The Tarka Trail - Braunton to Barnstaple

© Automobile Association 2006. © Crown Copyright Licence Number 399221

Getting to the start

Braunton lies on the A361 Barnstaple to Ilfracombe road in north Devon. The car park is signed from the traffic lights in the centre of the village. If approaching from Barnstaple, turn left, and 100yds (91m) later turn left into the car park.

1 The car park marks the site of the old Braunton railway station, closed in 1965. The line - Barnstaple to Ilfracombe - was opened in 1874, and the last train ran in 1970. Cycle to the far end of the car park and turn right into the overflow area. Bear left and leave the car park by the police station (right). Bear right onto Station Road and cycle down it, passing the cycle hire on the left. Turn right into Station Close and then immediately left down a tarmac way. At the end cross the lane; keep ahead through black bollards to cross another lane, with a roundabout right.

2 Follow signs left to pick up the old railway line. Pass a wetland conservation area (left) and pass round a staggered barrier to cross a lane (the wire fences right mark the boundary of RAF Chivenor).

3 (Note: For The Williams Arms turn left here; at the end of the lane cross the A361 with care; the pub is on the other side.) Cycle on to reach a roundabout at the entrance to RAF Chivenor. The church ahead left is St Augustine's at Heanton Punchardon, built by Richard Punchardon (owner of Heanton estate) after his return from the Crusades in 1290. The village, formerly Heanton (Saxon Hantona - High Town) took on his name from that time. Cross the road by the roundabout and keep ahead through a wooded section.

4 Emerge suddenly from woodland onto the Taw Estuary, with far-reaching views. Listen for the oystercatcher's piping call, and watch out for curlew, easily identified by its curving bill. In winter thousands of migrant birds feed on the broad sandbanks here. Pass castellated Heanton Court on the left, a refuge for Royalists in the Civil War. The then owner of the Heanton estate, Colonel Albert Basset, fought for Barnstaple, which eventually fell to the Parliamentarians. Continue along the banks of the Taw to pass the football club (left).

5 Cross arched Yeo Bridge, a swing bridge over a tributary of the Taw, and pass the Civic Centre on the left (cyclists and pedestrians separate here). Bear left away from the river to meet the road. Turn right along the cycle path past old Barnstaple Town Station on the right (the railway reached the south side of the river in 1854, and this side in the early 1870s). Bear right as signed, then left along the quay (note: there is no wall along the edge).

6 Continue on to pass Barnstaple Heritage Centre (left), with its elaborate statue of Queen Anne. The Riverside Café (with cycle racks) lies a few yards along on the left, just before Barnstaple's Long Bridge over the Taw (there has been a bridge here since the 13th century). There is evidence of a settlement at Barnstaple from early Saxon times; trade via the Taw was vital to the town's prosperity for centuries. Queen Anne's Walk marks the site of the Great and Little Quays, once bustling with ocean-going ships, including five bound for Sir Francis Drake's Armada fleet in 1588.