Day 15 - Bideford to Barnstaple - 11.5 miles

Whoever chooses the music for Brend Hotels should either be locked in a very small room and subjected to it ad nauseum or taken to the river bank at Bideford 

and immersed upside down and left there. I couldn't get my breakfast porridge down quick enough before running for the door.

Perhaps they could put all Einaudi immitators in there with him!

My tolerance has been tested. Two days ago - Day 13, I'd developed my first blister. Following yesterday's walk it has developed so I now have it covered with a blister plaster the size of the Isle of Wight. With a change from boots to lightweight trainers I set off for the day

Crossing the bridge, the fine building on the left was the Town Library - from when libraries WERE libraries.

And then this proud "Municipal Techical School" with decorative brick and faience from 1896.   

I crossed the road with the "Chiiled Paddles" group which  was just about to launch from the wharf, led by their coach, Jack from Bideford canoe club. 

Apparently, with over 200 members, Bideford has one of the largest canoe clubs in the UK covering sea kayaking, river canoeing and white water stuff on the Exmoor rivers.

I then walked for a while with Mike who is a discerning coffee drinker and was returning from enjoying his morning dbl espresso in town. 

He's also about to relaunch his Corribee sailing boat, "Bustard" at Instow.  That's like the one sailed around the UK by Ellen Macarthur. I enjoyed talking with a kindred spirit and by the time I walked on to Appledore I'd managed to completely get over the "musical" episode over breakfast.

Outside Appledore, amidst the calm and gentleness of the river bank there's a large shipbuilding shed operated by Harland and Wolff.  The site has an automated bird scarer which at regular intervals blasts out from a large loudspeaker, the spine chilling screams of stressed birds. The target of these screams are the flocks of seagulls that remain sitting on the ridge throughout looking bemusedly at the klaxon.   

Closer in to town there's a fish Dock proudly displaying the names of various businesses.

Meanwhile, discretely mounted on the wall above the front door, there is a sign....

I hope that hard times don't befall those who elected to follow the Tories and run scared from that bastard Farage.

On the seafront at Appledore, the RNLI tent was staffed by

Yvonne, Dave and Matt who's family has been involved with the Appledore lifeboat since the 1860s. His dad is currently the Coxswain.

With it being a Sunday morning, the crew had been out on exercises. At the Boat shed

I met crew members Alex and Elly with Ops Manager Bob who'd parked his open topped Vitesse nearby. Nice!!

Back on the sea wall, I went to catch the ferry for the short crossing across to Instow.

As the ferry pulled away from the slip I was intrigued to see a gentleman of the cloth still standing on terra firma and found out from the ferry captain that today was the day the two ferries were to be blessed but as yet the time hadn't been confirmed.

On the ships radio, as we crossed the estuary there was then a discussion as to how , where and when this was all going to happen and by the time that had all been resolved we'd arrived at the other bank. 

This was too good to miss so I negotiated a return on the next ferry and arrived in time to witness the Appledore blessing, vicar with oaken branch in hand, accompanied by sea shanties from a choir on the sea wall.

Not to be outdone, it was then Instone's turn so the vicar climbed aboard

and off we set again (the third time in my case) and we all sang a couple of rousing choruses of " The Drunken Sailor" and managed to get in two full verses of "Eternal Father, Strong to Save" before we arrived safely once more at the Instow slipway. Where the process was repeated and with the vicar in full swing
we all managed to get splashed with some holy sea water in the bargain.

I saw that as a fitting omen for going ashore and enjoying a beer and pasty from John's at the beach at Instow.

Instow is very attractive with it's buildings, sandy beach and you can tell when ice cream is taken seriously when it

 comes in a 4 wheel drive Landrover!

The South Coast path then joins the Tarka Trail for (what felt like a long) 4 miles. 

Maybe it's because it's a cycle track, maybe it's Devon, maybe it's tourists, maybe it's me but I became aware that people weren't saying hello. 

On the SWCP all walkers had at least greeted you whereas here, I was getting a grunt and maybe a curl of the lip if I was lucky. I decided to put it to the test and decided NOT to preempt a greeting with the next 30 people I passed. By the time I'd had NO response from the first 15, I decided to pointedly say hello to them just after they'd passed me! Perhaps it was my strange appearance with floppy sun hat and dark glasses or maybe I'm becoming a grumpy bugger

 but it was fortunate that, I then met Gary and Barbara. 

A lovely couple, originally from Liverpool and then Devizes, who'd moved to Barnstaple in 2021 to be closer to their daughter. Both keen walkers in Cumbria, Gary remained a keen fell runner and scrambler well in to his mid 70s. You can understand why they miss the Lake District and feel that the hills of Devon are a bit tame by comparison. I sensed they'd have very happily jumped at the chance to join me on the way to J o'G.

Note, I'm not sure that my knees agree with the gentle hills of Devon bit!!!

Arrived Barnstaple a little earlier in the afternoon than I have been recently and celebrated with a pint of Guiness followed by

, ........the Grand play- off

...........what d'you reckon??

Total distance so far = 179.1 miles

Total ascent so far = 27 819 feet

If you'd like to contribute to the great charities I'm supporting, here are the relevant links.

Just Wheels UK  - this is a small charity set up to provide wheelchairs in a rural community in Tanzania. It does this through funding training, education and the local fabrication and servicing of bespoke wheelchairs. My nephew uses a wheelchair and as he grows I can see the life changing freedoms that proper wheelchairs can bring to both users and their families.- 

 https://donate.thebiggive.org.uk/campaign/a056900002H35TDAAZ

Parkinsons UK   - My dad had Parkinsons in his latter years and the research work this charity funds and the support it provides to patients and their families is invaluable. - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/david-thomas215

- RNLI   - these are the brave guys who selflessly head out to sea to help others. I volunteer at Littlehampton RNLI shop and often meet families of those who’ve had first hand experience of their loved ones being saved from the sea. Having sailed for years I can say thankfully we’ve never had to call on the RNLI's services but it’s amazing what it does to know they are there 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/david-thomas216