Last Saturday (23rd June) morning we headed down to Bude for a couple of days. Leaving Cheltenham just after 7am might have seemed mad but it worked extremely well and, including a stop at Bridgewater Services (which I wouldn’t advise) we arrived outside the Falcon Hotel at about 10:20am.
As we couldn’t check in until 2pm we parked the car and walked down to the sea lock at the entrance of the Bude Canal. Although the canal has been closed for a long time and, due to its use of inclined planes, is unlikely to ever re-open the first couple of miles are in water. Although the first two barge sized locked and the low level swing bridges have been replaced by fixed spans it is a real pity that this length of canal isn’t being used as anything more than a linear park lake. I’ve suggested that Nick adds the canal to CanalPlan AC (at least the barge canal – the only section likely to be restored) as it is, for some reason, not in there at the moment.
After a wander round the lock and a quick potter round the wharf area we went and had a coffee at the Castle Tearooms before getting back in the car and heading off to Boscastle.
Rather than take the main A39 road we took the old coast road via Widemouth Bay, which is a very popular spot for surfers as the bay is very wide so the surf can be very good. Its certainly a good road as its quite quiet and the views from the top of the cliffs is very impressive.
We had to do a few miles on the A39, past the Rebel Cinema at Poundstock before turning off the main road and onto the winding road that goes through Boscastle to Tintagel. As Bostcastle had suffered some minor flooding on the Thursday our plan was to see if it was open, and if not continue through to Tintagel. On the steep road down into town was a notice that said “Shops and village open as normal” – so Tintagel was put off until Sunday.
I have to admit to being somewhat “let down” by Boscastle. I wasn’t sure what to expect but there didn’t actually seem to be a lot going on in what is actually “Boscastle Harbour”. The best part had to be the walk out to the headland that helps form the natural harbour – the scenery was excellent and there were some great photo opportunities.
Rock Formations at Boscastle
Looking back into the harbour