North Devon in late Autumn

This post is a bit late. Truth be told, I though I'd done this, and it was only when posting my Cowbridge, Aberthin and Stalling Down post yesterday I realised I hadn't done so.

Anyway, we (my wife's side of the family) have a family tradition of a week away in last autumn. For years we went to the Peak District but last time we managed this in 2019 we went to North Devon near Ilfracombe. This year we'd decided to revisit there. Predominantly it's a week away with my wife's sisters, their better halves, some of our children and their children, just to chill, but with a healthy dose of walking, cake and alcohol thrown in for good measure.

We had hired a house - a fantastic place near Watermouth that had a room enough for all - 4 double en-suite bedrooms, but enough extra room to sleep 12 in all. It also had a pool table and a table tennis table. Comfy, warm, fantastically furnished, making a great base.

Ages ranged from 10 to 72 so outdoor activities were planned to accommodate everyone, often with 2 groups - those doing shorter walks/coffee only, and those walking a bit further.

The weather at this time of year is obviously hit and miss, and despite a week of glorious autumn weather then week before we went, the forecast for our week was pretty mixed (ie mostly rain). In the end, we really only had one really wet day, and whilst there were plenty of showers there was also enough sun and dry periods to ensure we all had a fantastic time.

We'd stopped at Knightshayes National Trust near Tiverton on the way down to meet up - well worth a visit, and then over the week we for walks to Saunton, Croyde and Baggy Point, Lynton & Lynmouth, and more locally near Watermouth. A great week with plenty of laughs, and general relaxing. Oh, and a few beers.....

The early gang at Knightshayes NT

Lynmouth front

One of the gang near Lynton

At Arlington Court NT

The North Devon coast

Broadbands Beach, voted the "Happiest View in the UK".
Not sure by who though....

A rather stormy looking Croyde Bay

Near Baggy Point, Croyde

Valley of the Rocks near Lynton

Knightshayes NT

Coast looking southwest near Lynton

Signpost on the Arlington Estate

Carriage museum buildings at Arlington Court NT

Watermouth Castle - now a theme park

The rather bleak landscape of the Taw estuary 

Cowbridge, Aberthin and Stalling Down

Today 25th November dawned bright and sunny. Having seen the forecast my good lady had decided we should go for a walk, and we'd made the decision to do a shortish circular of around 4 miles, starting in Cowbridge, one of the Vale Trail's walks - Number 9 in fact, the Iolo Morganwg Heritage walk. This circular route takes in the historic market town of Cowbridge, its surrounding fields and wooded paths. The places of interest are linked to one of the Vale’s most colourful characters, Iolo Morganwg (1747-1826). He was a romantic poet, political radical and humanitarian, who was the first to propose that Wales should have its own national institutions.

As an aside, these walks are generally very well signposted with regular way markers.

We parked up in the car park in Cowbridge town  centre, and togged up in our boots and warm clothes, despite the sun it was chilly early doors) and set off - in the wrong direction. Once I'd read the map and instructions properly (the map's not great, but the instructions are excellent), we found the right path. Initially this ran by the river Thaw that bisects the pretty town of Cowbridge before setting out into the fields towards the village of Aberthin. 

River Thaw and Cowbridge

After some fairly flat walking through (not too muddy) fields we came up the small village of Aberthin. It's a small and pretty village, with two pubs The  Hare and Hounds and the Farmers Arms facing each other across the road (sadly both shut mid morning, or otherwise might have been tempting for a pint). Despite being less than 10 miles or so from where I live, I'd never ever been to Aberthin, but I might be popping back to try out the pubs/restuarant here.....

Form the centre of Aberthin we left the village and started upon Stalling Down a fairly decent ridge. The going was steady rather than steep, and on the way up we passed a delightful bench in memory of (I think) a John Moores in the design of what looked to me like a WW2 bomber - perhaps a Lancaster. There wasn't any detail about this, but it was an unusual bench.

Bench on Stalling Down

At the top we had glorious views over the Vale of Glamorgan, including a fairly large stables/gallops complex where horses were being given a thorough workout. There's a standing stone here at the top of the down dedicated to Iolo Morganwg and said to be the site of the first meeting of the Gorsedd (a community or meeting of bards) of the Bards of the isle of Britain in Wales

Standing stone on Stalling Down

From here the walk descended gently off the down passing a field with a couple of donkeys - my wife loves a donkey - who doesn't?!) and required the crossing of the busy A48 (via a pathed overpass), before turning up a track to a place known as "The Clump". This was apparently a place where people came to view public hangings back in the day, although there's no evidence of that today.

Cowbridge Donkeys

Here walkers following Trail 9 have a choice. They can either go back to Cowbridge or continue for a further couple of miles, taking in the pretty hamlet of St Hilary, which by chance also has a fantastic pub/restuarant.

However, that was not for us today, and from the Clump, we descended down an old track back into the road into Cowbridge, and thence back to our starting point.

All in all it was a pleasant walk in fabulous November weather, although once we were off Stalling Down, in truth the last section from the Clump down into Cowbridge was a bit boring. Once our gear was dumped, we treated ourselves to a coffee and panini in the local Costa, before indulging in a little Christmas victuals shopping in Cowbridge Waitrose.

This would be a pleasant walk at pretty much any time of the year, with each season bringing something different to see. Next time I might plan the timing a little better to co-incide with pub opening hours!