A solo van road trip from Bristol to North Devon

I'm really excited that Campervan Hire company Roadsurfer have now opened their Bristol branch making it perfect for road trips in the south west! To celebrate, they sent me on a mission to see where I could travel to in just a short break from Bristol. With a craving for some coastal views and mossy forests I decided to head over to Exmoor and the North Devon coast.

Here’s what I got up to:

DAY ONE

I collected my swanky VW van from the new Bristol depot, picked up a food shop from Bridgwater Sainsbury's and drove straight over to Cloud Farm Campsite right at the foot of the Lorna Doone Valley.

It was a pretty miserable day so I hid away in the van for a while, drinking tea and getting organised, making use of all the great storage in the van. Later in the evening the rain started to ease so I decided to go for a short 5km walk along the Lorna Doone Valley. You can start the walk straight from the campsite by heading over the footbridge and walk along the river on the opposite side. As I didn't have much daylight left I opted to just do a short there-and-back walk up to the site of a Medieval village. The walk follows Badgworthy water, through crooked, mossy trees and up onto the moors where you have a beautiful view of the valley. You could make this a longer circular walk by heading up onto the moors and back to the campsite if you had a bit more time. There are also a few pools deep enough for a dip along the water but the river was too fast flowing from the rain when I was there so opted out of a swim. 

You can follow the walk here

 After the walk I made the classic meal of Tortellini in the van and went to bed all cosied up from the elements outside. 

DAY TWO

I made myself a coffee and packed up the van ready to head to my next location. I needed to get a bit of work done on my laptop so I enjoyed a scenic drive over to Lynton where I did a couple of hours work in a cute cafe called Charlie Friday's before driving along to a car park at the top of Woody Bay for a walk and swim in the tidal pool.

The walk from the car park is stunning, it runs through more mossy forests and the mist had come in so I really felt like I was in a rainforest! It's quite a steep walk down into the bay but can be done along a small, winding road so it's pretty easy going. Once you get to the bay you have to clamber over a few slippery rocks so care should be taken here. 

Woody bay has giant cliffs, a waterfall and a tidal pool as well as remains from a Victorian past. It really is a magical place. You need to time the swim in line with low tide so there is no risk of getting trapped on the beach, you can check tide times here. The tidal pool is stunning and fairly easy to get into, it is deep enough for a swim but it is a small pool so wont be going far! 

Walk: Woody Bay 5km / 3 hours with swim

After the walk I drove over to Little Meadow campsite and set up before walking 20 mins to Sawmills for some grub and then heading back to the campsite to relax and admire the beautiful coastal view. 

DAY THREE

After a slow morning eating brunch and enjoying the views of the campsite I walked over to Broad Sands. This beach has been on my list for a while, the photos I saw of it made it look like a beach in Thailand - and I'm pleased to say it did not disappoint. It takes around 30 minutes to walk from the campsite and you get a stunning birds eye view of the beach on the walk over. Once you have climbed down the 240 steps, the beach is even more epic, surrounded by steep cliffs and and rocky caves, you really do feel like you're in a different country. The bay is perfect to swim in as it's really sheltered and calm and the waters are crystal clear and turquoise - so dreamy! As there is no parking nearby, the beach was pretty quiet and there were moments when I had the whole thing to myself (surprising in the Easter holidays!). I spent a good few hours here swimming in the refreshing sea and soaking up the first bit of sunshine I'd had for a few days. 

Follow the walking route from the campsite to Broad Sands here

After clambering back up the steps I walked back to the campsite where I cooked myself dinner and relaxed for a while. I could see the sunset was going to be a good one so I decided to walk down to the Warren at Watermouth Bay to make the most out of it. It's only a 10 minute walk from the campsite and there's a fun lookout tower to explore as well as stunning sunset views. 

You can follow the route from the campsite to Watermouth Bay here 

DAY FOUR

For my final day I left the campsite early and drove over to Trentishoe down where I parked up to make breakfast and a cuppa with some views, cooing at the cute lambs surrounding the van. After breakfast, I continued onto Heddon's Mouth Valley, which is a national trust place with a cafe and pub as well as an easy river walk to Heddon's Mouth. 

The walk took about an hour and is very accessible. You can follow the walk here. 

After eating some lunch from the NT cafe I made my way back to Bristol, which was about a 2 hour drive. I dropped my van off in the Bristol depot and said goodbye for now (I will definitely be hiring again!)  

There was so much to explore along this coastline I didn’t have nearly enough time to see it all! But 4 days was enough to get a taster for how beautiful and peaceful it is there. 

Please note, this blog was written as part of a paid campaign for Roadsurfer.