The cliffs are rugged and dramatic, softened on occasions by salt tolerant plants, such as thrift and sea campion, wild carrot and kidney vetch, clinging to their face. Watch out for the stonechat, wheatears and meadow pipits darting amongst the grassland near Gallantry Bower, the delicate blue butterfly fluttering along beside you, seals swimming around the rocks at Shipload Bay, oyster catchers and cormorants at the water’s edge, buzzards soaring high above and peregrine falcons circling overhead and then stooping headlong to strike on their unsuspecting prey.
The cliffs are rugged and dramatic, softened on occasions by salt tolerant plants, such as thrift and sea campion, wild carrot and kidney vetch, clinging to their face. Watch out for the stonechat, wheatears and meadow pipits darting amongst the grassland near Gallantry Bower, the delicate blue butterfly fluttering along beside you, seals swimming around the rocks at Shipload Bay, oyster catchers and cormorants at the water’s edge, buzzards soaring high above and peregrine falcons circling overhead and then stooping headlong to strike on their unsuspecting prey. When you are feeling slightly weary you can rest and have a refreshing drink at Hartland Quay or a true homemade Devonshire tea at Hartland Point (the Promontory of Hercules as the Romans called it).
The Point is a wonderful spot to sit and take in the scenery – standing 350ft above the sea it commands breathtaking views to Bideford Bay in the east, Lundy Island in the north-west and down to the Cornish coastline in the South. Standing guard below the headland is the old white lighthouse. In January to March you can see large flocks of great northern black and red throated divers, then manx shearwater pass over from April to September, and of course there is always a chance of witnessing dolphins frolicking in the Atlantic surf.
There is just so much to wonder at close to this coastal path – the spectacular Blackchurch Rock rising starkly from the foreshore, the sites of iron age settlements (at Windbury Hill, Embury Beacon and Southole), the Tor where St Catherine is said to have meditated her enlightenment, the rare scurvy-grass at the cliff top known as the Warren, fulmars gliding elegantly overhead, raucous ravens making their presence known, kestrels hovering motionless on the cliff edge and several beautiful streams which plummet in stunning waterfalls to the beaches below