From Ilfracombe to Lundy Island

[@PillSharks]

Well researched and I can honestly say I enjoyed watching. I’ve visited a couple of times as a child, leaving Pill, Somerset on sailing boats in our ancestry’s footsteps! Pill was home to the Bristol Channel Pilots and they would use illfracombe and Lundy to shelter from the weather and to get supplies. Illfracombe was a regular stop for them and it’s said that many Pill men married Illfracombe girls over the years. The Pill men of the Pilot boats were notorious for fighting and very protective over their jobs.. one newspaper cutting my mother found was of a Pill man drinking in the Ship and Pilot pub and causing trouble when the bar girl called one of the pilot crew a Pill Shark! Lol. Nowadays a Pill Shark is something we are proud of but back then it was an insult and he smacked the girl to the floor! My own great grandfather, John Dungey was involved in a drunken brawl in the harbour and told to go back to his Pilot cutter.. this was at 10:00 in the morning, this was found in another paper cutting. I still visit both places occasionally in my own boat from Pill, Somerset and the north Devon coastline is truly beautiful.. as for that ridiculous statue, well I’ll be glad when it’s gone!

[@SussexYank]

Thanks for the fascinating family stories!

[@moviebod]

Excellent video thank you. My wife and I lived in Sussex all of our lives until 2020 and we now live 30 miles from Ilfracombe. I am going to stay on Lundy Island in 2024 for two nights and have subscribed.

[@richardbarton2709]

I went there 38 years ago and always remember lying on my stomach on top of the cliff looking down at the sea and visiting the light house and having a pint wonderful place no roads or traffic.

[@foxstrangler]

Good to see this and very informative. I took a boat trip to Lundy in 1974. "Go when the sea is rough at Ilfracombe" they said "It twill be calm at Lundy". Lies, it was much rougher, and the ship had to anchor off. Only the islanders were permitted to disembark. The small ferry vessel was subject to a 20 foot sea state. It also rained the whole trip and I discovered rapidly I did not have sea legs. If I ever get back, it will be helicopter.

[@SussexYank]

OMG, that would have been an "exciting" trip! Having flown in helicopters (in the Army), I found that those can be a bit dodgy sometimes, too.

[@jasonjlloyd]

I had the same rough trip from Bideford and it was quite the test for my stomach.

[@heli-crewhgs5285]

@@SussexYankA stupid, pointless comment.

[@milesbrown8016]

Excellent video 👌🏻

[@prakkari]

Lundi is still the Icelandic name for puffin. There is also an island close to Reykjavik named Lundey.

[@tonyfraser3704]

thank you , fantastic vid

[@jasonjlloyd]

Thank you for this post. I live in Bideford and have been to the island a few times but you gave information regarding Lundy i did not know. I love the boat trip but there is also a very reasonable helicopter service as well from Hartland for those inclined to sea sickness and you wont have to walk up to the village.

[@ajaykumargupta8733]

Amazing sir, thanks ❤

[@Tobberz]

Very nice and informative video

[@SussexYank]

Thanks! I do try to be accurate -- and sometimes I actually succeed!

[@WanderingwithWatto]

Great Film. We have spent countless holidays in the area and your information. Is spot on. Good job 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻.

[@55north17]

Great video.

[@SussexYank]

Thanks!

[@emlynjones5609]

@@SussexYank You were basic, focused and to the point. It was about your subject and not you. not like many others.

[@yogihaughton]

Blimey, the bloke that made this post did his homework 😆

[@madcyclist58]

In modern Welsh it's Cwm (valley).

[@SussexYank]

I found that out in my research, and I probably should have mentioned it. We spent a week in north Wales about two years ago, and I drove my wife to distraction trying to figure out how to pronounce all the lovely Welsh words I found there. We visited Betws-y-coed, stayed at Ruthin Castle, and saw Mount Snowden. We also visited Beddgelert and that was a beautiful town and vicinity. I wouldn't mind living there.

[@wreckedd]

The time of the ferry alternates for Bideford because of the large tidal range here, when there is a low tide the boat would not have access to the quayside.

[@rolandscales9380]

Also used as a base of operations by the Barbary corsairs for their piracy and slaving in the 17th century. Captives were taken from the coasts of Northern Europe and sold in Algiers and Rabat.

[@SetForAdventures]

Lovely film very interesting and factual! I never heard of the statue until now! 🙏🏼 I been to Lundy but have explored islands further north in the Bristol Channel enjoyed subscribed all the best Simon 😊🙏🏼

[@SussexYank]

Thanks, Simon! I've subscribed to your channel now, too. Took me long enough to get around to it!

[@SetForAdventures]

@@SussexYank lol 😂 no problem thanks and hope your doing ok 🙏🏼🤠

[@cogidubnus1953]

Love that statue...haven't a clue as to why the right side should be skinned (unless it's to do with peeling away layers to reveal the ultimate truths) but it's definitely got something - more than the Cuilfail snail anyhow...

[@SussexYank]

Cuilfail snail? Is that the snail thing-a-ma-bob at the roundabout near Lewes?

[@cogidubnus1953]

@@SussexYank That's the thingie...some say it's an ammonite, but it's not like any I've seen, and the locals referred to it as a snail when it was unveiled!

[@pincermovement72]

You forgot to say it was a base of the Barbery pirates

[@SussexYank]

That didn't come up in my research, as it turns out! I wish it had! Thanks for the information!

[@teslaandhumanity7383]

Surprised there isn’t an American army base there .

[@SussexYank]

LOL! We're everywhere, yes. As it turns out, there was a small British Army detachment on the boat with us. You can see one of them through a boat window at 13:57, and the entire detachment is visible exiting the church starting at 17:26. I don't know why they were there, but it was certainly some kind of training exercise.