South West Holiday Sept 2026

 No actual hiking involved but lots of short walks and usually by the end of each day we had clocked up quite a few steps. 

9th, 10th September . Avebury , Devizes

Drive from home to Avebury, where we had a fantastic couple of hours walking around the stone circles and standing stones. We have never been before and wasn't expecting it to be as spectacular as it was.

Avebury is near the starting point for the Ridgeway walk and is a good stopeover before the start. We then drove to Devizes camp site for a lovely evening where it was warm enough to eat outside.

After  nice evening in Devizes we drove back to Avebury to visit the national trust museum and house. 

I didn't know this brefore , but this house was used in filming the comedy TV series 'Born to the Manor' starrring Penelope Kieth.

10th 11th September Woolacombe

From Avebury we drove  to North Devon where we camped a couple of miles inland from Woolacombe. After an overcast , soggy night at the Motor Home and Caravan site we decided to drive down to Woolacombe which had a massive car park on the sea front and a fabulous beach.

The main drawback from the campsite is that to walk anywhere neccesitated an amount of road walking on narrow country lanes (that is why we opted to drive to Woolacombe)

Managed a dip in the Atlantic.

September 12 13 Tregurrian Cornwall , Eden Project

Before arriving at the campsite we visited a National Trust site at Trerice. The campsite was at Tregurrian just north of Newquay. Nice Campsite on top of the cliffs. it was a 20 - 30 minute walk along the South West Coast path to get to the village and beach. The first full day we had there we decided to drive over to the eden project as the weather wasn't looking great. Lovely day at the eden Project but we were both really tired by about 3.00 PM. Neither of us had been sleeping too well in the van on this trip.

Path leading to the cliff tops

View from the cliffs

Beach at Tregurrian

Inside one of the domes

14  September  Priddy - Somerset.

After packing up in Cornwall we drove to Somerset and stopped in Street for a quick visit with my brother before driving onto the campsite at Priddy which is near Cheddar Gorge. 

15 Sept National Trust at Tyntesfield. and then home

We drove through Cheddar Gorge and then stopped at Tyntesfield. This is a fabulous site near the M5 , and we will definitely sue it as a motorway stop off if we are ever in the area.  It had an interesting gothic themed mansion, an abbey, beautiful grounds and two cafes. After that we got on the M5 and headed home.

Shining Cliff Woods Cromford Canal 11/08/26

 Despite the heat I needed to have a day out walking different from the various footpaths direct from home. Usual route - park up at Ambergate, up to the top of the woods, Alderwadsley, and the back along Cromford Canal.

No pics . About 7 miles.

Parkhouse Hill 26/08/26

 We were in the fifth heatwave of the year , and the day after the hottest day of the year (37 C in Smalley), so it was no surprise that this walk was curtailed. We had originally planned to do Parkhouse Hill and Chrome Hill, but by the time we had slogged up the steep Parkhouse Hill the heat was too much , so we u turned and headed back to the car.

I picked Ben up from Derby at 9.00Am and were parked up at Earl Sterndale by 10.00 AM. Navigation out of the village was easy and soon after crossing a couple of fields we could see the pointy summit of Parkhouse Hill. Although only a small hill in height it is a steep slog to the top. By the time we got to the top we had already decided that Chrome Hill was for another day due to the heat (we were into the 30's). So by the time we got back to Earl Sterndale we had only clocked two miles.

Parkhouse Hill

Chrome Hill

Start of the climb

Chrome Hill from the top

The obligatory summit pic

Nice to get out again , although only briefly !!