CHAPTER IV. 
CLOVELLY. 
Eight miles of charming Devonshire scenery lie between 
Bideford and the entrance to the carriage-way called the 
‘ Hobby Drive,’ which, on the right, leads out from the high 
road to Clovelly. Keen, indeed, is the enjoyment of the tourist 
who takes this route in the early morning of a hot summer’s 
day ! The remembrance of the noontide heat makes the 
dewy coolness of the early morning all the more refreshing. 
The weather could not have been more glorious than it was 
when, early in the morning of a July day, we left Bideford 
by the mail-cart for the gem of North Devon— enchanting 
Clovelly. 
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We are soon away from Bideford, hurrying along in the 
direction of the seaward side of the kind of peninsula which 
is formed by the waters of Bideford Bay on one side, and the 
river 'Porridge on the other. Now, as we near the bay, its 
blue waters are hidden by a wood which we pass on our right. 
But we have soon got beyond it, and the calm blue water 
again comes within our line of vision. We are not long in 
reaching the wayside village of Fairy Cross, with its cottages 
straggling along the road. The road becomes steep, but 
its hedge-banks are steeper, and we lose for a few moments 
the glorious landscape. But above us is still the blue sky, 
and the hedge-banks on each side of us are rich in leafiness. 
The horses pant with the effort to climb the hill, as the 
ascent becomes yet steeper. But now the hedges to right 
