Newquay to Bideford – Coastal Road Trip

Day 47 – Newquay to Bideford

It’s just three days to go before we complete our entire coastal road trip! Today we are finishing off north Cornwall, driving alongside its famous golden sandy beaches, before we re-enter Devon as we drive towards Bideford.

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Hartland Quay, Sunset, Reflection on car bonnet — The sun setting as we headed down to Hartland Quay.

Holywell Bay

Coastal Road Trip, Holywell, Bay, Beach, National Trust, Shadow — Long shadows in the early morning sun. We made our first stop of the day looping back from Newquay to the National Trust’s Holywell Beach.

Coastal Road Trip, Holywell, Bay, Beach, National Trust, Penhale Point — Walking past the sand dunes towards Carter’s Rocks (AKA Gull Rocks) off Penhale Point.

Coastal Road Trip, Holywell, Bay, Beach, National Trust, Sunrise, Shells — Shells and their shadows scattered across Holywell Beach.

Crantock

Coastal Road Trip, Crantock Beach, National Trust, Cornwall, Gannel estuary, Rushy Green — The Gannel Estuary at Crantock Beach, beside Rushy Green.

Newquay

Coastal Road Trip, Newquay, Fistral Beach, Towan Headland — So it was a morning full of beaches… next stop the famous Fistral Beach, a surfers paradise, but none out this morning – yet.

Coastal Road Trip, Newquay, Bay, Lusty Glaze Beach, Views back to Towan Headland — Views back across Newquay Bay from the cliffs above the curiously named Lusty Glaze Beach (The Times Beach of the Year 2017)…

Coastal Road Trip, Bedruthan Steps, Trevose Head, Newquay, Lusty Glaze Beach — …and the view north towards Bedruthan Steps and beyond to Trevose Head.

Watergate Bay

Coastal Road Trip, Watergate Bay, Beach, Cornwall, B3276 — The wide open sands of Watergate Bay, as we headed along the scenic B3276 coastal road.

Coastal Road Trip, Newquay Airport, Plane, Overhead, Blue Sky, Watergate Bay — A small plane flying overhead into nearby Newquay Airport.

Mawgan Porth

Coastal Road Trip, Mawgan Porth, River Menalhyl, Cornwall — The River Menalhyl streaming down Mawgan Porth Beach.

Bedruthan

Coastal Road Trip, Bedruthan Steps, Cliffs, National Trust, Carnewas — Peering over the Carnewas cliffs at Bedruthan.

Coastal Road Trip, Bedruthan Steps, Carnewas, Pendarves Island, Queen Bess Rock, Diggory's Island, Park Head, Trevose Head Lighthouse — Dramatic views north past Pendarves Island, Queen Bess Rock, Diggory’s Island and Park Head. In the distance you can just about make-out Trevose Head Lighthouse.

Treyarnon Bay

Coastal Road Trip, Treyarnon Bay, Beach, Padstow — Another beautiful empty beach west of Padstow at Treyarnon Bay.

Constantine Bay

Coastal Road Trip, Constantine Bay, Chair Cove, Cornwall, South West Coast Path — The South West Coastal Path along Chair Cove, behind some rather expensive looking houses at Constantine Bay. Some locals walking a dog stopped to talk to us, and asked if we were bankers!?… it seemed many locals were!

Harlyn

Coastal Road Trip, Harlyn Bay, Beach, Dog Walking, Padstow, Cornwall — We seemed to be the only people on Cornwall’s beaches this morning not walking a dog 😉

Padstow

Coastal Road Trip, Padstow, Cornwall, Alley, Blue doors — A little alley in Padstow, AKA ‘Padstein’ after its famous local celebrity chef – Rick Stein.

Coastal Road Trip, Padstow, Harbour, Fishing Port — Small fishing boats lining the quay. Quiet at this time of year, but heaving with tourists in the summer.

Coastal Road Trip, Padstow, River Camel, Rock — The coastal village of Rock, beyond the sandbank in the River Camel. We will drive past Rock as we continue northeast, but as we had been last year, we won’t stop this time.

Polzeath

Coastal Road Trip, Polzeath, Padstow Bay, River Camel — Looping all the way around the River Camel, we made a brief stop to watch the surfers on Polzeath’s Beach.

Port Quin

Coastal Road Trip, Port Quin, National Trust, Inlet, Cottage, Fishing Port, Cornwall — Driving past The Rumps we stopped at the cosy Port Quin inlet, taken care of by the National Trust.

Port Isaac

Coastal Road Trip, Port Isaac, Julian, Jarno — Driving to Port Isaac we realised we were going to end up driving right through the tiny village. We had remembered the lanes were really narrow from our trip here last year, so re-routed to park at the top of the village and walk down.

Coastal Road Trip, Port Isaac, Doc Martin, Fore Street — The TV series Doc Martin is filmed in Port Isaac. To be honest we have never watched Doc Martin so weren’t as excited as some visitors….

Coastal Road Trip, Port Isaac, Varley Head — Choppy waters at the mouth of Port Isaac looking towards Varley Head.

Coastal Road Trip, Port Isaac, Port Isaac Bay, Treknow — Port Isaac Bay, with views northeast to Treknow.

St Teath

Coastal Road Trip, St Teath, Green Field, Farm Gate, Port Isaac Bay — Catching another glimpse of Port Isaac Bay over the fields near St Teath.

Tintagel

Coastal Road Trip, Tintagel Castle, Seagull, English Heritage — Wow, what a perfect day to visit. Tintagel Castle is normally packed with tourists, today it was just us and a few seagulls. So if you want to avoid the crowds come on a Monday afternoon in November 😉

Coastal Road Trip, Tintagel Castle, English Heritage, Cove — The remains of the 13th century castle perched on the jagged slate cliffs.

Coastal Road Trip, Tintagel Castle, Julian, Jarno, English Heritage — The castle had been built here by Earl Richard of Cornwall, believing it to be the birthplace of King Arthur.

Boscastle

Coastal Road Trip, Boscastle, River Valency, National Trust, National Trust, Flood — Boscastle had been devastated by the flooding of the River Valency in 2002, but has since been lovingly restored.

Coastal Road Trip, Boscastle, Valency Row, Cottages, Cobbled Lane, Cornwall — Fishing cottages down the cobbled Valency Row in Boscastle.

Widemouth

Coastal Road Trip, Widemouth Bay, Beach, Dizzard Point — Widemouth Beach, popular with surfers, with Dizzard Point in the distance.

Coastal Road Trip, Widemouth Bay, Beach, Blue Sky, White Clouds, Zip — The clouds were parting like a zip to reveal the blue sky above Widemouth Bay.

Bude

Coastal Road Trip, Bude, Beach Huts — At last!…. beach huts again on Summerleaze Beach at Bude, we had been missing beach huts on this stretch of coast.

Coastal Road Trip, Bude Canal, Haven, Lock — The entrance to the Bude Canal. Started in the 1820s with the idea to link the English and Bristol Channels… however it didn’t get very far with the arrival of the railway later in the 19th century.

Coastal Road Trip, GCHQ Bude, Satellite Dishes — Leaving Bude and heading along the Hartland Cornwall Heritage Coast towards Morwenstow, the view was dominated by the satellite dishes at GCHQ Bude.

Morwenstow

Coastal Road Trip, Morwenstow, Church, Church of St Morwenna and St John the Baptist, National Trust, Hawker's Hut, Most northernmost point of Cornwall — Before leaving Cornwall we stopped at Morwenstow, Cornwall’s northernmost point. We had intended to walk to the Hawker’s Hut along the cliffs. But a very muddy field was slowing our progress, we weren’t exactly sure we were on the right track, and light was fading fast. So we made do with the Church of St Morwenna and St John the Baptist across the fields.

Hartland Quay

Coastal Road Trip, Hartland Quay, Sunset, Reflection on car bonnet — On the way to Bideford, we made our final stop of the day at Hartland Quay. As we drove down the coastal track the sunset reflected beautifully off the car bonnet. Originally we had planned to also stop further along the coast at Clovelly, but it seems it was probably closed, and it would have been dark by then anyway. Oh well, we will leave Clovelly for another trip!

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