today, it’s a little strenuous in places but can be walked at a leisurely pace and is worth the walk for the views of the North Devon Coast and beaches. If you have the time, Woolacombe beach is well worth a visit, and maybe try out a bit of surfing while you’re there!
North Devon, well worth a visit.
