The Cornish bus timetable is surprisingly not geared up to early morning walkers so we drive to Clovelly, leave our car and start walking before the donkeys arrive to greet the tourists. Keeping to the higher section of the village we pass through the gates leading to Hobby Drive.

“As it winds through the woods, Hobby Drive, gives magnificent glimpses of the harbour and Bideford Bay” states the Clovelly leaflet.  Which I guess is true but we actually found it a really hard hours traipse on hard gravel paths through dark woodland.  We were overtaken by a couple of young lads who had evidently forgotten to compare clothing notes – one in casual shorts and T, the other in full walking gear!

We struggle to find somewhere to stop for breakfast with a view of the sea so plop ourselves down on the edge of a field. Fully refreshed we head into Barton Wood, managed by the Woodland Trust, it is a delightful woodland, with some magnificent gnarled beech trees. Their heavy boughs carpeted with moss and their intricate branches reaching outwards into the green canopy. We see little evidence of Bideford Bay Holiday Park as Barton Wood morphs into Keivill’s Wood. There are very few glimpses of the sea with the steep sided valley being heavily wooded right down to the Atlantic coast.

The coast path pops out briefly in the tiny hamlet of Bucks Mill then up a steep hill back up and into more deep woodland with single track paths. It’s another hour’s woodland trek through Worthygate Wood and Sloo Wood to Peppercombe where we stop on the bench outside the National Trust’s Peppercombe Coach House. Then at last the view of Bideford Bay we have been waiting for, the sun now glinting through the clouds lighting up the cliffs ahead.

As much as I like woodland, after all I work for Forestry England, I am very pleased to now be in open countryside enjoying the view of the waves on the beaches below us.

The second half of todays walk is tough – some proper up and down sections, the weather has warmed up and we reach moments of exhaustion and wondering why we are putting ourselves through it! Rickety wooden steps take us right down onto the stony beach at Westacott Cliff, then up and down along Cockington and Abbotsham Cliffs.

Here a National Trust signs tells us off the transformation of these cliffs including new ponds, wetland areas and the planting of over 2000 new trees creating woodland pasture for longhorn cattle.  I sometimes forget when buying my membership every year that it’s not just for the upkeep of stately homes.

We are relieved when after six hours of tough walking we find ourselves on wide formal paths leading in to Westward Ho! The bay sweeping out ahead of us, puffy clouds mirroring the curved coastline.

We’ve had our eye on the bus timetable so don’t linger to inspect the derelict “haunted” brick building on the water’s edge nor the half-finished apartment blocks in the town but jump on a bus to Bideford and back to our campsite.