This circular walk boasts some of the
most dramatic and savage coastal scenery to be found anywhere. The
list of local shipwrecks at the Hartland Quay Museum is enough to
bear witness to the savagery of the littoral – but aim your
camera in any direction up or down this coast and you are guaranteed
stunning views.
Basic hike: From the car park above Hartland
Quay, down to the old harbour, then south along the coast path to
Speke’s Mill Mouth - inland up the valley to Milford, then
north over hills to Stoke before finally taking the footpath back
to the Rocket House above the quay.
Distance and going; just over four miles, steep
in places.
The long drive out towards the “Promontory of Hercules”,
as Ptolemy is thought to have called the great bastion that is Hartland
Point, is well worthwhile because - wherever you reach the coast
around North Devon’s finest corner - you will find excellent
walks aplenty.
But to reach this hike, head for Hartland Quay and not for Hartland
Point, which is some miles distant.
Note that all maps on this site are only indicative.
You should never set out without the correct OS map.
The walk starts at the car park adjacent to the
Rocket House, just to the right of the road which leads down to
the pub and museum at Hartland Quay. Now a modest dwelling with
a big view, it was once the home of an award winning rescue service
known as the Hartland Life Saving Apparatus Company.
Before the days of Seaking helicopters, rockets were a shipwrecked
sailor's best friend, reaching the parts of a sinking ship that
other methods simply could not. Needless to say, the rocket squads
who worked from here were among the busiest rescuers anywhere in
the country, firing their rockets and lines to many a vessel swept
onto this windward shore.
It’s a quick five-minute walk down to Hartland Quay where
you will find a pub and a museum. The latter was founded in 1980
in order to preserve material relating to the history and character
of the local coast. The museum occupies two upper rooms of the historic
quay buildings, which once housed the families of coastguards, labourers
and tradesmen in the days when the place was a thriving port.
We turn south along the coast path,
which climbs away from the extraordinary quay to reach heady heights
above Screda Point, before descending to the strange demesne around
St Catherine’s Tor.
The tor itself is one of the most remarkable protuberances to
be found anywhere along the South West Coast Path. It looks like
a miniature mountain that’s been cut in half. Somehow its
location is surprising and unexpected. I say that because a low,
remarkably flat field sweeps around the inland base of the tor in
an altogether unlikely way. The whole effect suggests the flat field
was somehow manmade – indeed, it is three-parts surrounded
by a giant wall.
I can find no reference to this strange place or to the wall in
my many reference books or on the Internet – all I can discover
is that St Catherine is supposed to have meditated a while on top
of the Tor. St Nectan, the Celtic Saint, is also believed to have
made his hermitage somewhere near here – and there’s
also reference to the fact that remains of a Roman villa have been
found close by.
The coast path takes you across the flat field
and returns you to the sea cliffs on the other side of the tor,
above Speke’s Mill Mouth. The views south are certainly of
the stunning variety, the cliffs are contorted into an insane and
rocky dance. I was reminded of something I’d read in the Handbook
for Travellers in Devonshire written by a J. Murray in 1879. “No
words,” say Sedgwick and Murchison (whoever they were), “can
exaggerate the number and violence of these contortions, - sometimes
in regular undulating curves - sometimes in curves broken at their
points of contrary flexure, and exhibiting a succession of cusps,
like regular pointed arches.”
The coast path now descends to Speke's Mill Mouth where the stream
tumbles over the edge of a cliff in a series of dramatic waterfalls.
You can take a detour by climbing down the new looking steps to
the beach, but the route of our walk heads inland up the steep sided
valley.
After about a mile you reach a road – a slight
detour at this point will take you to Docton Mill, a restored water
mill where teas and lunches are now served among the celebrated
gardens.
We turned left at the crossroads and walked up the steep hill
past Trellick House and onto Wargery Farm. From here a track will
take you north to Stoke – the small village you would have
driven through to reach Hartland Quay. Turn left once you get to
the lane that passes for the main drag, and head for the 14th century
St Nectan's Church. This old temple boasts the second tallest tower
in Devon, a Norman font and wagon roof, and a marvellous 15th century
rood screen.
Adjacent to the coastal end of the graveyard, a path issues into
the neighbouring field and runs parallel with the lane from Stoke
all the way to the Rocket House above Hartland Quay.
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