Cycle the Tarka Trail along the estuary from Barnstaple

Walk through the Pannier Market in Barnstaple

The Tarka Trail follows the journeys of Henry Williamson's otter in a figure of eight of 180 miles centred on Barnstaple, established in 1987; its traffic-free section runs on a disused railway along the Taw and the Torridge and forms part of the Devon Coast to Coast route from Ilfracombe to Plymouth. Braunton Burrows, at the mouth of the estuary, is the core of the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Barnstaple and the Tarka Trail: Flat Miles Along Two Estuaries

The North Devon Coast

From the South Hams to Exmoor: Dartmouth Castle and Burgh Island's sea tractor, the high moor and stone rows of Dartmoor, the surf beaches of north Devon, then Lynmouth's water-powered railway and Dunkery Beacon.

Devon: Dartmoor, the South Hams and Exmoor

Surf or take a lesson on the beach break at Croyde

Ride a longboard on the long open face of Saunton Sands

Walk out round Baggy Point on the coast path

Walk into the dunes of Braunton Burrows, the core of the North Devon Biosphere

Croyde is the North Devon surf village, on the South West Coast Path under the National Trust headland at Baggy Point, and since 1999 it has held the GoldCoast Oceanfest surf and music festival on the weekend nearest the summer solstice — though the festival is taking 2026 off and is due back in June 2027. Round the corner at Saunton Sands the beach is long, flat and unusually exposed to the west, which makes it a favourite longboarding beach; until the RAF retired its Hercules in 2023, the beach was cordoned off a few times a year for them to practise landing on the sand.

Croyde and Saunton: North Devon's Surf Coast

Walk the length of the beach to Putsborough at low tide

Look for seals off the rocks at Morte Stone

Woolacombe's two miles of sand run between Morte Point and Baggy Point, backed by dunes and open to the Atlantic swell, and the size of that swell makes it one of the main surf beaches of north Devon. The South West Coast Path runs through the village and out round Morte Point, the slate spine at the northern end notorious for wrecks.

Woolacombe and Morte Point: North Devon's Surf Sands

Stand under Verity at the end of the pier

Walk through the hand-cut tunnels to the tidal bathing pools

Climb Lantern Hill to St Nicholas's Chapel of 1361

Walk round the harbour and out to Hillsborough

Damien Hirst's statue Verity stands at the end of Ilfracombe's pier, a pregnant woman holding a sword aloft with her skin stripped away on one side; Hirst has lived and worked in the town. Above the harbour, St Nicholas's Chapel on Lantern Hill was built in 1361, has shown a light to ships since at least the 17th century, and is said to be Britain's oldest working lighthouse. In the 1820s Welsh miners hand-carved four tunnels through the cliff to reach a pair of tidal bathing pools, used for segregated bathing in keeping with Victorian morals.

Ilfracombe: Verity, the Tunnels Beaches and the Harbour

Ride the water-powered cliff railway between Lynton and Lynmouth

Walk the coast path into the Valley of Rocks and look for the goats

The Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway has joined the two towns since Easter Monday 1890, worked entirely by water: the top car fills its tank, becomes heavier and hauls the bottom car up as it descends. West of Lynton the Valley of Rocks is a dry valley of jagged tors above the sea with feral goats on the crags, and the two rivers meet at Lynmouth where the 1952 flood came down.

Lynton and Lynmouth: The Water-Powered Cliff Railway and the Valley of Rocks

Walk down the cobbled street to the harbour

Find the sledges used for deliveries outside the cottages

Walk the Hobby Drive through the woods above the village

Clovelly is a privately owned village built into the wooded cliffs of north Devon, with a cobbled main street too steep for vehicles: goods went up and down by donkey and now go by sledge. The harbour behind its stone breakwater was completed by the squire George Cary in the late 16th century; the village has belonged to the Hamlyn family and their descendants since 1738, and Christine Hamlyn restored it between 1884 and 1936.

Clovelly: The Village with No Cars and Sledges for Deliveries

Stargaze in Exmoor National Park, Europe's first International Dark Sky Reserve, designated in 2011

Climb Dunkery Beacon (519m), the highest point on Exmoor and in Somerset

Look for the semi-wild Exmoor ponies on the open moor

In 2011 Exmoor became Europe's first International Dark Sky Reserve. Dunkery Beacon, 519m, is the highest point on Exmoor and in Somerset, with views over the moor and the Bristol Channel, Bronze Age cairns on the hill and a summit cairn marking its gift to the National Trust. Semi-wild Exmoor ponies graze the open moor.

Exmoor: Dunkery Beacon and Europe's First Dark Sky Reserve

Walk the full length of the cathedral vault and find the roof bosses

See the astronomical clock and the misericords

Go down into the medieval Underground Passages

Walk the quay and cross the river on the hand ferry

Exeter Cathedral was finished by about 1400 and has the longest uninterrupted medieval stone vaulted ceiling in the world, along with an early set of misericords, a minstrels' gallery and an astronomical clock. Under the streets nearby run the medieval Underground Passages, built from the 13th century to bring fresh water into the walled city, and the quay below the city still has its warehouses.