Introduction


When we started walking the coast of England we had no intention that this would become a major lifetime project. Having to make a last-minute arrangement for our summer holiday in 1987, we said "Let's go to the nearest piece of coast and see how far we can walk along it." It turned out well and we started adding further stretches of coast, initially once every two years, but soon annually, or even twice a year.

We had always enjoyed the coast - there is something refreshingly "edgy" about having the sea always at our side, and one of us was into marine molluscs. We also enjoyed long-distance walking and had long been involved in general natural history recording. This project enabled us to combine all three interests.

You soon discover when embarking on a project like this that you need a few rules, which evolve from the first experiences. Our main rule was that we should walk as close to the coast as possible, which meant beach-walking whenever we could (unlike the official coast paths that largely remain above shore, recognising that at high tides the beach may be inaccessible). The route should also be capable of being a continuous walk, so that when we came to an unfordable river we walked inland along its banks to the first place at which we could cross, whether a bridge or a ferry.

We only carried light packs, so that at the end of each day's walk we had the problem of getting back to our car where we started. Initially we walked back, but soon realised we would be walking the coast twice this way! We used public transport whenever this was available - buses or trains, sometimes adjusting our start and finish points to make this easier. Failing this - and it was often not possible - we would phone for a taxi (an increasingly costly option over the years). Having our car with us gave us more freedom as to where we could stay at night - and after a day walking and only light food we were usually ready for being spoiled by a good meal and a comfortable bed! Even so, we stayed on the coast itself whenever there was a decent option.

Each walk was made for enjoyment, it was not a route-march to see how quickly we could get it finished. We therefore took it gently at times when passing through pleasant scenery or where there were many plants or creatures to record.

In terms of biological recording, we systematically noted every bird, butterfly, creature or sea-shell that we came across, sometimes spending time searching for the shells. We could not record every plant in the same way - there are too many common ones - so we were more selective, noting all coastal plants and any others that were not run-of-the-mill.

In our daily posts, edited from our original diaries, we include a star-rating from no star to **** according to our subjective estimate as to how special that day was from the point of view of natural history. This score (and our daily records) will, however, have been affected by the weather - it is difficult to appreciate the environment fully, for instance, in torrential rain, and there are many more butterflies and other insects to be seen in warm sunshine!

A summary of all our natural history records on the walk can be found using this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1LLGD55lKRHYXd1SGU1QndrcUU/edit?usp=sharing





Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Cornwall: Bude to Morwenstow 19/7/2000**


 

Lesser centaury
 
Rev. Robert Hawker
From Bude centre we walked through a car-park and the dunes to the beach, where we saw sea rocket and sea holly.  The sandy beach was crowded with small children on school trips.  Others were taking surfing lessons, while on the cliffs several parties were learning climbing and abseiling.  We tried to walk round on the shore but the tide was too high and so were the rocks, so we had to return to the cliff-path, passing some very large broomrapes that seemed to be growing on wild carrot.  After two miles above a number of sandy beaches the tide had gone out sufficiently for us to see the shore showing a continuous line of sand below the rocks, which would have made the shore walkable.  Bloody-nosed beetles were common crossing the path and we saw the Notable B leaf-beetle Cryptocephalus aureolus.  Cliff erosion was evident when the path which used to pass seaward of a bungalow had had to be re-routed behind, a cleft having opened right beside the garden fence.  We went down a track by a stream with grey wagtails to Curtis’s Mouth, a pebbly beach, but had to return to the top and walk pass fields of peas left to dry on the vine, horse beans and clover.  Sandy Mouth beach had attracted holidaymakers, but we did not stop. We continued along the top with its excellent views despite the continual ups and downs, and we did see peregrines and swifts.  We passed underneath a satellite tracking station with sci-fi white structures before Coombe Valley and its small sandy beach.  The valley is a nature reserve which we did not have time to explore, but we did notice lesser centaury and common broomrape.  The next major valley was Stanbury Mouth and the following one was, thankfully, the last of the day.  At the top we took a short walk down the cliff to Hawker’s Hut, built by a Victorian parson Robert Hawker out of driftwood, where he whiled away the hours smoking opium and writing poetry.  We then took an inland path to Morwenstow, visiting its church, former vicarage (a grand house), St John’s Well, and finally the welcome tea-house in the old parsonage.  That evening we returned to Bude for our evening meal at the Villa Restaurant on The Strand, specialising in fresh fish, on our way visiting Maer Lake nature reserve, a lake and reed-beds, where there were few waders at this time of year, and what there were remained on the far side.
Morwenstow church
 
Hawker’s Hut
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)