Saunton Sands to Braunton

January 23, 2024 - from the itinerary: Today offers the opportunity to explore the Braunton Burrows National Reserve, a rich environment for birds, flowers and butterflies. Graded easy and planned for 6 miles. Weather - scattered showers with wind gusts up to 45 mph. Actual mileage was 8.09 miles and I avoided most of the rain.

Breakfast was very tasty and half of a full English breakfast (just the sausage, egg and hash browns). It was so good, that I forgot to take a picture....I was quite sad to leave Saunton Sands and I hope I will return some time with Chris.

The way out of town passed a pretty little church which was the St Anne's Parsonage Church.

Most of the way was sheltered, so I didn't feel much of the wind. No beach walking today and a lot of private road walking into the wind.

The start was walking along the side of a golf course. This was a bit concerning as there were people playing golf and I was expecting a golf ball to come at me at any moment.

After the golf course ended, the Ministry of Defense land started. There was target practice going on and I was half expecting a stray bullet to come my way...

Some words about the Braunton Burrows. The dune system is one of the largest and most impressive in the UK - the core of North Devon's UNESCO biosphere reserve. Formerly rabbit grazing kept the dune turf short which allowed for many wildflowers; however, since 1954 disease has decimated the rabbit population, so coarse grass has smothered the flowers. Cattle and mowing has had to take the place of the rabbits - I passed these guys along the way.

The end of the walk was walking along a dike that ran along the estuary. Unfortunately no murmurations.

I did see some very pretty birds, like this White Wagtail and swans.

The Marsh at the Braunton Burrows was a well grazed tidal salt march. It was reclaimed in 1815 when the embankment, a system of ditches and sluices to protect from flooding. It has created a network of interesting freshwater habitat for birds and flowers. An old quay was constructed in 1870. A Braunton vessel of note was the schooner Result, which served in the First World War, causing significant damage to a German U45 submarine. The Braunton Great Field is a relic of the Saxon system of cultivation. For a thousand years it was a huge field worked in strips, never enclosed with hedges or fences.

I was very early and stopped at a cafe for tea and cappuccino cake. Everything was either gluten free or vegan. I asked if they had anything with gluten and that included milk and eggs, but they didn't. The cake was gluten free and was really tasty.

Trojan B and B was lovely and the owner, Julie, was very accommodating, allowing me to arrive early. The suite of rooms were lovely and another lovely surprise for 1/3 what I paid for the VRBO. Her husband is an architect and built the addition over their house as a hobby over 4 years. The shower was electronic and worked by pushing a button that would allow you to control the water temperature using "+" or "-" signs on the keypad.

Dinner was a pizza - way too much food, but I enjoyed it.