Note that all maps on this site are only indicative. You should
never set out without the correct OS map.
When it comes to place names Welcombe
Mouth is a bit of a sick joke. Nowhere could be less welcoming than
North Devon's 'wrecker coast' – close the Cornish border. The
men aboard the ships Maggie, Cornelia, Nancy, Leopoldin Baur, Edward
Beck and Avonmore must have thought it to be the most inhospitable
place on Earth as they wrecked upon its razor-backed reefs.
All those vessels went to their doom around Welcombe Mouth, and
probably more besides. For mariners it is a savage place –
but the walker can enjoy all this with equanimity.
Basic hike: from Welcombe Mouth to Marsland Mouth
and then inland through hamlet of Mead and across to Welcombe and
its church. Back via the northerly Welcombe Valley.
Distance and going: six miles, steep in places
– do not attempt Welcombe to Marsland Mouth along beach on
a rising tide.
Why Welcombe? I'm afraid I don't know how the hill-top
hamlet situated above all this maritime mayhem got its name. It
sits on a lofty eminence between two river valleys – one stream
has come half-a-dozen miles from its source, just a few yards from
where the Tamar is born. The other trickles just a miles or so from
the more immediate hills. Anyway, where they converge not far from
the county border, the OS map gives it the name Strawberry Water.
So why not Strawberry Mouth?
To find this hidden demesne you must leave the Bideford to Bude
Atlantic Highway and follow the signposts for Welcombe down seemingly
endless lanes until a great 'V' shaped ravine reveals the sea.
At the bottom of the hill a track runs seawards to a clifftop car
park. This places you in an ideal location to enjoy a selection
of walks – both maritime and sylvan. I went for an option that
included a little of both, but not before I'd read an interpretation
board which announces that Welcombe Mouth is a Site of Special Scientific
Interest. It is home to many specialist plants which can cope with
the dry salt spray scattered by the sea.
The board talks about thrift, wild carrot and sea
campion and says: “The area around Welcombe Mouth is lightly
grazed under the Ministry of Agriculture's Countryside Stewardship
Scheme. This helps create areas of long and short grass, dotted
with patches of scrub and bracken. Birds such as then stonechat,
with its distinctive call sounding like two stones being knocked
together, depend upon this balance using the open areas for feeding
and the gorse for nesting.”
The board also refers to the strange rock formations that can be
found in the cliffs. They were formed some 320 million years ago
from sheets of mud and sand on the ancient seabed being compressed
and turning to stone over the ages.
You can soon see all this geological mayhem when you go down onto
the beach. A path follows a ramp some 50 or 60 feet down to the
shore and you get the feeling that people were using this means
of access centuries ago. The local wreckers probably used it on
a regular basis - they were at their evil work before Parson Hawker
turned up at nearby Morwenstow. He took against the wreckers and
persuaded locals they ought to be saving souls, not destroying them.
Having developed rocket-squads which fired ropes
and bosun's chairs to stricken ships, he used to dole out brandy
to the men chosen to search the shores for bits of body - known
locally as "gobbets".
Hawker was suffering from sciatica on the 14th September 1869 when
one of his rocket squads were called out to deal with the 1,580
ton full rigger Avonmore which had got into trouble off Welcombe
Mouth. A young officer and six Lascar sailors were swept overboard
in the storm. But Captain Corfield and 14 men were successfully
landed off the Avonmore by breeches buoy. Then the rescuers heard
that one man was still aboard, trapped by the wreckage and a local
doctor was summoned to be winched out to the stricken vessel where
he could cut off the man's legs. But, just as Dr King arrived on
board, the rescuers made a superhuman effort and freed the man with
his limbs intact.
With that happy note, we proceed south along the beech. You can
only do this safely at low tide – the alternative is to climb
the coast path over the great hill and down to Marsland Mouth. This
is the neighbouring cove and there is a scramble up to the path
if you've gone by beach. It's worth it because the littoral along
here is rich in mussels. They're small, but delicious.
This walk now continues inland, up
the steep sided Marsland Valley past Weir Mill. A footpath climbs
the northern flank at the diagonal, so it's not too bad a haul.
This eventually reaches a track which in turn links up with the
paved lane that runs through the hamlet of Mead. From here we strike
inland again, along the hilltop footpath which crosses half a dozen
fields to the farm at Witheford.
Another lane – and this time we turn left to descend into
the Welcombe Valley and then climb into the hamlet of that name.
Past the church and St Nectan's Well we march, over the second hilltop
and then down to Watergap Farm situated on the banks of the Welcombe's
other stream. Left again, and now it's down the road to the place
where a footpath departs along the northern flank of the steep valley
to reach the sea – and the car park.
The sailors might not have liked it, but after all those ups and
downs Welcombe Mouth will indeed look welcoming by the time you
reach it.
Go to the top of this page