Barnstaple

Very relieved to be leaving Westward Ho we headed for Bideford and were able to see a very different side to the town from the previous day. We visited the museuma and viewed a wonderful exhibition of watercolours by a local artist Albert Goodwin before passing a market on the river promenade featuring delicious looking local produce and crossing the old bridge to pick up the path to Instow.
Apart from a climb out of Westward Ho the remainder of the walk was flat the major part of it along a converted railway track which became a bit monotonous by the end of the day. The route. was also a very popular cycling path and was a bit hazardous at times. We passed Fremington Quay just beyond Instow, the largest port between Bristol and Land's End towards the end of the last century. There was typically a number of boats marooned by the low tide lying in the sand.
The highlight of the afternoon was watching a number of students doing an exercise as part of an officer training program with the British army. After a long run they were required to crawl and run through the knee deep mud and slime on the river bank before returning to their camp - an amazing spectacle which kept us entertained for some time.
Staying at The Old Vicarage in Barnstaple - an attractive B&B dating back to the 1830s.