Somerset – Coastal Road Trip

Day 49 – Bridgwater to Cardiff

Day forty-nine!! YES!! That means we will complete our entire loop of mainland Britain’s coast today. We are both feeling super excited!

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Royal Sands and Uphill, Driving on the beach, Julian, Jarno, Thumbs up — Driving on Uphill Beach

Burnham-on-Sea

Coastal Road Trip, Burnham-on-Sea, Burnham on Sea Motor Boat and Sailing Club, River Brue, Sunrise — From Bridgwater we made our first coastal stop of the day at Burnham-on-Sea. As we arrived the sun was just rising over the local sailing club & the mouth of the River Brue.

Coastal Road Trip, Burnham-on-Sea, Mural, Street Art, Seaside scene — The sailing club walls, with the colourful Burnham-on-Sea mural detracting from the security atop!

Coastal Road Trip, Burnham-on-Sea, Beach, Low Lighthouse — The warm morning light gave Burnham-on-Sea’s beach a deep bronze glow, contrasting with the bright white Low Lighthouse…

Coastal Road Trip, Burnham-on-Sea, High Lighthouse, Somerset — …and behind that, the High Lighthouse was towering above Burnham-on-Sea’s coastal houses.

Berrow

Coastal Road Trip, Berrow, St Mary's Church — Just outside Burnham-on-Sea, the 13th century St Mary’s Church at Berrow. As we wandered around, we realised the church had flood protection…

Coastal Road Trip, Berrow, Golf Club, River Parrett, Hinkley Point Power Station — …as we walked behind the church, we realized why. Just the low-lying Burnham and Berrow Golf Course were separating it from Berrow Beach and the Bristol Channel. In the distance you can also just make out Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station, an area that we skipped at the end of yesterday’s journey.

Coastal Road Trip, Berrow, Beach, Warning, Sinking Sand — We tiptoed down Berrow Beach.

Coastal Road Trip, Berrow, Beach, Groyne Posts, Longshore drift prevention — Groyne posts lined (fairly) neatly down the beach. There’s always one annoying one out of place 😉

Coastal Road Trip, Berrow, Beach, Fisherman, Brean Down — A solitary fisherman was patiently fishing in rather rough and chocolaty brown looking sea. Brean Down and its Fort in the background.

Brean Down

Coastal Road Trip, Brean Down, National Trust, Julian, Jarno, Bristol Channel, Windy — Driving past many static caravans hugging the coast, we arrived at the National Trust’s Brean Down. Despite the sunshine it was very cold and windy at the top of the limestone peninsula.

Coastal Road Trip, Brean Down, Panorama, National Trust — Looking back inland along the ancient field system to Weston-super-Mare to the north and Berrow to the south.

Uphill

Coastal Road Trip, Royal Sands and Uphill, Beach, Kite Surfers, Weston-Super-Mare — On the northern side of Brean Down, after quite a detour inland, we arrived back at the coast at Uphill Beach, with Weston-super-Mare’s Grand Pier coming into view. The beach was busy with kite-surfers.

Coastal Road Trip, Royal Sands and Uphill, Beach, Kite Surfer — Look how murky and churned-up that Bristol Channel water is!

Coastal Road Trip, Royal Sands and Uphill, Driving on the beach, Julian, Jarno, Thumbs up — Driving on Uphill Beach. In the distance you can just about see Steep Holm island off Brean Down in the middle of the Bristol Channel.

Weston-super-Mare

Coastal Road Trip, Weston-super-Mare, Royal Sands, Beach, Beach Huts — Pastel coloured beach huts lining Royal Sands as we drove into Weston-super-Mare.

Coastal Road Trip, Weston-super-Mare, Grand Pier, Entrance — Driving alongside the seafront promenade past Weston-super-Mare’s Grand Pier entrance. Like so many piers, it had been badly damaged by fire in 2008. After a whopping £39-million restoration it was reopened two years later.

Coastal Road Trip, Weston-super-Mare, Birnbeck Pier, Abandoned — Meanwhile further along the seafront, the Birnbeck Pier was looking a little sorry for itself. The closed and deteriorating pier is unique in that it links the mainland to an island (Birnbeck).

Coastal Road Trip, Weston-super-Mare, Birnbeck Pier, Abandoned, Close-up — There was a small cafe and information hut near the original pier entrance. The volunteers explained the several regeneration attempts of the pier since it closed in 1994. But so far sadly nothing has come to fruition.

Sand Bay

Coastal Road Trip, Sand Bay, Sand Point, National Trust — As we continued along the coast we stopped briefly at Sand Bay, with views north to the National Trust’s Sand Point.

Clevedon

Coastal Road Trip, Clevedon Pier, Heritage Trust — The rather elegant Clevedon Pier, originally opened in 1869 as a landing for ferries crossing the Severn Estuary to South Wales.

Portishead

Coastal Road Trip, Portishead, Battery Point Lighthouse, Esplanade Road — If you had mentioned Portishead to us before this trip, we would have thought you were talking about the 90’s band. Anyway, it turns out the band Portishead was named after the place, and here we are! The Battery Point Lighthouse at the end of the esplanade.

Coastal Road Trip, Portishead Quay Marina, Yachts, Apartments — Around the corner from Battery Point, we arrived at the surprisingly large and busy Portishead Quay Marina.

Tyntesfield House

Coastal Road Trip, Tyntesfield, National Trust, Wraxhall, Sunny, Blue sky — Before crossing over the River Severn, we decided to drive inland to another National Trust property, Tyntesfield House and Estate. The Gibbs family had made their wealth in the guano trade (bird excrement fertiliser). The Victorian Gothic mansion looked stunning in the afternoon sun.

Coastal Road Trip, Tyntesfield, Horse and Cart, Driveway, National Trust, North Somerset — A couple of handsome horses were pulling a cart up the estate driveway.

Severn Bridge

Coastal Road Trip, Severn Bridge, Looking up — As we drove back along A403 and the Severn Estuary, we struggled to see anything worth taking a picture of. The area was mainly one long industrial estate. So we continued on our way crossing over the Severn Bridge….

Coastal Road Trip, Welcome to Wales Sign, Croeso i Gymru — … and back into Wales (sorry a little blurry as we drove by).

Newport

Coastal Road Trip, Newport Wetlands, RSPB, East Usk Lighthouse — The north side of the estuary felt far more rural than the south. After a few little dead-end detours, we finally made a stop near Uskmouth Power Station, for a short walk at the RSPB’s Newport Wetlands. Although we didn’t see much bird-life today, we did see the East Usk Lighthouse peeping over the nature reserve.

Coastal Road Trip, Newport Wetlands, RSPB, Meadow — The afternoon sun briefly came out again, illuminating the wetland meadows.

Coastal Road Trip, Newport Transporter Bridge — As we crossed the River Usk, the unusual Newport Transporter Bridge came into view. It was completed in 1906 based on a french design. It solved the problem of crossing the fast Usk currents, enabled tall ships to pass under, and came in on budget.

Coastal Road Trip, Newport Transporter Bridge — The ‘ferry’ is cleverly suspended like a gondola from a high level boom, and can carry 6 cars and 120 people every 7.5 minutes. OK that’s us geeked-out for the day 🙂

Tredegar House

Coastal Road Trip, Tredegar House, National Trust, Newport — Leaving Newport for Cardiff, we made our final National Trust country house stop at the Morgan family’s Tredegar House. We have definitely squeezed every penny out of our National Trust membership on this coastal road trip 🙂 The volunteers were all in costume and the house was all decked out for Christmas inside, maybe a little too much. It reminded us of our Christmas visit to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Florida a few years ago – the decorations there were so OTT!

Cardiff

Coastal Road Trip, Cardiff, Wales Millennium Centre, Outside — Our final stop of the day and road-trip! Back in Cardiff Bay, we had celebratory cappuccino and a wander around the Wales Millennium Centre (AKA Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru). The impressive arts and entertainment venue that was completed in 2009.

Coastal Road Trip, Cardiff, Wales Millennium Centre, Inside, Stairwell — The centre’s sweeping staircase, one day we’ll have to come back for a performance.

Coastal Road Trip, Cardiff, Wales, Pierhead, Senedd, Julian, Jarno, Map, Completed Road-trip! — Yay! We did it. Back where we started 49-days ago! That’s the entire British mainland coastal road trip completed. What an amazing journey! Go on, give it a go yourself… 🙂

Daily video

Day 48 – Bideford to Bridgwater

Almost there! One day to go until we complete the circumference of mainland Britain. Today we will continue along the north Devon coastline and into Somerset.

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Valley of Rocks, Lynton, Wringcliff Bay — White Lady in the Valley of Rocks near Lynton.

Westward Ho!

Coastal Road Trip, Westward Ho!, Beach, Devon, Julian, Jarno — We made our first stop of the day at Westward Ho! Beach, still looking a little sleepy. 😉 The unusual village name came from the local author Charles Kingsley’s book Westward Ho!

Coastal Road Trip, Westward Ho!, Beach, Big Pebbles — We don’t normally photograph pebbles, but these were lovely pebbles…. if you can call pebbles ‘lovely’?!

Appledore

Coastal Road Trip, Appledore Quay, Churchfields Slipway, River Toridge, Taw Torridge Estuary — Overlooking the River Toridge at Appledore. We briefly parked up on the Churchfields Slipway, but there was a parking attendant lurking around, so we moved on…

Bideford

Coastal Road Trip, Bideford, River Torridge, Fishing Boats — Fishing boats moored at Bideford.

Coastal Road Trip, Bideford, River Torridge, Old Bideford Bridge — The medieval Bideford Long Bridge reflecting in the calm River Torridge. The stone bridge is one of the longest of its age in the country.

Braunton Burrows

Coastal Road Trip, Braunton Burrows, Velator Quay, River Caen, Reflection, Boats, Sunbeam — More reflections, this time on the River Caen at Velator Quay near Braunton Burrows.

Coastal Road Trip, Braunton Burrows, Boundary Drain — Skirting around the flat fields and marshlands of Braunton Great Fields. The area is Britian’s first Biosphere Reserve, designated by UNESCO.

Saunton

Coastal Road Trip, Saunton Sands, Jarno, Sand Graffiti, www.coastalroadtrip.com, Day 48 — Jarno busy with a little more sand-graffiti at Saunton Sands.

Coastal Road Trip, Saunton Sands, Surfers, Beach, Waves — There were plenty of surfers taking the day off from work….

Coastal Road Trip, Saunton Sands, Surfers, Beach, Waves, Aerial View, Croyd Road — …and as we left and drove around the headland to Croyde Bay we had a magnificent aerial view of all the surfers at Saunton Sands.

Croyde

Coastal Road Trip, Croyde Bay, Baggy Point, Beach — Around the headland Croyde Bay and views to Baggy Point. A lovely crisp and fresh November morning.

Coastal Road Trip, Croyde Bay, Baggy Point, Beach, Surfers, National Trust — Yet more surfers in Croyde Bay, looking back from Baggy Point.

Coastal Road Trip, Croyde Bay, Baggy Point, Private House Drive — Looking through some house gates at Baggy Point, this was their driveway and view – pretty cool!

Woolacombe

Coastal Road Trip, Woolacombe Beach, Morte Bay, Putsborough Beach, Baggy Point — After several country lane diversions which lead us on a long journey inland, we finally ended up back at the coast on the north side of Baggy Point at Woolacombe. The beautiful wide open sands of Woolacombe Beach in Morte Bay. The beach is considered one of the best in the world, often winning prizes.

Coastal Road Trip, Woolacombe Beach, Morte Bay, Barricane Beach, Grunta Beach, Morte Point — Then looking north from Woolacombe Beach, past Barricane Beach and Grunta Beach to Morte Point.

Ilfracombe

Coastal Road Trip, Ilfracombe, Landmark Theatre, Double Conical, Madonna's Bra — The unusual double conical design of Ilfracombe’s Landmark Theatre, also know by locals as Madonna’s Bra ; -)!

Coastal Road Trip, Ilfracombe, Damien Hirst, Verity, Bronze Sculpture, Back — Ilfracombe was full of surprises, including Damien Hirst’s Verity bronze sculpture on the harbour front.

Coastal Road Trip, Ilfracombe, Damien Hirst, Verity, Bronze Sculpture, Front — To be honest the picture doesn’t do justice to how huge and impressive the Verity statue really was. We loved that a small town had embraced art like this.

Coastal Road Trip, Ilfracombe, Harbour, Boats, Quay — The more expected and traditional view of Ilfracombe Harbour.

Watermouth

Coastal Road Trip, Watermouth Castle, Stocks, Julian — Some dodgy looking character caught in Watermouth Castle’s stocks.

Coastal Road Trip, Watermouth Harbour, Yachts — Yachts below the castle in Watermouth Harbour.

Coombe Martin

Coastal Road Trip, Coombe Martin Beach, Bay — Coombe Martin Beach nestled in a narrow valley. Random fact of the day – the village holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s longest street party!

Parracombe

Coastal Road Trip, Parracombe, St Petrock's Church — As we continued our journey east, we drove slightly inland stopping in the tiny village of Parracombe. Winding our way through some of the smallest village lanes on our road-trip we finally found St Petrock’s Church up a muddy dirt track.

Coastal Road Trip, Parracombe, St Petrock's Church, Entrance — The calm and quaint church originally dated back 13th century. In the late 19th century the poet John Ruskin helped save the church from demolition with a £10 donation.

Lynton

Coastal Road Trip, Valley of Rocks, Lynton, The White Lady, Wringcliff Bay, Woody Bay — As we arrived in Lynton we first made a little detour through the Valley of Rocks. Glorious views west from the Valley of Rocks past the White Lady towards Wringcliff Bay and Woody Bay….

Coastal Road Trip, Valley of Rocks, Lynton, SW Coast Path, Telescope, Bristol Channel — …. and north across the Bristol Channel from the South West Coast Path.

Lynmouth

Coastal Road Trip, Lynmouth, Glen Lyn Gorge, West Lyn River — The West Lyn River gushing through Glen Lyn Gorge. In 1890 Lynton & Lynmouth were one of the first places in the country to be powered by hydro-electric power (from the East Lyn River).

Coastal Road Trip, Lynmouth, Pub, Cottages, The Rising Sun, Inn, Thatched Roof — The local thatched-roofed pub built down Lynmouth’s steep hillside.

Coastal Road Trip, Lynmouth Bay, Foreland Point — Foreland Point across from Lynmouth’s seafront.

Foreland Point

Coastal Road Trip, Lynmouth Bay, Foreland Point, Countisbury Hill — Looking down on Foreland Point as we drove up Countisbury Hill.

Coastal Road Trip, Lynmouth Bay, Foreland Point, National Trust, Exmoor National Park — Views south across the rolling green Exmoor National Park from the National Trust’s Foreland Point.

Porlock

Coastal Road Trip, Porlock, Porlock Manor Estate, Toll Road, Views to Porlock Weir & Hurlstone Point — Crossing from Devon into Somerset, we took another detour from the main road. We winded down through the picturesque Porlock Manor Estate Toll Road overlooking Porlock Weir and Hurlstone Point.

Coastal Road Trip, Porlock, The Ship Inn, Hish Street. Thatched Roof — Another thatched-roofed pub as we reached Porlock.

Bossington

Coastal Road Trip, Bossington, Horner Water, National Trust — Horner Water tumbling through woodland to Bossington Beach.

Coastal Road Trip, Bossington, Allerford, Holnicote Estate, Cottages, Tall Chimneys — Tall chimneyed cottages lining the narrow lane from Bossington to Allerford on the Holnicote Estate.

Selworthy

Coastal Road Trip, Selworthy, National Trust, All Saints' Church, Holnicote Estate, Late Afternoon Sun — The warm glow of the late afternoon sun illuminated the All Saints’ Church in the tiny village of Selworthy.

Coastal Road Trip, Selworthy, National Trust, Cottages, Holnicote Estate, Late Afternoon Sun — Wow, this is how we imagined Somerset… and we were bang on. Selworthy’s cream thatched cottages on the National Trust’s Holnicote Estate.

Coastal Road Trip, Selworthy Green, National Trust, Cottages, Holnicote Estate, Late Afternoon Sun — Selworthy Green, and so so quiet, again we were the only visitors as we wandered around.

Minehead

Coastal Road Trip, Minehead Harbour, Sunset, Dusk — If you say Minehead to us, we think of Butlins (for the non-Brits – a holiday camp), but the view at dusk from the harbour couldn’t be more different…

Coastal Road Trip, Minehead, Sculpture, Sarah Ward, Made by Owen Cunningham, Start of South West Coast Path — The sculpture on Minehead’s seafront by Sarah Ward, marking the end (or start!) of the 630-mile South West Coast Path.

Blue Anchor

Coastal Road Trip, Blue Anchor Bay — The view across Blue Anchor Bay back to Minehead.

Watchet

Coastal Road Trip, Watchet, Car-park Mural — After passing Dunster Castle, we made our final stop of the day at Watchet, where we found the harbour car-park surround by interesting street-art murals. We then continued our journey via the National Trust’s Coleridge Cottage (which was closed) to Bridgwater for the night. Just one day to go until we complete our 49-day British Coastal Road Trip!!!

Daily video