Well I didn't really, but it was new to me...
My Son had been watching TV for a few hours the other day and I decided that enough was enough, and he had to leave the house, to see a little of the real world! I looked on a map and found a small walk around the coast south of Ilfracombe that I hadn't explored yet, so got us both into the car and off we went.
The area is called The Torrs, sometimes known as The Seven Hills, and is a nature reserve owned by The National Trust. I identified a short circular walk that would keep us occupied for an hour, starting at a car park on the edge of Ilfracombe.
We walked around the edge of the reserve following a pathway through the woods. Eventually this brought us out onto a walk on the edge of the hill, with the sea on one side. We looked out over to the Tunnels beaches, and decided we would visit there, when the weather was a little less cloudy.
We intended to do a circular walk but saw a group of people taking a detour off the pathway and down the hill. Curiosity got the better of us, so we decided to follow, scrambling down the hillside to an open patch of green. We then found some steps cut into the rocks that led us further down the cliffs towards a stoney beach at the bottom. The water was lovely and clean, and would have been great for a dip on a warmer day!
We proceeded to climb over the rocks, scrambling over slate to find ourselves on a larger beach, with wonderful cliffs, and some interesting layers of rocks forming the environment.
Upon further research when I returned how, 'White Pebble Beach' as it is known, has a reputation as a naturist beach. Luckily for us it was too cold for that kind of behaviour and our blushes were spared!
Here's a few photos from the walk, I hope you enjoy them...
Many years ago, I'm sure this little inlet would have been popular with smugglers, unloading there illicit merchandise!
I love the washed out colours in this shot, with the water as a highlight coming through #nofilter
Here's a view looking over to Lundy, visiting this island is pretty high on my todo list, I hope to share a visit with you one day soon...
On the walk back we came across an old lime kiln, apparently they used to burn lime with coal from South Wales to make fertiliser. There's a few kilns around this area...
