Devon & Cornwall – Day 3

For our third day in Devon & Cornwall we headed to the north Cornish coast to visit four stations.

Bude Lifeboat Station

Our first stop was Bude. As we pulled into the carpark adjacent to the Lifeboat Station we noticed several brave souls preparing for morning swims, paddleboarding and body boarding. It was sunny and warm and the beach looked inviting. We had a wander along the beach as we were a little early before heading to the unique looking circular station.

We arranged to meet with Richard Chown, a local lifeboat enthusiast who collects station mugs. It was lovely to meet him after we had helped to addd to his huge collection by sending a couple of stragglers he had previously not been able to obtain.

We were met at the open doors by volunteer crew members Liam, Mark and John who showed us around the station built in 2003. We had a great chat with the guys as we were shown around and they explained some of the history of Bude Lifeboat. There has been a lifeboat present in Bude since 1837 with the RNLI taking over in 1851. The boathouse has been located in several places around the estuary of the river Neet but also at the canal lock which opens into the sea. The station closed in 1923 before a new Inshore Lifeboat station was established in 1966. This too was located adjacent to the lock and the boat launched over the beach. Operations were then moved to their current location at Summerleaze Beach.

At the time of our visit the station was housing an D-Class from the relief fleet. Several relief lifeboats of each class are held on service and used at stations when their allocated boats are sent for maintenance or refurbishment for long periods. We saw D-826, Barbara Anne Bennett.

The allocated new D-Class for Bude is D-888 Ronald and Marjorie Stanley Taylor and was away for some repairs when we visited.

Previous to that, Bude’s D-Class was D-756 George Bird until 2024 when this was removed from service and transferred to Appledore to be used as a boarding boat for their All Weather Tamar Class.

After learning about the history of the Inshore Lifeboats, we were shown a unique rescue Jetski one of only a few operated by a lifeboat station rather than RNLI Lifeguards. Due to the nature of the beaches in the area and the type of rescue carried out, both the Lifeguard and Station jetskis are kept busy through the season.

A very interesting visit and thank you to Liam, Mark and John for taking time to meet with us. After a visit to the shop to say hello and purchase a pin badge we headed to our next station.

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Port Isaac Lifeboat Station

About 25 miles south along the coast from Bude is the beautiful ancient fishing village of Port Isaac. Access to the harbour is extremely limited and so we parked a few minutes walk outside of the village and walked down the steep cobbled streets to the Lifeboat Station.

Unfortunately we had not been able to make contact with anyone at the station. The station doors were open so we took our photos and headed over to the nearby shop which was closed.

The lifeboat station was built at Port Isaac in 1867. The rowing lifeboat Richard and Sarah was kept in a boat house on Fore Street, from where it had to be taken through the narrow streets of the village on a carriage to be launched. This original station is now a shop and on the way back to the car we stopped and had a lovely chat with the owner who explained the history of the station. A new lifeboat station was built in 1927 next to the beach but this closed in 1933. The Inshore Lifeboat has been stationed at Port Isaac from 1967. Since 1993 it has been kept in the current boathouse built in 1927. Some buildings in the harbour date back to early Tudor period and there are some fantastic old buildings along the narrow streets.

The Port Isaac D-Class is Pride of Port Isaac (D-843) which has been on station since 2019.

On the way out of the village we stopped at a lovely café for some lunch and met Clive the Gnome who also helps raise funds for the RNLI.

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Rock Lifeboat Station

Our next location was Rock, across the River Camel from the town of Padstow. The lifeboat station is at the mouth of the river. At the shop we met Tina who kindly showed us the station and their D-Class lifeboat Rusper II (D-772) and launch tractor.

The river estuary has many treacherous sand bars and at low tide it is almost possible to walk across to Padstow apart from a deeper channel which allows the small passenger ferry to access the harbour. The station was opened in 1994 initially for a temporary trial but a year later was made permanent. By 1997 the new station had been completed to house the D-Class.   

After a delicious Ice-Cream we headed for our final location of the day.

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Padstow Lifeboat Station

The Padstow Lifeboat Station is located about 5 miles outside of the town of Padstow at Trevose Head. We knew that we would be unable to get access to the station due to damage to the steps from a rock fall a couple of years ago and unstable cliff conditions.

We had made contact with the full time Coxwain Richard who gave us instruction where to park due to the construction work in the station carpark and a number  to call when we arrived. We parked in the suggested location and called the station where 2nd Coxwain and Mechanic Michael agreed to come up to the carpark to meet us.

Padstow is one of those iconic stations nestled in the cliff with a long deepwater slipway, a beautiful location. The station is one of the oldest in Cornwall being established in 1827. The original 1829 station was located in Hawker’s Cove and can still be seen. In 1856, the RNLI took over the station from the Padstow Harbour Association. Boats remained at Hawker’s Cove until 1967 when operations were moved to a new station at Trevose Head. The current larger boathouse was built in 2006 to house the Tamar class boat.

Although we were unable to see her and take photos the current boat is 16-04 Spirit of Padstow. Once the construction works are completed and access is once again possible, we will definitely return for a look around this iconic station.

We thanked Michael for taking the time to come up and meet with us and allowing us the opportunity for a fence-free photo of the station. Richard was busy jet washing the slipway and we asked Michael to thank him for the arrangements.