Hartland Quay & Spekes Mill Mouth
This is a place reminding you that beauty and terror go hand in hand by water. A steep winding road climbs down to Hartland Quay. We parked up at the end and were met by the prevailing north-west wind. Raging waves thundered against the cliffs and white surf frothed at their feet. A bone-smattered landscape. The tide peels back expanses of sand and protruding fingers of jagged rock running out into the water. These ridges beneath the sea have wrecked many ships over the centuries. As one of Britain's most renowned shipwreck coasts, the shores are patrolled by phantoms abandoned to the waves.
The Hartland coastline is the place to go for dramatic cliff folds, faults and fossils, the result of forces beneath the earth's surface some 300 million years ago. Hartland Quay perches just above the waves a few miles south of Hartland Point. On the rocky shore you can just make out the remains of the old 16th century harbour, swept away by violent storms in 1887. When the tide is out here, the cove exposes some interesting rock pools and a sandy beach, reached easily via the slipway. The views and geometric rock formations are worth the journey alone. However, the huddle of yellow cottages is also home to a great pub and fascinating little museum.
I can’t think of a more suitable location for a Shipwreck Museum than upon the cliffs here. The museum now occupies two upper rooms of the old customs house from the once bustling quay. It is privately-run and open seasonally from Easter until October, with a small admission fee to cover running costs. Displays tell the local stories of shipwrecks, smuggling, wrecking and rescues, as well as coastal trade, industry and geology. It is crammed with beautiful yet harrowing black and white photographs of many shipwrecks, artefacts salvaged from them, rescue equipment and model ships. I found it to be a real atmospheric treat, studying the photographs in a space where you could glance out the window to the Atlantic coastline where they were captured. A little treasure trove that should not be missed.
Following a pint at the Wreckers Retreat, we picked up the coastal path as it heads south. After a chat with a lovely lady working at the museum, we had been advised to follow the path for around 20 minutes in order to seek out a waterfall known as Speke’s Mill Mouth. From the car park the trail leaves the quay through a section of nature reserve. It hugs the cliff before dropping down to a grassy ledge and skirting the base of St Catherine's Tor, a giant slab of rock that stands up to the constant torments of the sea. It is believed that a 14th century chapel stood at the summit of the tor. Nothing visible remains of it, however debris found on the beach after the ravages of coastal erosion has indicated that a religious building was once here.
The springy grass that we crossed filled the air with the smell of wild thyme and the valleys were carpeted with colourful banks of wildflowers. It is a beautiful stretch of the South-West Coastal Path. A course of a stream that used to run into the sea from Hartland Quay now cascades from the moorland to the shore as a series of waterfalls. Climbing the cliff to the south from the tor, a vantage point reveals Speke’s Mill Mouth, the highest waterfall in the South West. It plummets down a sheer 60-foot cliff face, tumbling onto the rocks below as a series of falls with a deep plunge pool. The recent heavy rainfall and wind meant that it was flowing with raging muddied water, so unfortunately a swim wasn’t on the cards that day. Instead we took to the wild beach below. Here sand drifts between the rocks and there are large pools and many formations to explore. We beachcombed along the pebbles searching for any thrown-up bounty and sat for some time transfixed by a surfer taking on the powerful waves breaking over the reef.
Walking back to the car, our hands were stained by all the blackberries foraged along the way. I was in awe of this sea-dissected valley with its savage cliffs. Hartland is one of the boldest headlands that I have come across with a real foreboding sense about it. On wild days it is the ideal place to view the power of the wind and waves.
