Day four: Bude. Mon 3rd July, 2006

I was in two minds about whether to walk today. Temperatures were forecast to get up to 27 degrees which really is too hot for walking. I seem to have made so many excuses recently, so I was desperate to continue my Great Cornish Walk. I decided to walk in spite of the heat.
I parked in Berries Avenue to start my exploration of Bude. Berries Avenue is a road which leads into a semi-council, semi privately owned estate. It was probably the roughest road I have seen in the whole Bude area, and was not particularly rough. The first incident of any note was being passed by an excessively stupid boy racer in a 1980s BMW. I am glad I was not crossing the road at that point. I walked around the estate, already feeling the heat. There seemed to be a large number of council workers, some of whom were working, most of whom were just standing around.
The road out of the estate brought me to the impressive looking facilities of Budehaven School, my first secondary school. A walk along some slightly more upmarket roads brought me past Bude primary school, with Bude Town FC just behind. I took a photo of the stand, which was just the wonderful epitome of Non-league Cornish football.

It probably had a seating capacity of about seven. Bude Town has seen better days. They have been languishing in junior football for a few seasons now, but will form part of the newly formed East Cornwall Premier League division one next season. I hope the glory days return for Bude Town, as this is a town which needs a senior football club.
I then headed up to the town centre which was full of elderly holiday makers, presumably before they made their way to the beach in the afternoon. I came across a little Christian café where I was met by a lady who was keen for me to go in for a coffee. Although I didn’t know whether it would be a free coffee, I had forgotten my wallet and was too embarrassed to admit this. To avoid complications I carried on walking. I passed a shop which had recently sold me a faulty touch typing CD Rom. Bude had a town centre just about small enough to avoid the main chain shops (making it more interesting), but large enough to have everything you need.
Descending though the town centre, I came to the river. There was a group of canoeists enjoying themselves.

Bude is full of outdoor activity possibilities: canoeing; rowing; surfing; I even saw some rock climbers on some cliffs near Bude.
I came across the Central Methodist Church, a massive building, not far from the town centre. Next to it was the Sunday school building, almost as big.

Near here is the Parkhouse Centre, where Bude Christian Centre meets (so the lady at the Christian café said). I also walked up to a residential area where the Catholic Church and the United Reformed churches can be found, just around the corner from each other.
The town of Bude had kept me nearly the whole morning. I left very impressed with my first major Cornish town (although not my first town – Stratton must take that honour). Just before leaving, I visited the town’s library. Here I saw a book about the first 100 years of Bude Town Football Club, which included a letter from Gary Lineker politely declining an invitation to the club’s Christmas dinner. It also revealed a connection Trevor Brooking has with the club. I left the library with a smile on my face after having picked up a leaflet advertising a show named Girls’ Night Out, featuring none other than Donna Hazelton! “Who?”, I hear you cry. Well apparently she was winner of the Channel four show ‘Musicality’. Anyway the point is that she shares my surname, and Hazeltons are few and far between. The only other reasonably well known Hazeltons I have come across are tattooist Dan Hazelton and Sky TV gardener, Ron Hazelton.
I left Bude along the disused Bude Canal towpath, and immediately was thankful that I had opted for trainers rather than boots as the surface was tarmacked. The canal was busy with ducks and people enjoying the hot day. I passed a middle aged couple rowing back towards Bude (I had early seen them rent the boat). The man looked thoroughly knackered, and the woman definitely wasn’t intending to help! After this I saw a young mum completely freak out when her kid almost fell into the side of the canal, about six inches deep. Would have been the equivalent of falling in the bath.
I unknowingly passed through the hamlet of Helebridge (because the place name is in the wrong place on the map!), and followed the rest of the canal into the sizable and very quiet village of Marhamchurch. The church itself looks extremely old and is a bit of a gem.

It also provided some shelter from the sweltering heat for a short while. The name comes from Morwenna who also gave Morwenstow its name. Marhamchurch Methodist Church (bit of a mouthful, isn’t it?) was just around the corner, and was also very impressive. Sad to say, the centre of Marhamchurch has become a bit of a holiday camp. What a pity that it is now not only coastal villages that are having to be evacuated in order for the rich and affluent English to populate them. This plague is now sweeping inland. I have said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it many more times during the writing of this blog: Second home owners should be taxed back over the Tamar; no matter how much it costs.
Next up was Hele, a collection of about five very nice houses on a road (quite literally) to nowhere. The road was wide, so I guessed it was the original route of the A39. I came back down the road, crossed over the A39 (at the permanent roadworks) and found my way across some very large and exposed fields to Widemouth Bay.

Widemouth Sand is one of far North Cornwall’s premier beaches. It has good-quality surfing and great sand. Given this, it is surprising how undeveloped it is. It is gateway to the rugged and untamed coast, which goes all the way from here to Boscastle. I walked along the edge of the village, which really has no character (I guessed most of the houses were holiday homes) and made my way up to the parish church. This was something to behold.

It was smaller than the average bus. A capacity of just twenty and a car park big enough for three cars must make it one of the smallest churches in Cornwall, if not the world.
I headed back along the beach, battling against the strong westerly wind. I headed due North along the coast path which runs parallel (and almost next to) the road between Widemouth and Bude. This is one of the very few parts of the North Cornwall coast which is actually quite flat. I visited the tiny settlements of Upton and Lynstone. Lynstone had had a large housing estate built since my map was made which had probably trebled its size.
Back out to the coast path which soon gave me great views of Bude’s town and beaches at low tide. I visited Bude’s Parish church on the way back into the town. It was completely different from all other Anglican churches visited so far. I wasn’t going to stick around for long enough to find out why, however, as I had a sudden need for a number two. I pratically ran (or rather, waddled) to the toilets next to the library.
I suppose the great discovery of today was Bude itself. Bude has everything Newquay has to offer, but without being the threatening place Newquay has become at weekend and in the high season. I wonder if I will come across a church smaller than the one at Widemouth.

Day four stats:

Places visited: seven (cumul 26): Bude (GR 208064), Marhamchurch (224037), Helebridge (215037), Hele (217040), Widemouth Bay (201022), Upton (202048), Lynstone (206053).

Height gained: 355m (cumul 2,040m)

Highest altitude reached: 61m (GR 199036) - on the coast near Widemouth Bay.

Total distance walked: 16 miles (cumul 62), 7 on-road (cumul 36), 9 off-road (cumul 26).

Map used: OS explorer 111

Interesting links:

http://www.bude.co.uk/

http://www.visitbude.info/

http://www.budejazzfestival.co.uk/

http://www.budetownfc.co.uk/

Photos of Marhamchurch: http://www.pottersj.demon.co.uk/photo_1.htm

http://www.cornish-links.co.uk/widemouth.htm