20180522 Instow – Westward Ho!

Date: 20180522

Time: 9:50 – 16:45

Distance: 20.3 km

Stay: Culloden House, Westward Ho!

Walk

Before I leave, I take a look around the church with the accompanying graveyard that lies alongside the B & B. This was the original church of Instow. According to my landlady Instow used to be here against the hill and it was later moved to the coast.

Today the Coast Path goes via Bideford and Appledore to Westward Ho !. That exclamation mark belongs to the name, Westward Ho! is named after the eponymous novel by Charles Kingsley.

The Coast Path follows the Tarka Trail until Bideford. This means long straights that tend to become a bit boring. In Bideford it is time for coffee, at the White Hart Inn. While drinking coffee, I hear a song that I have not heard for ages, Son of my Father by Chickory Tip. Without knowing the whole text, I decide that this will be the lyrics of the day.
In Bideford there is also a statue of Charles Kingsley.

After Bideford, the path changes into a more Coast Path like path, along the river via narrow tracks to Appledore (this sounds like a place from Harry Potter). Appledore was and is known for its shipbuilding. This used to be done in the Richmond Dry Dock. That fell into disuse when a new, modern and covered dry dock was put into use. The Richmond Dry Dock is named after Richmond Bay (in Prince Edward Island, Canada). There ships were built to a seaworthy level, crammed with wood and then sent to England. Here the ships were then finished and the wood was used for further shipbuilding.
Today the Richmond Dry Dock is waiting for someone who can and wants to do something fun with it, see here.

On the quay in Appledore I can just see the ferry going to Instow. I could have taken that too, but walking is more fun.

It’s time for a pint, a Golden Pig at The Seagate at the quay in Appledore. Fortunately, there is no shortage of locally brewed beers here in England. Here too there are many local and regional breweries, each with a variety of beers.
After this welcome break I continue. Around the corner is a large church with a huge graveyard. The number of graves against the hill is amazingly large. I think they have never cleaned up a grave here.

On the edge of Appledore, almost at the end of Irsha street (a street full of nice colorful cottages) I come across a nice terrace. Since the view here is very nice and I still have time enough, I decide to go for another pint, a Dark Horse at the Beaver Inn.
The advantage of a relaxed route is that you can take a long break …

After that, however, I do some serious walking. I come back to the coast and the Coast Path follows the coast through the dunes to Westward Ho!.

Weather

Again nice walking weather, mostly cloudy but later in the afternoon the sun came through. A pleasant temperature, not too hot.

Lyric of the day

As indicated above, today’s lyrics are from Chickory Tip, Son of my Father:

Mama said to me we gotta have your life run right
Off you got to school
Where you can learn the rules there right
Be just like your dad lad
Follow in the same tradition
Never go astray and stay an honest lovin’ son

Son of my father
Molded, I was folded, I was preform-packed
Son of my father
Commanded, I was branded in a plastic vac’
Surrounded and confounded by statistic facts

Tried to let me in but I jumped out of my skin in time
I saw through the lies and read the alibi signs
So I left my home, I’m really on my own at last
Left the trodden path and separated from the past

Son of my father
Changing, rearranging into someone new
Son of my father
Collecting and selecting independent views
Knowing and I’m showing that a change is due

Son of my father
Molded, I was folded, I was preform-packed
Son of my father
Commanded, I was branded in a plastic vac’
Surrounded and confounded by statistic facts

Photos