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.

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.

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!

It felt so good to be back visiting the South Hams again, for anyone who’s never been to this beautiful area of South Devon, it’s so worth a visit! To me, when I think of the South Hams I think of lovely little fishing villages scattered about, the beautiful rugged coastline with the bluest sea, and of course Start Point lighthouse. Sadly we didn’t see my favourite lighthouse on this walk, but we did visit Noss Mayo, a quaint little fishing village that I’ve been meaning to visit for quite some time.

Views of Noss Mayo and boats on the River Yealm.

If anyone is interested in doing this walk it’s handy to know that parking is quite limited in Noss Mayo, as it really is quite a small village. There’s two free car parks in the village itself (Tidal and Tennis court car parks) but we found these to be quite busy so we parked in another free car park along the coast path which was owned by the National Trust. There’s two of these car parks that join the coast path, we parked in Warren car park but there’s also Stoke car park just up the road.

Once parked up, there’s a map in the corner of the car park, by the gate that leads down a path. After having a quick look at the map we followed the path down towards the sea in the distance. Once at the end of the path we reached a gate and stile, from here we joined the coast path and turned right, which a sign post informed us we were 3 miles from Noss Mayo.

The beautiful coastline of the South Hams.

As we followed the path round there were beautiful views over a stone wall to our left of the sea glistening from the sun over head. In the little coves the sea was turquoise in colour and so clear, it really does make you feel like you’re on holiday somewhere else! Once round the corner we saw a lovely little stone house on our right, from here there were two paths we could take. We decided to take the path to our left and through a gate, which then went down a slope and carried on through some smaller lesser trodden paths. In hindsight this was a mistake as we then had to walk back up the very steep cliff carrying a 9 month old baby, I’d recommend instead sticking to the main path at this point, going past Warren Cottage. The path we took was nice though and there was also another path which leads down some steps to a little cove called Searush Cove. We decided against going down there today, as the tide was coming in quite quickly, and as it was already nearly 2pm, we wanted to crack on and get to Noss Mayo.

As we continued along the coast path, I spotted Great Mew Stone ahead, sorry to disappoint, but this island has nothing to do with pokemon. It’s actually an old english name for Herring gull, which are one of the many birds that now live here as it is now a wild nature reserve. This Island made me realise just how close we were to Wembury beach, which is another lovely place worth visiting, they have their own marine conservation centre there, but its also popular for surfing and rock pooling.

As we carried on the path and walked past another dry stone wall to our left, in the distance i spotted Wembury church and bay. We were then treated to stunning views of the mouth of the River Yealm, home to dozens of boats, with people on board enjoying the blue sky .

One sailing boat, you can just about see Wembury church and bay in the distance.

After watching the jet skis and yachts for a few minutes, we then descended down to a shaded path, draped with pretty pink camellias. As we walked along this path, the sweet smell of the flowers filled the air. Through the trees we still had a beautiful view of the boats on the river, as we walked closer inland, we could see paddle boarders and kayakers also enjoying the water.

At the end of this sheltered path, we exited ‘The Warren’ to discover some beautiful cottages; As I was admiring them, I noticed one was a holiday home called ‘Coastguard Cottage’, I can only assume because this is where the coastguard used to be based. We then walked past more beautiful houses before reaching another sheltered path. A map here informed us we were about to take some steps down into Passage Wood which would eventually lead us to Noss Mayo.

Through the woods, we still had the vibrant blue of the river to our left, after a short walk along this path, we were greeted to the Ferryman’s Cottage on our left and a house on our right that had old ferry prices marked up on a sign. We had a quick read of the board before continuing on a country lane that eventually welcomed us into the fishing village of Noss Mayo.

Views of the River from the country lane.

Once we left this country lane, we arrived into the heart of the village, from here we walked past countless cute cottages and a bell topped village Hall before finding a spot by the river called Popes Quay for our picnic. We had great views here of people enjoying the water, paddling, kayaking and paddle boarding, As we finished our lunch, it had become more quiet, as the tide had slowly gone out, so we decided to walk back on the riverbed to continue our walk.

We walked to the right of the Village Hall and round some roads to the left, where we found the tennis court car park. Here was also the entrance to Brookings Down woods, which is where our loop continued. We entered the wood from the right and followed the main path all the way round, we then took the left path when we arrived at a fork. Eventually we heard a river flowing through the woods as we arrived at a gate that exited this woods onto a country road. From here we crossed the road and followed a public footpath sign onto another wooded path. It was a bit of a steep climb up to the top before it opened up onto a road.

Walking the path to the top of the woods.

From here we carried on up the road, ignoring any turnings to the right. Eventually we passed Rowden Court on our right, which looked like a beautiful Barn Conversion, complete with a tennis court! From here we carried on straight ahead, ignoring a public footpath to out left, we eventually reached a crossroads with sea views ahead. We crossed this road and continued on down where we were eventually met with a caravan park.

From Revelstoke Caravan park, we followed the main road that leads through it, ignoring signs for Stroke Beach (somewhere I think would be worth a visit another day) to the left, At the bottom of this road was a red phone box converted into a book library. We had a little look but it was a bit neglected of books and rather full of cobwebs. What interested me more was the rather impressive derelict church. Having a look around, we discovered it was the Church of ‘St Peter the Poor Fisherman’, and is 800 years old. It is in remarkably good structural condition, although it is lacking most of its roof. Information inside told us this church was abandoned when it fell into a state of disrepair and a new one was built in Noss Mayo instead, although they do still hold services here twice a year.

St Peter the Poor Fisherman Church ruins.

After exploring the church, we took the road that continued to the right. From here we followed the coast path arrows through the caravans, then a little wooded area and finally through a gate and onto the coast path again. From here we were greeted with stunning views to the left of Bolt Head in the distance. We now followed a path through some gorse, and an abundance of fox gloves. Little lambs bleeted as their mothers grazed on the land infront of us. As it was starting to get late in the day, I could hear some stonechat birds chirping away in the gorse.

From here we were a mile or two from where we started. As we carried on along this path we spotted an old stone house on the hill to our right. The path widened out into a double width track, originally built by Baron Revelstoke to show off the coast to his guests via horse drawn carriage. As we were then nearing the car park, I spotted the familiar view of Great Mew Stone in the distance. From here we soon reached the footpath we started on where we now turned right, through the gate and back towards the car park. It was a long but satisfying walk. We both definitely want to come back again, possibly taking our kayaks with us to explore Noss Mayo via the water.

Great Mew Stone spotted in the distance, and a old stone house on the hill.

Morte Point and Bull Point Lighthouse

Noss Mayo Coastal Loop