Section 4. Bude to Crackington Haven - Cornwall Coast Path

Distance 10 miles - Grade Easy grade for 4 miles then all Strenuous - What these grades mean

Leaving Bude via its unusual sea lock, it's a relaxing mornings walk passing Compass point with its Pepperpot Tower and panoramic views to Lundy Island, Tintagel and the great Tors of Dartmoor National Park. On a broad, grassy coastal path you pass through miles of golden Sand at Widemouth Bay in front of Black Rock, home to the ghost of Wrecker Featherstone - banished there to make rope from its sands for eternity.

From here the walking gets progressively more and more demanding, reaching smuggling country at Millock with its extraordinary zigzag rock strata formations (the Crackington Strata). Up on The Dizzard you pass it's prehistoric dwarf oak and mountain ash copse, a unique bonsai forest, stunted and twisted by the storms from the Atlantic. Traversing the aptly named Butterfly valley the day ends with a parade of hidden smugglers coves, coombes and waterfalls, the final one at Aller Shoot before a steep descent to the welcoming valley and hamlet at Crackington Haven and its superb location right on the beach.

Overnight stops in Crackington Haven on the South West Coast Path