National Trust, Watersmeet, Exmoor
She Said:
Happy Birthday to my sister, Mary Jane! Love you and miss you!
Another outstanding walk.
Our driver, Caroline, drove us through the village of Lynmouth this morning before dropping us at the start point of today's walk. This was quite nice of her, as we wouldn't have had the opportunity to see Lynmouth otherwise. Lynmouth is a lovely, channel side town with loads of character and the added claim to fame of being a real place referred to in the novel, Lorna Doone.
(Unfortunately, Lynmouth's other claim to fame is being the recipient of a disastrous, devastating flood, in 1952. The waters rushed down from the surrounding moors and mountains, brought way too much debris with them, and knocked out many buildings and lives.)
Another benefit of driving through Lynmouth instead of starting our walk in Lynmouth is saving us (me) 1000 feet of climbing. This is a vacation, after all.
So we got dumped off already up on the hill, in the car park next to Saint John the Evangelist Church.
From this high vantage point, we looked out across the Bristol Channel - as had, for centuries, "Iron Age Warriors, Smugglers, Customs Agents, Signalmen, Lighthouse Keepers, and Artillery Gunners".
Good company.
From this high start, the only way to go was down (yay!) - to the River Lyn (flood fame) and the National Trust woods of Watersmeet. Along the banks of the River Lyn is the National Trust tea garden and shop, located in Watersmeet House, originally built as a fishing lodge by the Rev. Walter Halliday in 1832 (for only £1000.). It has the absolute look of a posh fishing lodge, with a fantastic river's edge location.
We passed old lime kilns and walked along the wild river with happy, healthy wild garlic growing profusely along the banks. And, of course, the fragrance was heavenly (think Gilroy, but forest-fresh and sweet.)
Next up, Countisbury Mill, a beautiful estate built around the old mill. Very nice of the owners to allow public footpath access through their property.
We always saw fields of sheep, but at one point today, we saw a field that had a very high percentage of black sheep. (Yay, black sheep!, having been one myself.)
I took a picture of an idyllic, pastoral scene (green, green, green) marred by a very white camper van. I would be in support of a law that required camper vans to be painted green.
Climbing back up higher, we came upon, right on the path, a bunch of the famous Exmoor ponies. They are slightly smaller than regular horses and have pot bellies. They are also very study. We knew they would be there as they left their calling cards along the path for 50 feet! Still, so wonderful to see these wild and wind blown ponies so up close and personal.
Walking into Malmsmead, we passed a field with a small standing (lying) stone circle. After 20 years of traveling in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, I guess we have become jaded as we gave the ancient stone circle a glance and continued on over a stone bridge into the hamlet (two buildings) of Malmsmead. One building is the (of course) Lorna Doone Farm and Inn. The other is the Lorna Doone shop. We were officially in Lorna Doone country.
(A couple of black and white striped dipper birds flitted around the river, little flying zebras.)
We walked through a field, and along the river into the place where Lorna Doone and her wild family lived and stole and killed. Though the people are fictitious, the named places are real. R read the novel in advance of our trip, and now that I have walked this walk, I will also read the book. Any story that includes the English countryside, mistaken love, a family of ne'er-do-wells, and a young woman who rises above it all sounds like my kind story.
We ended the walk happy to see our driver, Caroline, and ready for another comfortable night in at the Luttrell Arms.
Total Mileage:
8.71 miles (Countisbury, Whitstone's Path, Watersmeet, Rockford, Brendon, Malmsmead)
But...
Total Flights Climbed:
75!!!!
He said:
Our walk started at the coast where the Bristol Channel meets the land and the river Lyn flows out to sea. The walk started in Lynmouth at the coast and ended in Malmsmead well inland and along the east fork of the river Lyn, most of the walk was in Devon, but we did also cross briefly into Somerset. At the start, we cheated, and had our driver go down to Lynmouth and around for photos, then back up the hill to drop us at Countisbury, saving us a lot of climbing and 2 miles of walking. And the walking route starting from Countisbury immediately goes back down to the river Lyn on a different route, so we felt good about skipping the climb to start the day. The river Lyn at the bottom has created a coombe (a narrow V shaped valley) through the hills, and this valley is quite lush with many different plants like trees, mosses, ferns of all different shades of green. The river water looks very clean here, there is no industry to pollute it really.
The place called Watersmeet, about a mile upstream from the sea, is literally the place where the river East Lyn is met with another river from the west. Today, this was a busy place with folks wanting to get a cup of tea at the National Trust center and to see the cascading waterfalls.
Muck of our walk followed the river East Lyn, later becoming Badgworthy Water upstream eventually reaching Lorna Doone country. The country is real, but the book is fact based fiction.
Our breakfast buffet
Driving to Lynmouth
Countisbury Church
The view to Lynmouth
Heading down to the river Lyn and Lyn Coombe
The National Trust Tea Room
Brendon, Devon
Exmoor Ponies
and other wildlife
Near Badgworthy Wood, Exmoor in Doone Valley where things start to get sinister
or not
and other places
To see more photos from May 23, click here
You were so close to that horse!
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