Ilfracombe to Padstow

The day after birdman, I headed down the coast towards Cornwall. The weather was fine but the wind was directly against me, so I had to run the engine most of the way.

Cosy little harbour

Padstow is about the only sheltered harbour along the north-west coast of Devon and Cornwall, so there were quite a few yachts using it as a stopover. With high winds forecast for the next few days, it looked as though we were all going to be staying a while.

With the school holidays upon us, the place was very busy. Rick Stein has a huge presence in the town with about a dozen different outlets of various types, so there was no shortage of fine food to be had.

The boats were all tied up along the wall of the small harbour which was lined with holidaymakers fishing for crabs. At times it felt like living in a goldfish bowl, but I really didn't mind because of the convenience of stepping ashore and being right in the centre of town.

The river Camel by Padstow