Day Two - Porlock Weir to Lynmouth. 19.4km (12.1miles).
Walking time 5:00hrs.
Saturday 08 March 2014
Yesterday I headed to Porlock, parked the car there, then walked down to Porlock Weir to pick up where I left off last Saturday. No photographer on hand this time to record the moment, but then Day Two of anything is never as seminal as the first.
What a beautiful day! If all my SWCP days are going to be like this I'm going to have a ball. I'm enjoying it whilst it lasts knowing I'll have days of head down in the wind and rain.
The route takes you up through Worthy Wood to Worthy Toll gate, a £2 honesty box.
Enjoyed the mossy tunnels and was particularly delighted to see someone had cleared the benchmark so it was easy to spot.
These things make me happy.
Next was Culbone Church whose fame is for having the smallest Parish in England.
I elected the lower, wooded, route. The weather was plenty fine enough for it and although the views were more limited than if I'd taken the top path, I believe this is the original route. It was then kms of wooded undulation broken by coombes. It was easy to keep track of where I was as I would time myself from coombe to coombe on a very rough and ready reckoner of 3km/hr (although I tend to walk faster than this). The signs were sometimes baffling - "Lynmouth 10.5 miles" said one sign followed by the next, ~30 mins later, stating "Lymouth 11 miles" (no, I wasn't going backwards). I use the signs as a rough indicator but not as accurate survey markers.
Coffee break at Steeple Stort.
And evidence that I was really there ;-)
Just as you leave Somerset you find Sister's Fountain. I didn't spot it until I wondered what the pond was and then realised I was standing next to it.
Easy to pick the wrong path from this point: go seawards but keep on the rising path. Lovely views looking back east.
And in a moment you get to the boars.
My first view of Lynmouth Bay.
Looking back towards Foreland Point. You can see the evidence of the sea defence gun placements.
I arrived at Lynmouth 1515. Low tide obviously.
Due to the vageries of the bus timetables I hadn't been able to do my preferred option, which was to leave the car at Lynmouth and take the bus to Porlock Weir. In fact the bus only goes to Porlock, which is why I left the car there and walked an extra couple of km at the start of the day. The bus to Porlock left at 1430 or 1705 so I had plenty of time to kill. Lynmouth is a lovely village noteworthy for the devasting floods of 1952. I enjoyed wandering around in the sun,
drinking copious amounts of tea and benchmark spotting (Lynmouth Church).
The Quantock Motors bus service 300 took me back to Porlock. I love the sign.
So Day Two passed without incident. I have passed from Somerset to Devon. Didn't take long to knock Somerset on the head. Devon (twice) and Cornwall will take much, much longer. It was my first day walking alone which I was a tad nervous about. Would I be kidnapped? Would I go mad with the loneliness? But I actually really enjoyed walking by myself. I loved being able to go exactly at my pace, stop when I wanted to and mutter distances to myself without seeming mad. Just as well as there is a lot more single walking ahead.
Walking time 5:00hrs.
Saturday 08 March 2014
Yesterday I headed to Porlock, parked the car there, then walked down to Porlock Weir to pick up where I left off last Saturday. No photographer on hand this time to record the moment, but then Day Two of anything is never as seminal as the first.
What a beautiful day! If all my SWCP days are going to be like this I'm going to have a ball. I'm enjoying it whilst it lasts knowing I'll have days of head down in the wind and rain.
The route takes you up through Worthy Wood to Worthy Toll gate, a £2 honesty box.
Enjoyed the mossy tunnels and was particularly delighted to see someone had cleared the benchmark so it was easy to spot.
These things make me happy.
Next was Culbone Church whose fame is for having the smallest Parish in England.
I elected the lower, wooded, route. The weather was plenty fine enough for it and although the views were more limited than if I'd taken the top path, I believe this is the original route. It was then kms of wooded undulation broken by coombes. It was easy to keep track of where I was as I would time myself from coombe to coombe on a very rough and ready reckoner of 3km/hr (although I tend to walk faster than this). The signs were sometimes baffling - "Lynmouth 10.5 miles" said one sign followed by the next, ~30 mins later, stating "Lymouth 11 miles" (no, I wasn't going backwards). I use the signs as a rough indicator but not as accurate survey markers.
Coffee break at Steeple Stort.
And evidence that I was really there ;-)
Just as you leave Somerset you find Sister's Fountain. I didn't spot it until I wondered what the pond was and then realised I was standing next to it.
Easy to pick the wrong path from this point: go seawards but keep on the rising path. Lovely views looking back east.
And in a moment you get to the boars.
My first view of Lynmouth Bay.
Looking back towards Foreland Point. You can see the evidence of the sea defence gun placements.
I arrived at Lynmouth 1515. Low tide obviously.
Due to the vageries of the bus timetables I hadn't been able to do my preferred option, which was to leave the car at Lynmouth and take the bus to Porlock Weir. In fact the bus only goes to Porlock, which is why I left the car there and walked an extra couple of km at the start of the day. The bus to Porlock left at 1430 or 1705 so I had plenty of time to kill. Lynmouth is a lovely village noteworthy for the devasting floods of 1952. I enjoyed wandering around in the sun,
drinking copious amounts of tea and benchmark spotting (Lynmouth Church).
The Quantock Motors bus service 300 took me back to Porlock. I love the sign.
So Day Two passed without incident. I have passed from Somerset to Devon. Didn't take long to knock Somerset on the head. Devon (twice) and Cornwall will take much, much longer. It was my first day walking alone which I was a tad nervous about. Would I be kidnapped? Would I go mad with the loneliness? But I actually really enjoyed walking by myself. I loved being able to go exactly at my pace, stop when I wanted to and mutter distances to myself without seeming mad. Just as well as there is a lot more single walking ahead.
Your grandfather was staying with Cicely somewhere round Lynton and is rather proud of the fact that his was the first car into Lynmouth after the floods. What good that did I have never found out, Dad.
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