Woody Bay

If you carry on a little further east along the coast from the Heddon Valley, you come to Woody Bay. (If you fancy it, it’s a lovely walk between the two.) This lovely little cove is at the bottom of a steep track and, as it’s name suggests, is nestled below densely wooded cliffs. We parked up in the Woody Bay car park at the top of the access path (EX31 4QX) and began to zig-zag our way down. It’s quite an enjoyable walk of around half a mile or so, or it would have been if we hadn’t spent the entire descent worrying about how we were going to get back up the hill!

However, once we’d made it down to the beach we completely forgot about the trek back. It’s a beautiful, tranquil spot and I could have sat there for hours just listening to the sea and admiring the view. There was just the three of us and two other couples on the beach, which made it all the more wonderful. It seems our tactic of taking breaks out of school holiday season (while we can!) paid off. Luckily, the plan of Colonel Benjamin Lake to turn the area into a major tourist destination in the late 19th century didn’t pay off and it remains a quiet, unspoilt bay. (Not so lucky for the Colonel, he ended up in debt and was imprisoned after squandering his clients’ money).

 

 

After having a rest and taking some photos, we made our way back up to the car park. Despite our fears, it wasn’t actually that bad. Maybe we’re fitter than we thought-or maybe we were dreading it so much that the reality wasn’t nearly so awful!

In any case, Woody Bay was well worth breaking a sweat for, in fact I would’ve walked twice as far to get there.