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Explore
the Coast & "Country" Side of Bideford Bay
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Woolacombe
Point to Point |
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Woolacombe
Bay is the next stop on the North Devon Gold Coast tour and it's a quick
route from Croyde via an up hill winding road cutting through the village
of Georgeham. Watch out for the sign for the Rock Inn, Henry Williamson's
watering hole when he lived here in the 1920s. He used to zip along the
quiet narrow lanes of North Devon on a noisy old Norton Motorcycle. Continue
along the Georgeham Road till you reach the B3343 which takes you back down
to Woolacombe past the site of old railway station. There is pub called
The Mill tucked away at Ossaborough on the way down. Compared to Croyde
and other North Devon Villages, Woolacombe seems huge with many large stylish
buildings stacked neatly down the hillside towards the shore; this area
was once farmland and is overlooked by the original village of Mortehoe
perched high up on the coast. Many of the old hotels down Beach Road have
been converted to holiday apartments and there is a choice of accommodation
including caravan and camping, bed and breakfast, hotels. self-catering
lodges, apartments and luxury caravans. The imposing Victorian building
on the Esplanade is the Woolacombe Bay Hotel which enjoys unbroken panoramic
views of the beach, is open all year round and has a wealth of excellent
facilities including a Brasserie & Health Spa. This is a lively resort
packed full of pubs, eateries, bars, surf and beach shops, cafes and art
galleries. Woolacombe is famous for its safe family beach, surfing, surf-life
saving events, the Goldcoast Ocean Festival and its annual National Sandcastle
Building Competition. There is also a local horse riding stables, two surf
schools and Devon's only paragliding school. Woolacombe & Mortehoe Golf
Club is close by. The award winning beach is three miles long and stretches
out between two National Trust promontories, Baggy Point and Morte Point.
There is ample parking on the Esplanade, at Sandy Burrows or on Marine Drive
which snakes along above the beach and Woolacombe Warren below the South
West Coast Path and the Tarka Trail high above. You can park all the way
along here walk down to the beach or make your way up to join the Southwest
Coast Path or continue on foot to Putsborough Sands. Read the signs before
parking as the car parks are locked up at certain times, overnight stays
are prohibited. Marine Drive, for example is locked up at 10.00pm and penalties
may be incurred if you are locked in. There are some fantastic family theme
parks and activities for children in the region so call in at Tourist Information
Centre on the Esplanade to find out what's on.
Useful Links: Mortehoe
Museum - Woolacombe
Tourist Information Centre - *In March 2022 North Devon was formally
announced as the 12th World Surfing Reserve alongside iconic surfing locations
around the world North
Devon Surf Reserve. - The
Museum of British Surfing, Braunton
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Surf-reports
Croyde
Puttsborough
Woolacombe
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Woolacombe
Photos,Woolacombe Bay, Pictures of Woolacombe, North Devon Gold Coast, Woolacombe
Break, Morte Point, Mortehoe, North Devon Focus, Croyde Bay, Surfing North
Devon, Tarka Trail, Georgeham |
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Articles.
Photographs and Illustrations ©Copyright P. Adams North Devon Focus
2015 - All rights reserved |
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