CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Hello and welcome to the National Trust
Podcast. I'm Claire Hickinbotham. A producer of the
National Trust podcast and lover of the great outdoors.
We're giving you another chance to listen to our two-part,
Beginner's Guide to Bikepacking, as we wait for the rest of this
season's new adventures to land.
This is part two of the 36 mile cycle, along the North Cornish
coast. With Jo Dyson, and bikepacking enthusiast and
writer Katherine Moore.
If you missed part one, You may want to catch up with that one
first. But if you already know what they got up to then you're
good to go.
JO DYSON: So what is the normal morning ritual for a bikepacking
trip?
KATHERINE MOORE: It's a really good time for a bit of a
briefing and see what you've got lined up for the day.
I think it would be a good idea to just get out the maps and
have a little look about what we're going to be doing today.
So here we are currently in Bude and I know you're planning on
spending tonight all the way up here over the Devon border in
Peppercombe Bothy.
It seems like there are a couple of national trust beaches that
are accessible from the route that we're going to be taking.
How about visiting Sandymouth? Which will be a detour of about
six miles.
JO DYSON: Sounds a plan.
I've also arranged for us to visit Hawker's Hut, which is the
National Trust's smallest property.
It is looking at the map-
Here!
KATHERINE MOORE: So let's finish up here and get on our bikes
again.
JO DYSON: Can I have that final bit of toast?
KATHERINE MOORE: Yeah, go for it.
So we've been really lucky that the hotel here have let us store
our bikes securely so we didn't have to lock them outside.
JO DYSON: Oh my gosh, they're not our bikes. So where are our
bikes?
There's some cards! "
Jo and Katherine number one." "
Yesterday's hills were not for the faint-hearted."
Yeah, that's right. "
So we have swapped your gravel bikes for electric bikes." "
These should make for a more comfortable and enjoyable ride."
KATHERINE MOORE: Envelope number two.
These Raleigh Motus e-bikes help you speed along the flat and
flatten even the steepest of hills.
That sounds good!
Set your level of resistance and pedal as normal.
Fully charged, you can expect a range of up to 76 miles.
Let's go and see if we can figure them out.
I think it'll be quite good fun to start in turbo so you get
full effect, Jo.
Ready? Let's go!
JO DYSON: Oh my god, I can feel this!
KATHERINE MOORE: You're motoring!
JO DYSON: I'm not really peddling and i'm turboing on!
KATHERINE MOORE: Whoop!
JO DYSON: Wow!
Katherine, this has made a huge difference. Even being on the
flat now in eco mode, I can feel it sort of pulling me along.
KATHERINE MOORE: Yeah, it's incredible, isn't it?
When you see a hill like that one in front of us, you don't
get the same sense of dread!
JO DYSON: Oh, about to try some uphill in turbo!
Oh wow that's amazing!
KATHERINE MOORE: It's just so easy isn't it? It's
mind-blowing!
JO DYSON: Oh my gosh!
KATHERINE MOORE: Not even sweating it's just so easy!
JO DYSON: I'm still peddling and I'm still feeling it in my legs
a bit, but it's just- Totally assisted.
My gosh, this is almost dangerous trying an e-bike
because, I'm not sure if you want to go back. Would you?
Seriously though, for bike touring or bikepacking I mean-
It really is a kind of win-win, isn't it?
KATHERINE MOORE: Yeah.
It's suddenly so sleepy isn't it compared to the hubbub of early
morning Bude. Oh, yes, another person on an ebike!
Morning!
JO DYSON: I think it's the way forward in Cornwall, isn't it?
KATHERINE MOORE: Absolutely!
JO DYSON: Oh here we go, look, left turn to Sandymouth.
And we're just getting down one, beautifully smooth tarmac road
All the way to Sandymouth.
I can see people!
Here we are!
So we've just wheeled our bikes down to the sign at Sandymouth.
And look at this, make the most of Sandymouth.
Go for a walk. Geology rocks! "
Sandymouth is an ideal spot for exploring rock pools." I haven't
been rock pooling since I was about-
I don't know, eight years of age or something.
KATHERINE MOORE: Right, so now we've got the little walk down
to the beach. The sea looks like quite a long way down, so I
think- we'll be going down for a little while!
We're going down through this almost like little valley!
JO DYSON: Like a little ravine.
KATHERINE MOORE: Flanked by grassy banks covered in
wildflowers, aren't they? They're gorgeous.
JO DYSON: Beautiful.
That sign "caution unstable cliffs."
KATHERINE MOORE: There's water cascading off the side of it.
That's probably all of last night's rain!
Look at these surfers, they're having a shower in one of the
cascades coming off the rock face!
Getting all the sand off their boards.
I'm sure just around this corner, we're going to have the
grand reveal of the sea.
There it is!
JO DYSON: Wow.
I can't get over what a huge, expanse of beach it is!
KATHERINE MOORE: It's an amazing contrast, isn't it?
These pebbles to start with. And then the sand right out by the
sea. We've got some proper seaweed here with all the tiny
little bubbles of air that you can pop by standing on them.
JO DYSON: Oh, look at this rock pool over here.
So we're standing at the base of this rock formation jutting out
the sea.
It's probably about three or four meters high and it's
covered in barnacles, whelks-
I think those people are rock. Pooling.
Hello!
We were curious to know what you might be looking at in the
rocks.
GENERIC: We're doing a shore search survey. So the we can
keep track of what's thriving and what's not.
Do you want to have a go at this?
JO DYSON: Yep!
KATHERINE MOORE: What's this up in the crevice up here?
It's a little fish face!
JO DYSON: Oh my gosh! You can see the eyes of the fish and its
mouth!
KATHERINE MOORE: Is it alive?
GENERIC: It's alive. It's-
JO DYSON: How is it alive when it's not in the water? It's in
the rock.
GENERIC: I think it breathes through its skin. It's called a
Shanny. It might be a Blenny. They're all related. And they
are very territorial.
JO DYSON: It's really staring us out, isn't it?
GENERIC: He's keeping his place on his rock.
So he will swim around this rock when the tide is in.
This will be his patch and that's his hidey hole while the
tide's out.
JO DYSON: What is this that looks like a sort of brown wine
gum or a little jelly?
GENERIC: That's a sea anemone. So this is an animal that when
the water is in, will open up like a flower with tentacles.
I happen to know there's one around the corner that's open in
the sand you can have a look at it.
There's just one there in the sand. It looks like a flower.
He's got his arms out.
KATHERINE MOORE: In the water.
JO DYSON: Oh, that is the same thing, is it?
Yeah.
It almost looks like seaweed.
GENERIC: It's a circle of-
JO DYSON: Tentacles?
GENERIC: Tentacles, yes. And they're called beadlets because
at the base of the beadlet, they have a little blue poison sack
which holds the sting.
It's not powerful enough to hurt you or me.
KATHERINE MOORE: Is that to catch prey?
GENERIC: Yeah, so they'll eat fish and little shells and
prawns-
KATHERINE MOORE: That'll eat a fish?!
GENERIC: Yeah.
KATHERINE MOORE: Wow.
It looks so harmless, doesn't it?
GENERIC: Yes.
Let me see if I can stroke it.
Yeah, look, it's feeling me.
And is folding his tentacles in.
JO DYSON: What does it feel like?
Slightly sticky.
It's absolutely fascinating, isn't it? Because as we walk
towards this rock face, it just looks like a big inanimate
object.
And as you get close and you're talking us through it, it's
actually all alive.
GENERIC: It's covered with living things.
JO DYSON: Yes.
Thank you so much. I can see you're busy, so we won't take
any more of your time but thank you.
GENERIC: It's been great talking to you.
JO DYSON: Have a good day.
KATHERINE MOORE: Okay, so our next stop is going to be
Hawker's Hut. It's about six miles from here.
But I think it's going to take us about an hour or so because
remember that massive hill to get down here?
Well, we've got to go back up it!
JO DYSON: But don't forget we've got E-bikes now and I never
thought I would say this but race you?
KATHERINE MOORE: Ready? Steady?
JO DYSON: Woohoo! I'm off!
So we've been cycling for about 25 minutes and our surroundings
have completely changed.
We're in an area that feels as though we're not supposed to be
here.
All this sort of wire fencing and enormous satellite dishes.
They must be the size of a couple of double decker buses
some of them.
KATHERINE MOORE: This place is incredibly hard to miss.
It's actually been operational since the 60s. But it was only
in 1982 that it was officially acknowledged.
And only really recently, in 2001, they even had a sign put
up explaining what it is.
JO DYSON: GCHQ Bude.
So this is part of the intelligence service. But why is
it here in Cornwall?
KATHERINE MOORE: Well for a start it's pretty remote. But
the real reason is that it's close to where the old
transatlantic telegraph cables used to land.
And believe it or not, it's also the point where you can get
aerial satellite line of sight from both the Atlantic and
Indian Oceans.
Each one of these satellites also has a name.
JO DYSON: That big one over there looks a bit like a Barry.
KATHERINE MOORE: Ha ha!
JO DYSON: Don't you think so?
KATHERINE MOORE: No, I don't think so.
JO DYSON: Definitely a Barry.
As we get closer to Hawker's Hut, the roads are getting much
narrower and closer. We're in a real kind of tree tunnel now,
aren't we?
KATHERINE MOORE: I think I just saw a sign for Crosstown as
well, so I think we're really close.
Right, so we'll have to pause here because there's a sign
saying no road for cars and bikes. This is where it turns
into the coastal footpath.
So let's leave the bikes here and we'll continue on foot to
get down to Hawker's Hut.
Cattle grazing? I wonder what we might find in here?
JO DYSON: It's difficult to imagine what sort of National
Trust property might be at the end of this path.
KATHERINE MOORE: Yeah, it feels so remote doesn't it?
JO DYSON: It really does.
KATHERINE MOORE: So we've had 30% gradients. And some pretty
tricky descents too. And now we've got the next obstacle.
Looking straight at us.
JO DYSON: Are we gonna walk through them or round them?
They're not sure, are they?
KATHERINE MOORE: Which way are you going?
We'll be fine if we stick on this side.
Hello lovelies!
Alright.
JO DYSON: They were very curious.
All I can see ahead of me is cliffs, sea and no buildings at
all.
I mean, we really are nearly at the cliff edge.
Well look, the Coastal Path is weaving to the left there with
the yellow arrow?
KATHERINE MOORE: Aha!
Oh, and it says hawker's hut!
JO DYSON: On the map, it looks like we're kind of getting close
to the spot doesn't it?
KATHERINE MOORE: This must be not only the National Trust's
smallest property, but maybe The National Trust's best hidden
property too.
Oh! That must be it.
JO DYSON: Hawkers Hut!
KATHERINE MOORE: So there's just a single piece of slate, next to
a wall?
Through this tiny little gap in the stone wall.
JO DYSON: Oh my god.
KATHERINE MOORE: Down some steps. We are literally on the
cliff edge now.
JO DYSON: A sheer drop.
KATHERINE MOORE: What a view!
JO DYSON: What a view!
Hello! You must be Jeff?
JEFF CHERRINGTON: Hello. Welcome!
KATHERINE MOORE: Wow, look at this!
JEFF CHERRINGTON: This is Hawker's Hut. Smallest property
the National Trust looks after.
Completely wooden.
KATHERINE MOORE: What a place! Right in the hillside. It
reminds me of Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit.
JEFF CHERRINGTON: The tour will be very short.
That's that then. Thanks very much.
KATHERINE MOORE: What a place.
JO DYSON: Wow. May I go in?
JEFF CHERRINGTON: Yeah, shall we?
JO DYSON: Yeah.
JEFF CHERRINGTON: After you.
KATHERINE MOORE: Will all three of us fit in there?
JEFF CHERRINGTON: With a squeeze.
JO DYSON: Wow!
KATHERINE MOORE: Incredible!
JO DYSON: We're essentially in what feels like a little shed
with a really rather beautiful wooden stable door looking
straight out to the sea.
I can put my arms out either side and I am touching the
walls. And I can touch the ceiling as well when sat down.
But all over the walls have got so many carvings.
KATHERINE MOORE: Even the seats that we're sat on which are kind
of half bus stop-esque and half like a church pew.
JO DYSON: Yes.
KATHERINE MOORE: Every single surface is covered.
JO DYSON: Dating back to 2009.
KATHERINE MOORE: Look this one's 1977.
D H R H.
JEFF CHERRINGTON: The really ornate carving is the older
carving.
So when you get to the more modern age, it tends to be more
felt-tip pen, bit of a scratch.
And the handwriting, I have to say, not as good in the modern
times.
JO DYSON: So what's the story behind the hut Jeff?
JEFF CHERRINGTON: So Reverend Hawker, Robert Stephen Hawker.
He was the vicar here in Morwenstow. The hut was his
place away from it all. Robert Stephen Hawker, he's well known
in the area, so anyone who comes to stay, visit, live, instantly
you hear about Hawker because he's so eccentric.
One of nine children, so you think busy old household.
Just to stand out, you have to do something a bit crazy you
know, running away from school, running away from home.
He used to dress as a mermaid down on the beach.
So you'd have one of those big, long wigs on he'd be wearing the
bottom half of a mermaid outfit and strumming a guitar
apparently just to get the eye of passers-by.
In Victorian times, he would have certainly caught the eye of
everybody in the area.
It's quite strange that somebody with those eccentricities would
go into religion.
He was a man of the cloth. You might have thought of somebody
in a sort of somber garb.
But he was quite the opposite you know he'd have a bright
purple cassock. He'd have a pink hat. Bright socks.
He was well known for mixing with various animals. They had
nine cats.
A stag.
A pig that he used to walk around the parish on the lead
with.
They owned a dog.
They were part of his family.
So he would allow them to come to church. And be part of the
congregation. But they were all subject to the same rules and
regulations. [
GENERIC: Actor] "Felix, stop that!" [
Actor] "Will you please leave the congregation."
JEFF CHERRINGTON: For example, one of the cats was
excommunicated. Because it went catching mice on a Sunday.
So, you know, there were strong ethics in the man. [
GENERIC: Actor] "Now, where were we?"
JEFF CHERRINGTON: So, yeah, certainly stood out from your
average man in black.
For all his eccentricities, Hawker was very compassionate.
He was known to have deep feelings for any of his fellow
men.
For example, in 1842, the Caledonian ran ashore on
Sharpnose Point in Morwenstow.
The parishioners rescued one person and a tortoise.
Unfortunately, everybody else perished.
At that time, shipwreck sailors were put where they lay dead.
Either they went out to sea or they were buried on the beach.
But Hawker had the bodies brought back to the church and
gave them a Christian burial.
Hawker was known for looking out for Sailors lost from
shipwrecks.
There was the Caledonia. Couple years before was the Alonso.
When the timbers came ashore from that one. He had them
brought up to the top and made Hawker's Hut from them.
If you go there now, you can see that those timbers are still
obvious ships timbers.
Large ships nails that had been bashed into the side to hold
them in the shape of a hut.
And he made that his refuge really.
So he would walk out to the hut.
Smoke his bit of opium in his clay pipe.
And write poetry.
The hut faces due west, so every night he could have gone there
and watched the sunset over the Atlantic.
And perhaps that was his place where he went for a bit of
solitude to get away from everyone.
JO DYSON: Some of these stories Jeff, sound so far-fetched. I
just wonder how many have evolved over the years.
JEFF CHERRINGTON: Some of those things were recorded, so maybe
they've just been embellished slightly more since.
JO DYSON: Jeff, we could sit here talking to you all day.
But Katherine's lined up 15 miles for us to do from here. So
I think we might have to tear ourselves away.
JEFF CHERRINGTON: Oh, well. Look. Have a really good trip
going forward. Thank you very much.
JO DYSON: Thank you. I think it's going to be hilly.
JEFF CHERRINGTON: Yeah, the thigh burners of North Cornwall.
JO DYSON: Yeah, is that what it's called?
JEFF CHERRINGTON: Yeah.
JO DYSON: Hawker's Hut is such a contrast to so many of the other
properties that the National Trust looks after.
I mean, even though it sort of resembles a small shed.
You know, the stories we heard about it are on par with some of
the most celebrated big country parks the National Trust looks
after.
KATHERINE MOORE: Yeah, I absolutely love it, even though
it's teeny, teeny tiny.
JO DYSON: Katherine, we left our electric bikes here, but now the
two bikes from yesterday are here.
KATHERINE MOORE: Oh, okay.
JO DYSON: So it's four bikes. And a card. "
Jo and Katherine, number three." "
Now that you have experienced long distance cycling on
traditional gravel bikes and an electrically assisted bike you
now have the choice to choose which bikes you will use to
continue your journey."
Oh!
I think I might choose the electric.
KATHERINE MOORE: Yeah, I mean, they are so convincing once
you've been up some of these really steep Cornish hills.
Thankfully, I've got a little bit less to go, so I might go
for my gravel bike.
Right then, Jo. I hate goodbyes, but I've got a crack on. Have a
fantastic rest of your trip.
And thank you so much for brilliant last two days. It's
been a blast.
JO DYSON: It really has been fun, but thank you.
Thanks for choosing such a brilliant route.
KATHERINE MOORE: Brilliant. Enjoy.
JO DYSON: Cycle safe, bye.
KATHERINE MOORE: Bye.
JO DYSON: Often at the National Trust, we talk about how The
National Trust looks after every one in 10 miles of British
coastline.
But actually, it's only when you're out here in the landscape
that you realize what an undertaking that is.
These really, really special places that are then here for us
all to experience and enjoy.
So the next and final stop for me is the Peppercombe Bothy.
Also looked after by the National Trust.
So turbo mode engaged. And off I go!
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: We hope you enjoyed this episode of the
National Trust Podcast. Brought to you in association with
Raleigh.
We'll be back with new episodes at the beginning of September
when we'll be bringing you a new two-parter, this time exploring
Northern Ireland.
To make sure you get episodes of the National Trust Podcast, you
can follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcast.