1st March 2009.
Not a bad day. The Metcheck forecast was indicating an UV rating of 5. I had not been out to the Ivystone for a while. The Ivystone is situated on the coast, about one and a half miles west of Porlock Weir. You can shorten the trudge along the beach by driving out to Worthy Combe where you can park at the tollgate for a very reasonable price. From here it is about a forty-minute walk. It is not well known but there is a path leading from the first tunnel on the coast path down through the woods, emerging on the beach at Rockford Cottage.
It is very steep just above the ruin, great care is required to avoid finding ones self on the beach much quicker than intended. I have been told that Rockford Cottage was intended to be the home of the butler to Ava Lovelace of early computer fame who resided above at Ashley Combe House. His duties included receiving goods landed on the beach. Another version is that it was built so that the lady of the house could bathe in private. Either way there is still a cleared area for boats or swimming on the beach.
Moving west the erosion of the cliffs continues until you past First Rocks. The wind was cold and from the west. I had done it yet again; I had come to the wrong place. The sun is not high enough yet to peek over the hill, the beach remained in shadow all day while over my shoulder I could see Hurlstone Point bathed in sunlight.
I bashed on towards Culbone Rocks where the stream appeared to be in full flow. The thick rope a few yards to the west of the stream is still in place allowing the fit and strong to pull themselves up into the woods and on to Culbone. On arrival at The Ivystone I noticed a peregrine perched on the very top of the buttress seventy feet above the beach. The tides are quite high at the moment with low water being a long way out. Until Wednesday it should be possible to walk past the sixty-yard frontage of the buttress near or on low water. I played around for a while climbing across the lower part of St Bueno’s slab sheltered from the wind by the buttress. I then climbed to the top of the buttress via the path, which crosses the top of Bueno’s slab.
I was shocked to find that the ridge that runs down on to the top of the buttress had shattered during the winter and the last few feet of the path was missing. Very carefully I crossed the debris on to the top of the buttress where the rock pinnacle is teetering above St Bueno’s slab.
I would be surprised if it remains in place for much longer. The peregrine had flown leaving evidence of many pigeon meals on what is obviously its favourite spot. There are deer droppings on the buttress; they have been on the ridge and down the west side of the buttress to the beach. I climbed on the west side of the buttress on a route named Albatross until the tide receded allowing me to walk back to the east side where I had lunch at the foot of the slab out of the wind in the lee of the main buttress. I had a bag full of heavy climbing equipment. I did not feel like climbing up the ridge
to the coast path so I retraced my steps back along the beach to Worthy Combe and the car.
It is very steep just above the ruin, great care is required to avoid finding ones self on the beach much quicker than intended. I have been told that Rockford Cottage was intended to be the home of the butler to Ava Lovelace of early computer fame who resided above at Ashley Combe House. His duties included receiving goods landed on the beach. Another version is that it was built so that the lady of the house could bathe in private. Either way there is still a cleared area for boats or swimming on the beach. Moving west the erosion of the cliffs continues until you past First Rocks. The wind was cold and from the west. I had done it yet again; I had come to the wrong place. The sun is not high enough yet to peek over the hill, the beach remained in shadow all day while over my shoulder I could see Hurlstone Point bathed in sunlight. I bashed on towards Culbone Rocks where the stream appeared to be in full flow. The thick rope a few yards to the west of the stream is still in place allowing the fit and strong to pull themselves up into the woods and on to Culbone. On arrival at The Ivystone I noticed a peregrine perched on the very top of the buttress seventy feet above the beach. The tides are quite high at the moment with low water being a long way out. Until Wednesday it should be possible to walk past the sixty-yard frontage of the buttress near or on low water. I played around for a while climbing across the lower part of St Bueno’s slab sheltered from the wind by the buttress. I then climbed to the top of the buttress via the path, which crosses the top of Bueno’s slab. I was shocked to find that the ridge that runs down on to the top of the buttress had shattered during the winter and the last few feet of the path was missing. Very carefully I crossed the debris on to the top of the buttress where the rock pinnacle is teetering above St Bueno’s slab. I would be surprised if it remains in place for much longer. The peregrine had flown leaving evidence of many pigeon meals on what is obviously its favourite spot. There are deer droppings on the buttress; they have been on the ridge and down the west side of the buttress to the beach. I climbed on the west side of the buttress on a route named Albatross until the tide receded allowing me to walk back to the east side where I had lunch at the foot of the slab out of the wind in the lee of the main buttress. I had a bag full of heavy climbing equipment. I did not feel like climbing up the ridge to the coast path so I retraced my steps back along the beach to Worthy Combe and the car. 
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