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About Golden Cap | About St Gabriel’s Wood
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We often look for height in our walks, either because the views are usually exceptional or because the great feeling you get when completing a good hike. With a lot of coastal walks, height is usually something you don’t get much of, generally it’s hilly over cliffs or flat across the beach, however with the Golden Cap we managed to get a nice 500m accent in, and even see a deer!
Starting out at Stonebarrow National Trust car park we made our way down one of a number of routes that made its way down the hill towards the coast. It doesn’t really matter which route you take here as they all take you down towards the main coastal path. Once you reach the bottom you join the SW coastal path, we did this moving past a lovely small cottage down a narrow tree lined track and once past the cottage the expansive views really open up.
Moving along this route, there is a lot of up and down as your follow it along. It doesn’t take long to pick out the Golden Cap from here and see where you are going, the view makes it look closer than it actually is, but also makes it seem much steeper. In reality, it’s a steady walk with a bit of a steep bit towards the end. We followed the route along past a few fields of cows (they seem to be here often so if you aren't a fan, maybe try a different route).
Further along we moved through a small wooded section where St Gabriel’s Mouth was to our right, moving over a bit of a muddy section takes you back up again and from here you can clearly see the route up to the top of the Golden Cap. We took our time here rather than press on as quick as possible (something we do all too often on mountains) as the views out to the sea on the right, and also the rolling hills to the left were beautiful. About half way up there was a seat to the right which is where we had some lunch, again looking out to some beautiful views.
Continuing on, it wasn’t long to the top where the best views definitely are, it's quite open so it’s easy to move around and get views looking at a number of different places. This is where we first saw Langdon Hill (another route which we did later that day). Once here we decided we would make our way down the opposite side and head back with a bit of a loop before joining the SW Coast path again. We made our way to the bottom and headed off towards Filcombe wood and the route between it and Langdon hill. As we moved through here, we managed to see a young Deer in the long grass who stood perfectly still for some time (while we decided to take as many photos as we could!) after edging around the woodland, we turned down towards St Gabriel's Wood and made our way through here. This was a nice change of scenery as it was quite heavily wooded, with a small lake and lots of little paths off.
Coming out of the wood, there was a short walk back towards the SW Coast path and once we had joined it, we ended up making our way the same way we came from here, with a slight variation close to the car park as it was much easier. The views on the return route are more of the same (which isn't a bad thing at all) and until the final stages towards the car there is seemingly always something to see.
