Run Britain Day 49: Chivenor to Ilfracombe

Another day where the weather lulled me into a false sense of security in the morning. All the way to Saunton, I managed to stay mostly dry. And on the nice flat river estuary, I was able to make quite good progress.

But then the rain arrived. Horrible, cold driving rain. Followed by the wind.

I’ve run this bit of the coast before and it’s lovely. The beaches at Croyde and Woolacombe are especially nice. But not today. They were very grey and cold. And after stopping for what I assume will be quite dramatic photos, I got to lunch absolutely freezing.

By the afternoon, the conditions were laughably horrendous. The very nice pub couldn’t warm me up, so I sat in the car with the seat heaters on for 20 minutes until I returned to a temperature that I felt I could actually run. And when I went to get out of the car, the wind nearly blew the door off.

A frustrating and exhausting afternoon in the hills. I was hoping to get a bit further along the coast path today, but ended up having to call it in Ilfracombe because the weather was just so bad.

I don’t think my mood is helped by the fact that Ilfracombe is quite depressing. This part of coast really suffers from winter-time neglect. The pretty towns of Woolacombe and Saunton have nice hotels and plenty of holiday houses. But they’re empty at this time of year. Which means the all-year-round towns like Ilfracombe have far fewer people striding their high streets, eating in their restaurants and taking trips out on their boats.

On both the north and south coast of Devon, I have found this disparity quite depressing. Even if it does make it very easy to find accommodation for the night.