A relatively early start but in spite of dire weather warnings it was dry so we headed to Braunton. According to where to watch birds this should be a mecca for waders. It took 35 minutes to get there we parked and walked down the track to the end of the dune area called Rock Point. There were loads of birds about, and the weather was holding out. We came across quite a few areas where there were lots of orchids, I counted at least 3 different species, but don’t ask me to identify them.
We got to the end and stopped for lunch, then walked round the point, where a man and his were flying an electric glider. As we rounded the point we heard a large straining engine and spotted a duck, not the feathered variety but an amphibious vehicle but it was clear from the plumage (written on the side) that it was a royal marines vehicle. I got it on video before it disappeared into the sea. We finally spotted our first wader, a curlew flying past. We continued along the beach and added dunlin and little ringed plover to the list. We then spotted more military activity, some sort of sea exercise with landing craft and inflatables. The weather then caught up with us, luckily we noticed lundy disappearing and had time to get the waterproofs out. A long soggy walk back to the car park.
It was still early, 1430, so we thought a drive back via Illfracoombe was in order. We had stayed in the seaside town about 15 years ago, we remember it well because of an Italian restaurant we found and ended up eating there too many times. We had a pasta course followed by a pizza on three occasions, I vaguely remember having a desert on one of them.
We parked up down at the harbour and decided a coffee was in order so we found a trendy looking place on the quay side. We had a hot chocolate, a cappuccino, and a piece of cake between us. I noticed that there was quite a bit of modern art around the room, a painting made up of coloured dots, another piece made up of fish in formaldehyde, and a couple of abstract pieces made from butterfly wings, something seemed familiar to me. When the waiter came over I asked about the art, he told us that the cafe/restaurant was owned by Damien Hirst, and he owned a couple of others in the area.
The rain still poured but was not a problem as helen was keen to visit the aquarium. It was small but well laid out featuring creatures only local to north devon. A keeper was feeding the baby rays with prawns held in chopsticks and keenly volunteered some fascinating information about local fauna, which was great. We then headed back to the hut stopping at least three time in search of the most elusive wholemeal rolls for tomorrows walk.
After cleaning the huts washing machine. We went up town to The Queens pub in Lyton centre for some grub. It is very popular and we had to wait for a table to be vacated by their queuing system. The great food made the wait worthwhile, and the real ale was well kept.