Over the Kipling Tors and through hanging woods to the famous cobbled, traffic-free village of Clovelly.
Highlights
- Kipling Tors
- Clovelly cobbled village
Know before you go
- Clovelly is a privately managed estate village
Climbs 884 m and descends 790 m, topping out at 187 m and dropping to 8 m. Measured along the mapped route.
What you walk on, by distance (from OpenStreetMap way types).
Four axes rated 1–5 — the single rating above is only the headline.
Over the Kipling Tors and through hanging woods to the famous cobbled, traffic-free village of Clovelly.
Places on this leg with a full history, and free audio guides you can read or hear.
Westward Ho! to Clovelly is 11.0 miles (17.8 km). Allow about 6 h 12 min of walking, before stops.
Stage 8 climbs about 884 m and descends about 790 m, with a high point of about 187 m. On the South West Coast Path the ascent, not the distance, is what decides how long a day takes — the route repeatedly drops to sea level and climbs straight back out.
It is graded moderate. Rated out of five: physical demand 3/5 (Moderate), terrain 3/5 (Moderate), navigation 2/5 (Modest), remoteness 2/5 (Modest). On the SAC hiking scale it is T2 — some steep, rough or uneven ground.
By distance the surface is footpath 76%, track 24%. Percentages come from the mapped way types along the route.
March to October is the usual window for this leg. Outside it, daylight is short, some estuary ferries stop running and cliff-top wind and rain make an exposed route much harder work.
Water on this stage is moderate. We map 2 refill points on the leg — mostly pubs, cafés and taps in the villages the path passes through. Shade is minimal: this is open cliff-top walking, so carry more than you think in summer.
Highlights on this leg are Kipling Tors, Clovelly cobbled village. It also passes 1 place we cover in depth: Clovelly. There is 1 free audio guide between them.
Clovelly is a privately managed estate village.