Lee Bay and Sandy Cove

Yesterday there was sunshine! Hooray! We'd almost forgotten what it looked liked. So out we went, here to Lee Bay. Lee is a tiny village on the coast between Ilfracombe and Woolacombe. Its narrow roads can be quite a challenge for cars, but its all so pretty its worth it. We parked in the pub car park and walked down to the beach. The tide was out but the girls weren't much interested in the rock pools so we walked along the path in the photo above and through the gap in the rocks at the end. Here there is another path carved into the rocks which will lead you, when the tide is out, to Sandy Cove, shown below.

Sandy Cove is much prettier and seems to be a well kept secret because there was hardly anyone there. A few groups of people sat around, some very brave people were swimming, and some had kayaks in the water. The name Sandy Cove is a bit misleading because it is actually a shingle beach, but this doesn't stop it being lovely. It was so peaceful, just sitting in the sunshine listening to the wave lap against the shore I could have laid down and gone to sleep.

Sadly, once the children had explored and the dog had been forcably taught that paddling in the water would not actually cause her any harm, we had to leave. The lure of a drink back at the pub was too great. We decided to try the other path out of the cove rather than go back the way we came. This involved climbing up lots AND LOTS of very steep steps in the side of the cliff. The views from the top are fantastic, once you've recovered your breath enough to appreciate them. Then there is a lovely walk back through the fields and the village to enjoy before finally being able to sip a nice cold beer in a sunny pub garden. What a perfect day.