Tag Archives: photography

Exploring Hope Cove: A Winter Adventure

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I was delighted to be brought to this beautiful part of Devon by my humans.

Hope Cove was once a fishing and smuggling village.  During the 18th and 19th centuries the sheltered harbour provided refuge for boats from storms but they had to be very careful due to the rocky coastline. 

The sun was shining when we arrived so immediately I set off to explore.   A group of humans walking by stopped and took photos of me in the boat!

I set off across the Harbour Beach to walk across the breakwater (sometimes called a mole).  Fortunately there weren’t too many steps up!

After walking along I stopped to look at the view.  The large building is the Cottage Hotel which is quite big to be called a Cottage!

I carefully walked back as falling into water is something to be avoided. I was careful not to get distracted watching the yellow labrador dog in the water.

Back on the beach with the sun making the sea sparkle behind me.

Hope Cove consists of Outer Hope and Inner Hope. It was a short walk along to Inner Hope, and on the way we passed this lovely thatched cottage so I stopped for a quick rest and a photo.

Most of the thatched cottages were in Inner Hope….

I had a good wander around…

Then stopped for a sit down, but the bench wasn’t being warmed by the gentle winter sun so I didn’t stay there for long.

Lots of water from a nearby stream was gushing down next to the lifeboat slipway

There were beautiful calming views of the Harbour Beach to look at on the way back, but I also had to keep an eye on the steps!

A wonderful thing about winter adventures is the lack of humans everywhere. There were a few about as it was a Sunday, but not as many as there would be in summer.

This splendid cottage is in Outer Hope.

We followed the coastal path south, and once up high paused for a while to look at the wonderful view.

South Milton Sands is just over a mile away from Hope Cove and has a long sandy beach.

Even in winter it was relaxing to sit on the sand and look out to sea. The rock in the distance is the Thurle Stone, it has a hole in the middle so looks like an arch when viewed from another direction.

Right next to the beach we found the aptly named Beach House! I had a very yummy slice of carrot cake there…

After walking back to Outer Hope my human suggested a photo, I was a tad tired and kept getting blown over by the wind so I sat down.

Our accomodation was in the Hope & Anchor Inn which overlooks Mouthwell Beach.

The room was very cosy with a large comfortable bed for me to rest my paws on before supper.

My nut roast supper was delicious, but I assure you readers that the Yorkshire pudding really wasn’t as big as my head. The camera did weird things and focused on the things in front of me and made them look bigger.

Going to sleep after such a busy day was no problem at all…

The next day healthy breakfast! Avocado on toast with sundried tomatoes, something I haven’t had before but very tasty.

Before going home I explored Mouthwell Beach which is next to the Hope & Anchor Inn. It was low tide so all the rockpools were exposed.

My human nearly got wet feet while taking this photo, the tide came in over her toes, so we moved back a bit. My wellington boots float when in water as I am not heavy enough to keep them on the ground.

I was able to stand here for a few minutes as the log stopped the water from pushing me over, and I was stood on a sand ridge.

Clambering about over the rocks was fun, though done cautiously just in case as seaweed and algae can be very slippery.

The low tide had exposed lot of creatures that live on the shoreline, including Oarweed (Laminaria digitata), Limpets (Patella vulgata) and periwinkles (Littorina littorea)

I was exploring the little cave when my human called me to take this photo!

Winter is a wonderful time to go to the seaside, it isn’t warm but if you dress appropriately for the weather you can keep warm and have a lovely time and have plenty of room to explore!

I stayed at The Hope & Anchor Inn https://hopeandanchor.co.uk/

Horace the Alresford Bear 12/2/2025

Paddle steaming to Lundy Island on PS Waverley

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The Waverley Paddle Steamer was waiting passengers to arrive at Clevedon Pier.

I hurried along the pier with all the humans to wait in the queue to board the ship.

I found somewhere to sit at the back. The Waverley is the last sea-going paddle steamer in the World, she was built in 1947.

As the ship left the pier I set off to explore.

I decided not to ring the ship’s bell!

The engine room was amazing.

Three huge steel rods turned round and round. They were linked with lots of other bits engine which turned the paddles to propel the ship forwards. When the ship needed to reverse an engineer had to pull levers to make the engine stop. He then started the machinery going again in the opposite direction.

On a ship the Purser looks after all the money.

This is the bar before it filled up with lots humans!

I visited the souvenir shop….

The ship’s captain appeared to say “Hello” and was pleased that I was already wearing a Waverley pin badge (one of my followers kindly sent it to me last year). I decided to buy a fridge magnet for our kitchen notice board.

Back out on the deck I spotted Steep Holm and Flat Holm in the distance. Flat Holm is the flat one on the left. I was very fortunate to visit Flat Holm last year. You can read about my Flat Holm trip here:

While we in the middle of The Bristol Channel passing Barry Island, two lifeboats appeared alongside. The one in front was the old Barry Lifeboat that was being taken out of service, and it was bringing out to sea the new lifeboat that was replacing it.

A cold wind had blown up and I was feeling a bit chilly, so I warmed up by hugging a ventilation shaft which was pleasantly warm!

The Waverley stopped at Ilfracombe Harbour where some passengers got off and more got on. I studied the unusual statue, called Verity, designed by a famous artist Damien Hurst.

After spending another hour or so at sea we arrived at Lundy Island.

Lundy Island is owned by The National Trust, but the Landmark Trust looks after it for them.

We had about 2 hours to explore Lundy. Cimbing up the hill was quite tiring for my little legs but there was a lovely view of the landing stage and lighthouse at the top.

Lots of sheep live on Lundy Island.

Everyone living on Lundy or staying in one of the holiday cottages has to buy their groceries from the General Stores. There was actually quite a good selection of food inside.

There is also a pub, the Marisco Tavern, which serves meals three times a day. We didn’t have time to go in.

I climbed over a stile to see the old lighthouse, which is now holiday accomodation.

A little climb was necessary for me to get a closer look at the blue flowers. I am not sure what they were; if you know do let me know!

Another photo, then it was time to get back to the boat as we didn’t want to be left behind!

Everyone was hurrying to get back onto the ship as we had strict instructions to be back on board before 5.30pm. The Waverley has to work around the tides so timing is very important.

I followed everyone back across the gang plank.

I enjoyed being on Lundy Island and would have liked to stay longer. I am hoping the humans might take me there again to spend a whole day there.

The Dining Saloon was very busy but fortunately we did manage to get some seats. I tucked into a large portion of fish and chips.

It was an interesting but tiring day. It was a long way to Lundy from Clevedon, we were on board the ship for over 12 hours in total! I was a very tired bear when we finally got back to Bristol at Midnight.

For more information about PS Waverley see: https://waverleyexcursions.co.uk/ 

For information about Lundy see https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/lundyisland/

Horace the Alresford Bear 11/6/24