Instow slipway
This second slipway sits about 200 metres south of Instow's Marine Parade slipway, on the same stretch of Taw-Torridge estuary shoreline. The estuary here is sheltered by sandbanks at its mouth, and North Devon Yacht Club is based in the village.
The Taw-Torridge estuary
The Taw and Torridge join here to form an estuary system covering roughly 100 square kilometres, tidal well above both Barnstaple and Bideford. Its channels, mudflats, saltmarsh and sand spits form a Site of Special Scientific Interest within the North Devon Coast AONB and UNESCO Biosphere, drawing large numbers of wintering wildfowl and waders.
A pair of leading lights on the Instow shore, managed by Trinity House, guides vessels into the estuary; they replaced an earlier pair at Braunton Burrows, demolished in 1957 once that site became unstable. Instow Quay, a Grade II listed structure dating to around 1620, stands nearby, and a summer passenger ferry crosses from it to Appledore.
Paddlers heading out toward open water will meet Bideford Bar at the estuary mouth, a shifting shingle bar with a reputation for heavy breakers on the ebb tide.
Nearby
Public campsite for tents, campervans and touring caravans, beside the Tarka Trail at Yelland.
Conditions to check
The estuary has a large tidal range; Appledore, the standard reference port near the mouth, has a mean high water springs of around 7.5 metres.
SourceMuch of the estuary dries at low water. Boats anchored on the sand off Instow are reachable on foot only at low tide, and otherwise only by dinghy.
SourceA large number of boats lie anchored on the sand off Instow, and a seasonal passenger ferry crosses this stretch of water to Appledore.
SourceNorth Devon Yacht Club, whose clubhouse stands close to this slipway, holds a week of club racing on the estuary each summer.
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