Combe Martin & Ilfracombe (1)

We did very little in the way of planning for this holiday, but we did need a starting point for the first few days . We decided that a run of four hours or so from our home in Derby was enough for the first day, and this would be more than enough to drop us into an area of the UK we both loved. A Camp site in Combe Martin looked like a good first stop. So we committed ourselves to three nights at Mill Park camp site as it looked like it ticked the boxes for both Mandy and myself. The camp site seemed to be surrounded by trees in the online marketing material (which we prefer), and this rang true upon arrival.

The journey down started fine and dry, but ended in a downpour that became challenging as we weaved our way through the increasingly narrow Devon-shire lanes. The final drop into the campsite village gave me cause for concern as i stepped out of the cab to smell a very hot disk break. After all of the problems with my recent brake issues (yet undocumented), I was skeptical as to whether this issue may bring our holiday to an early end. On refection, it was probably more my paranoia creeping in.

Combe Martin and Ilfracombe were only a short distance away from the campsite. We wanted the first stop to be relaxing and an opportunity to unwind. Work is work and a holiday is most often the reason for the holiday in the first place. However, the run up to your holiday can be stressful with a camper-van because your also relying on  your vehicle to be your home as well as your transport. Once we had a pitch and were parked up i felt that I could truly relax and kick back. The first afternoon at the campsite was just exploring the facilities, listening to the radio and watching the rain come down. The new DAB radio was proving it was worth every penny of the £100+ I had spent on it. Changing the stereo was a last minute decision. I realized I couldn’t spend the whole two weeks with the previous unit continually tuning into Classic FM!

The following day the weather was better. So much so that we decided to take a walk into Combe Martin. This certainly wasn’t done as the crow flies. We first walked across another camping field until we found a coastline footpath…after a coastal path we popped up at the back of a hotel which turned out to be Sandy Cove Hotel. This had amazing views so we decided to have a coffee break before moving on.

Coffee
Coffee at the Sandy Cove Hotel

We headed down a twisty path which lead us onto the main road for a 100 yards. Following this were steep drops with lots of steps with a field or two thrown in. I don’t mind a jaunt and a bit of a tab across the old terrain, but Mandy was less enthusiastic. That said she did well with minimal complaints. Combe Martin was nice. The weather wasn’t brilliant and the sun was intermittent. There were only a few shops open for customers and I thought this may be due to the time of year, but i guess it was a Sunday.

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One very large ice cream later we set back to the campsite stopping at a very nice pub called The Saw Mill. It looked amazing in it’s setting with a stream running in front, trees at the back and a large log store almost the full length of the carpark. I love to promote places we have been to, especially if they are good. This had recently been refurbished and maybe that had something to do with the quality and service but it comes highly recommended.

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The rest of the day was largely uneventful other than the fact we used our Cobb cooker for the first time.

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I had only seen this item a couple of weeks before we embarked on the trip, but it looked a great bit of kit for outdoor cooking. This YouTube link pretty much sums it up, but there are a lot of videos and information out there if you need to know more. We used it extensively during the two weeks away…and at home after the trip.

The following day we ventured into Ilfracombe on the bus. We had been there before a couple of times so knew the area. It was slightly overcast again but that didn’t damp our spirits. I think this photo pretty much sums up Cornwall on an average British day taken into account the amount of rubbish weather we get, but it’s still pretty nice!

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We had a coffee on the harbour front and walked into the carpark where the Damien Hirst statue Verity stood. It is pretty stunning.

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I said to Mandy that it reminded me of the Jason and the Argo-naughts movie where a bronze statue comes to life after the pirates steal gold. A real life monolith at the gates of the harbor! Well worth a visit!

After a good nights sleep we had a shower, some breakfast and  packed up ready to leave the campsite. It’s great exploring locations, but we am always happy to get behind the wheel after a few days being static. Next stop was on the horizon. But we needed to get off the campsite, and the current rain fall meant that we were not going to be leaving this camp site without assistance.

Next Stop Padstow


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