Porlock to Lynmouth 20km, 962m ascending, 1518m accumulative, highest point 310m

We have reached the double decker towns of Lynmouth and Lynton. Lynmouth is on the coast at the mouth of the River Lyn and has a little harbour. Lynton is at the top of a 500 foot vertical cliff overlooking Lynmouth. We are staying at the Lorna Doone Guesthouse in Lynmouth. Lorna Doone is a romantic novel published in 1869 about a group of historical characters set in the 17^th century in Devon and Somerset, particularly the Lyn Valley area.

Our B & B for last night was about a kilometre off the SWCPath and so this morning we had to retrace our steps from Porlock down to the coast past the yummy blackberry bushes. To get to Porlock Weir, a tiny hamlet with a tiny boat harbour, we had to walk along the shingle ridge that I mentioned yesterday. This was hard work on boulders the size of large grapefruit that moved when ever you put some weight down on them.

From Porlock Weir we turned inland and some big climbs to the top of high cliffs where Exmoor meets the sea. The path was through dense woodland with only occasional glimpses of the sea. The first highlight was the charming tiny church of Culbone. It is the smallest complete parish church in England and seats a congregation of 30. It is extremely old and is one of the few churches in The Doomsday Book of 1086. One of the noticeable things about the church is the high number of headstones with the surname ‘Red’. Nicholas Red was a churchwarden in 1856 and it is his descendants that populate the grave yard. It is believed the name Red is the inspiration for the Ridds in the novel Lorna Doone.

After the church we again had a choice going uphill inland near farmland, with good views or downhill hugging the coast. Both paths were largely through woodland and today we went for the inland path. It was very pretty through twisted oak and then rhodendron trees and after yesterday getting sun burned we were happy to be out of the sun. For about a mile the path was extremely muddy and cut up as big machinery was being used logging the large trees at the side of the path. Whenever walkers approached all the machines stopped to let them by. We seemed to have the right of way. The last two hours were out in the open climbing steep hills that gave spectacular views back to Porlock Weir and ahead to Lynton and Lynmouth. We were tired by now and fortunately the last couple of kilometres were all downhill on a nice soft track.

Lynmouth suffered a major disaster in 1952. The river and town are in a steep sided valley and following a fortnight of torrential downpours, a cloudburst unleashed nine inches of rain on Exmoor that sent a wall of water cascading towards the unsuspecting village. Thirty four people lost their lives and sixty buildings were destroyed.

It was warm again today. Overcast to start with but sunny most of the day and very windy on the high cliffs. Just as we got into Lynmouth the weather changed and now it is light drizzling rain.

There was no where on the route today to buy food so we ordered a packed lunch at the Sea View B & B. At six pounds each we at first though it was expensive but the home made chicken pie was delicious – chock full of vegetables as well as meat. I don’t know why all packed lunches seem to include salty chippies. These are about the last thing you want on a long hot walk.