Day 3 of the Longest Walk
23/Aug/12 Filed in: South West Coastal Path
Not looking forward to the climb.
Before I start I have to correct Day 1 with reference to the height we climbed up Burgundy Chapel Combe, I said we climbed 210 feet, I should have said mtrs!
This morning we weren’t particularly looking forward to the climb from Lynmouth up to Lynton, we went over the railway on 3 occasions, I’ve included the last bridge crossing over the railway in the images I’ve posted, it’s long way down you know.
We hit the hill only 6 mins after leaving the River Lyn View B&B which was extremely comfortable and the breakfast beat both of us, the bucket of tea and coffee we had must have been a record in itself.
Once we had reached Lynton we headed on the SWCP* out towards The Valley of the Rocks were ferrel goats and more of the famous Exmoor Ponies wandered. We didn’t stay too long in the valley however we did climb up to Castle Rock, you can see the goats and a wide shot of Castle Rock and a famous shot that you’ll see elsewhere when people refer to Castle Rock in the images I’ve uploaded..
We then headed down a short stretch of road toward Lee Abbey and round to Crock Point again I’ve uploaded an image looking back from here toward Lee Abbey.
The walk was relatively easy (apart from the early climb to Lynton) but we were now entering into a wooded part toward Woody Bay which was very undulating, this gave us some great views until we came to a waterfall before the walk became a little easier, and from here and through Heddon’s Mouth the views were pretty spectacular both up and down the coast, but this also meant a climb up 900 feet (274 mtrs) in a short distance to Peter Rock, oxygen intake the order of the day here.
It was around this point where we with two other sets of walkers and we kept passing each other, it almost felt like we were in a relay race. Oddly we hadn’t really came across too many other coastal walkers up to this point, most had seemingly been locals or what we’d call day walkers.
We then headed toward the highest point on the SWCP* Great Hangman Hill I’ve linked to a 360 I took at the top. The walk toward Great Hangman took us down into Sherrycombe where there is a waterfall, which apparently saw during WWII a German U-Boat replenish it’s fresh water supply the climb up from Sherrycombe was steep at first but plateaued out and was easier as we neared the peak.
We walked on from here to Little Hangman which gave great views toward Combe Martin and the bay.
I’ll mention here that we meet some walkers before heading down into Sherrycombe who are from Devon and shamed us as they had actually done around 400 miles of the SWCP*, we chatted for a while feeling very jealous, but not so jealous as they still had a way to go before reaching Lynmouth, hopefully they did before dark.
We arrived at our next B&B Blair Lodge Guest House where again a warm welcome with tea and cakes from Rachel and Nick.
So far all of the accommodation has been 4 star rated and they have all lived unto that reputation. Another well done to Lets Go Walking who have created a great intinerary with some places to stay.
Again there was a lot of scree along the walk created by Ice Age action some 10,000 years ago.
*SWCP = South West Coastal Path
A few stats.
5 hours 55 mins walking. Total 15 hours 50 mins
14 miles Distance, including longer route taken, I may adjust those figures when I can accurately measure the distance. Total 38 Miles
Total time out including stops photo opportunity, enjoying tea and cake, 7 hours 10 mins. Total 21 hours 40 mins.
(corrected to 14 ½ Miles Total 24 Miles)
This morning we weren’t particularly looking forward to the climb from Lynmouth up to Lynton, we went over the railway on 3 occasions, I’ve included the last bridge crossing over the railway in the images I’ve posted, it’s long way down you know.
We hit the hill only 6 mins after leaving the River Lyn View B&B which was extremely comfortable and the breakfast beat both of us, the bucket of tea and coffee we had must have been a record in itself.
Once we had reached Lynton we headed on the SWCP* out towards The Valley of the Rocks were ferrel goats and more of the famous Exmoor Ponies wandered. We didn’t stay too long in the valley however we did climb up to Castle Rock, you can see the goats and a wide shot of Castle Rock and a famous shot that you’ll see elsewhere when people refer to Castle Rock in the images I’ve uploaded..
We then headed down a short stretch of road toward Lee Abbey and round to Crock Point again I’ve uploaded an image looking back from here toward Lee Abbey.
The walk was relatively easy (apart from the early climb to Lynton) but we were now entering into a wooded part toward Woody Bay which was very undulating, this gave us some great views until we came to a waterfall before the walk became a little easier, and from here and through Heddon’s Mouth the views were pretty spectacular both up and down the coast, but this also meant a climb up 900 feet (274 mtrs) in a short distance to Peter Rock, oxygen intake the order of the day here.
It was around this point where we with two other sets of walkers and we kept passing each other, it almost felt like we were in a relay race. Oddly we hadn’t really came across too many other coastal walkers up to this point, most had seemingly been locals or what we’d call day walkers.
We then headed toward the highest point on the SWCP* Great Hangman Hill I’ve linked to a 360 I took at the top. The walk toward Great Hangman took us down into Sherrycombe where there is a waterfall, which apparently saw during WWII a German U-Boat replenish it’s fresh water supply the climb up from Sherrycombe was steep at first but plateaued out and was easier as we neared the peak.
We walked on from here to Little Hangman which gave great views toward Combe Martin and the bay.
I’ll mention here that we meet some walkers before heading down into Sherrycombe who are from Devon and shamed us as they had actually done around 400 miles of the SWCP*, we chatted for a while feeling very jealous, but not so jealous as they still had a way to go before reaching Lynmouth, hopefully they did before dark.
We arrived at our next B&B Blair Lodge Guest House where again a warm welcome with tea and cakes from Rachel and Nick.
So far all of the accommodation has been 4 star rated and they have all lived unto that reputation. Another well done to Lets Go Walking who have created a great intinerary with some places to stay.
Again there was a lot of scree along the walk created by Ice Age action some 10,000 years ago.
*SWCP = South West Coastal Path
A few stats.
5 hours 55 mins walking. Total 15 hours 50 mins
14 miles Distance, including longer route taken, I may adjust those figures when I can accurately measure the distance. Total 38 Miles
Total time out including stops photo opportunity, enjoying tea and cake, 7 hours 10 mins. Total 21 hours 40 mins.
(corrected to 14 ½ Miles Total 24 Miles)
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