We LOVE Woolacombe and the surrounding area, its where we had our first ever camping adventure (exactly a year ago yesterday) and we have been back a number of times since. We love the beaches, and the general laid back vibe, its a place where we go to relax and unwind as well as soaking up the sun and go boogie boarding. My only issue with it however is that
everything is at the top of a flipping hill! There never seems to be any downhill, just more uphill... the toilets at the campsite....up a hill! The beach..... up a hill! Even one end of our tent was UP A HILL! That of course made for interesting sleeping, you go to bed in one end of the tent and wake up at the door of the tent!
This trip was always going to be an "adventure" of sorts: Wolf was working on Thursday in Huddersfield so found himself racing against the traffic to get down to our home so that we could pack, load up the car, and be on our way to the campsite with enough time for us to pitch the tent before nightfall..... it was as we discovered an impossible goal, despite racing around country lanes at break neck speeds, we arrived when it was absolutely pitch dark, made all the more challenging by the fact that this particular campsite has no ambient light at all. Wolf set about unloading the car as quickly as possible while I put out the footprint (ground sheet).... therein lies our first problem, the pitch we had selected whilst perfect because it was out of the way, secluded, and sheltered on all sides, it was about half the size of our tent! So off we trot down to reception where thankfully we were able to find someone that would assign us a new pitch next to our original one.
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| This is our tent once it was pitched! |
Back up to the campground (thankfully we didn't have to pack up the car again) and we start pitching the tent... it was tight! Our apparent mansion of a tent managed to fill the entire space of our pitch with just enough room on the side to squeeze in a couple of chairs. So carrying lights, torches and anything else that would light up the darkness we whispered instructions and hurried through pitching both the tent and the awning, it was by this time midnight, and we were being treated to the dulcit tones of people snoring comfortably in their tents.
Friday morning we staggered bleary eyed out of the tent and discovered glorious sunshine so headed down to spend the rest of the day at the beach, sunbathing, and boogie boarding, followed by a slap up veggie barbecue back at the campsite and a pitcher full of alcohol free Pimms (we live on the wild side) before passing out exhausted and happy!
Saturday morning however was a bit overcast, but up and out we went, exploring the local area and beaches - Croyde, Saunton Sands, Ilfracombe, Braunton and Combe Martin. We finished our day at Barricane Beach - a little inlet about half a mile from the main Woolacombe Beach and is absolutely beautiful.
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| Barricane Beach |
The very first time we came to Woolacombe we had enquired at the reception desk for a good place to eat dinner of an evening, the young girl told us about a shack on the beach that serves curry - its something only the locals generally know about, its tucked away and easy to miss, oh and by the way, take your own chairs and drinks down there too.....
From our very first visit we were hooked. It literally is a "shack" on the beach selling fresh home made Sri Lankan curry. Its pretty simple, you get three choices: beef, chicken or vegetable and it is a different curry every night, we have never had the same meal twice, and it is absolutely delicious.
The image above shows the full bay, the shack is located at the very top of the bay (which is directly underneath where you see all the bushes in the picture). Its always such a good vibe down there, its a diverse mix of people, couples out for romantic sunset dinner, families taking the kids out for the evening to play on the beach while the adults eat dinner, surfers, church groups, friends out enjoying various celebrations, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. etc. etc. or some people just there because its a great place to be, its good food and the sunsets there are amazing! Nobody should leave Woolacombe without having first visited Barricane Beach for dinner.
So to Sunday - our last day. Our trip thus far had been awesome, and today was the day we had planned to possibly spend at the beach again and if we could fit in somewhere get a surf lesson - this was not to be! We were greeted Sunday morning with a typically British Summer day - torrential rain and fog! Not to be put off we rearranged our plans and spent most of the day painting ceramic pots, grabbed a quick bite to eat for dinner and then off to see Jurassic World at the local movie theatre.
Two things I learned today:
1. DO NOT disturb Chris while he is painting, it takes immense concentration!
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| Chris concentrating on his painting |
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| DON'T disturb the artist! |
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| The finished peice |
2. Don't be over ambitious when it comes to picking your ceramic model - you WILL end up being kicked out of the shop while you are still painting!
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| My "Shoe Fund" money box |
Monday was "un-pitching" day and we woke up to this......
So here we go again, the seasoned and hardened campers that we are, we unpitched in torrential rain. EVERYTHING was either soaked or covered in mud. It was a veritable mudfest!
With that, this Woolacombe adventure draws to a close; from pitching in the dark in the middle of the night, to unpitching in the rain at the a$$ crack of dawn, this has been a great vacation, definitely much needed and with some well deserved sunshine and R&R.
And so here ends our adventure.....or so we thought...... what happened that afternoon..... we will save for another blog!!!!
