Sunday 9 March 2014

So Long Somerset

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.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (3) Porlock Weir Habour
The route takes you up through Worthy Wood to Worthy Toll gate, a £2 honesty box.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (4) Worthy Toll
Enjoyed the mossy tunnels and was particularly delighted to see someone had cleared the benchmark so it was easy to spot.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (5) Worthy
These things make me happy.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (6) Worthy
Next was Culbone Church whose fame is for having the smallest Parish in England.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (7) Culbone
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.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (15) Combe
Coffee break at Steeple Stort.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (9) Steeple Stort
And evidence that I was really there ;-)
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (10) Steeple Stort
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.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (11) Sisters Fountain
Easy to pick the wrong path from this point: go seawards but keep on the rising path. Lovely views looking back east.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (12) Looking E from Sisters Fountain
And in a moment you get to the boars.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (13)
My first view of Lynmouth Bay.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (16) Looking west to Lynmouth
Looking back towards Foreland Point. You can see the evidence of the sea defence gun placements.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (17) Back east to Foreland Point
I arrived at Lynmouth 1515. Low tide obviously.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (20) Lynmouth Harbour
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,
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (19) Lyn River
drinking copious amounts of tea and benchmark spotting (Lynmouth Church).
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (21) Lynmouth church
The Quantock Motors bus service 300 took me back to Porlock. I love the sign.
14 03 08 SWCP Day Two (22)Bus
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.  

Sunday 2 March 2014

Got to Start Somewhere

Day One - Minehead to Porlock Weir.  14.3km (8.9miles).
Walking time 4:30hrs.

Saturday 01 March 2014


You've got to start somewhere, sometime. Walking the South West Coast Path (SWCP) has always been something I knew I was going to do. Having lived in SW England for 24 years it has been part of my adulthood. Any trip to the coast would touch on this path; it is impossible to avoid. I'd always thought I'd walk it when I retired but with teenage children who are increasingly independent/likely to leave home in the next couple of years and a husband who is frequently away with Ten Tors/Duke of Edinburghs at weekends I was looking at something to occupy me whilst the rest of the family were busy.

The SWCP bubbled very quickly to the top of my "next challenge to do" list so I started planning.  Living in Exeter means I am naturally placed to be able to hit a good chuck of the SWCP in day runs.  I work full time and my annual leave is already well pretty much spoken for with family dates, so I expect to do much of this on adhoc days.  It doesn't make it terribly efficient from the transport point of view but it's either that or wait forever for a chunk of free time to do it.

The plan is, wherever possible, to drive to my end point, get public transport to my start, and walk back to the car.  I have no idea how feasible this is but I'll see what I can do.  I suspect I'll do the days as broken down in the SWCP route guide.  I may go off piste from the guide book after a while but, again, we'll have to see.

Other decisions are
  • I will do each section of the path in order and in the right direction, starting each leg from the previous walk's end.  By 'right direction' I mean Minehead to Poole.  I know the other direction is not wrong, but the guide book routes it that way so I'm going with the flow.
  • I am a metric woman so I will work in km but blog in both as most of the web sites about this path use miles.
  • I am not going to count each mile/km fastidiously so each day's distance count will be according to the official Ordnance Survey guide book, not the distance I actually wandered.
  • And, of course, no cutting corners.
And Here We Go

I'd intended to start in January but the weather to date has been pretty fierce in the South West.  It wasn't only the high winds that put me off but knowing that the path may not be safe (Day Two involves a wood where there are known to be mud slides) so I wanted the path to have a chance to settle down.  However, the stars all aligned yesterday and, as a bonus, my husband Roger was free to walk with me on Day One.

We parked at Porlock Weir.  It's free to park on the road until 01 Apr.  Caught the Webber Bus 10 to Minehead.  As we alighted the bus the driver smiled at us and pointed left.  "Go West" he helpfully said.

We did the obligatory photoshoot and met another couple who were also starting the walk.  I bet they are already further on than me!
14 03 01 SWCP Day One (3) Minehead
Sunglasses!
14 03 01 SWCP Day One (7) Minehead
And stepping over the 'start line'.
14 03 01 SWCP Day One (9) Minehead
It was a beautiful day.  No wind, occasional sun and not too cold.  Lovely views across to Wales.
14 03 01 SWCP Day One (11) View to Wales
As the weather was so mild we took the alternative 'rugged' route.  Not really rugged but a lot more hilly than the official path which has gentle undulations.  My first river crossing - umm?
14 03 01 SWCP Day One (14) Grexy Combe
Ancient wall by East Brockholes.
14 03 01 SWCP Day One (16) Eastern Brockholes
View across Porlock Bay.
14 03 01 SWCP Day One (17) Porlock Bay
The coffee shop at Bossington looked closed, as we'd expected.  Mind you, we didn't closely inspect and this review suggests we may have struck lucky?  At this time of year I am not going to expect teashops to be open however I was will always plan to be self sufficient whatever the time of year.  Cafes and pubs will be bonuses rather than relied on for sustenance.

The path across Porlock Marsh has been moved due to flooding and continual innundation by the sea.
14 03 01 SWCP Day One (18) Porlock Bay
It really does look quite desolate with dead trees still standing.
14 03 01 SWCP Day One (20) Porlock Marsh
14 03 01 SWCP Day One (22) Porlock Marsh
It was pretty muddy underfoot and I was grateful for gaiters.
14 03 01 SWCP Day One (23) Porlock Marsh
Porlock Beach looks as if it suffered from the storms this winter.
14 03 01 SWCP Day One (25) Porlock Beach
From what we can tell this is a full height route marker.   The power of the waves must have been incredible.
14 03 01 SWCP Day One (24) Porlock Beach
Back to the car after only 4.5 hours walking, including a short coffee/sandwich stop.  Time for a celebratory pint of something in the Ship Inn.

So a short and easy day.  I don't imagine they will all be like this!  However it was a gentle start.  My back and achilles heel are playing up from a sports injury so I was pleased not to have planned a massive expedition from the start.  Now to plan Day Two.