Day 2

August10th Depart Porlock Weir

Arrive Lynmouth Accommodation: The Bonnicott House

Distance 19.8 KM | Cumulative Distance: 35.1 KM |Grade –Moderate

Ascent 3,064 FT | Cumulative Ascent: 5,354 FT

Google Map Lynmouth

Wow, what a day!

Lay on top of the bed from 8 until 9 pm last night watching a very interesting house building show, before climbing into bed at 9 as I was very tired after my first day of hiking. Must be all of the fresh air, and I'm sure the ups and downs had a part to play.

After a fitful sleep I eventually found the sweet spot for both the bed and pillows and then went out like a light, and awoke at 7-20am. I leapt out of bed and jumped in the shower and proceeded to pack my bag.

I looked out of the window to both good news and bad news. The good news being that the 60-80 mph gales that had been forecast were nowhere to be seen. The bad news was it was raining!

After a great breakfast and some last minute adjustments to my pack I finally left the B&B at 9-05 am and before I go to much further I should give a little background on my accommodatios to date. In Minehead I stayed at the Old Ship Aground which is a pub at the South end of the harbour and just a few hundred yards from the official start of the walk. There is nothing pretentious about the Ship, but it fit my needs perfectly. It was clean, the bed and pillows provided for a good nights sleep and the staff are lovely. Rachel, who I never met unfortunately, provided me with the quietest room in the house, as per my request and Julian, Tia, and the rest of the staff were very accommodating. If I were to rate the Ship out of 5 I would give it a 3 1/2.

In Porlock I stayed with Chris and Clare, and their lovely daughter Abbey. Their home is The Cottage and was easy to find on the Main Street, and just 2 minutes walk to the Ship, where I ended up for dinner. The room was perfect with a nice comfy bed and a great shower and so I would give the Cottage a rating of 4.

No sooner was I outside the Cottage that I realized I had forgotten to ask for a packed lunch, but 3 doors down the street I found a little store where I picked up a Cheese and Onion Cornish Pasty which was warm, little did I know that 3 1/2 hours later it would still be warm!

The official walk has the route leading from Minehead to Porlock Weir, but when booking my accommodation last year, (November), I had a difficult time finding anywhere in PW, and so opted for Porlock, and I'm glad I did because The Cottage was perfect. The only problem was I had 1 1/2 miles to make up before my walk officially started, and so with my Cornish Pasty safely tucked into my pack I set out with an official start time of 9-10 am.

Within minutes of leaving the shop it started to pour rain, and within seconds my legs and shorts were wet. I don't wear long pants or rainproof pants and prefer to hike in shorts as the legs will dry very quickly once the rain stops as opposed to pants, and so it was just a case of getting on with it. Within 35 minutes I reached PW and started my hike officially at 9-45 am on a path that started right behind the Ship pub and proceeded up hill into the forest. This was to be the theme of the day, and the path although well worn had not seen a foot set on it so far today. The trail was a relentless up and down, up and down, with the rain being heavy at times, and a light sprinkle now and again. When the weather is like this it makes it very difficult when stopping for a break as there is no wear to sit and rest your weary bones! After a while I came to Culbone Church, which is set in the middle of the Culbone Woods, and the church has the distinction of being the smallest Church in England and measures only 35 feet in length. It provided welcome relief from the elements, as I was able to take a 10 minute break and actually sit down to enjoy my snack and refreshments. I was also able to take a photograph of the church, which was something I didn't think would be possible with all the rain, but the sky cleared, the sun came out, and I was able to get my shot, (please see below).

Then it was back to the path and more of the uphill and then downhill before stopping for a 30 minute break. Fortunately the sun had come out and so I was able to sit on my pack for what was a well deserved break.

The next part of the trail was interesting because the sign-posting wasn't the greatest, and there was one section where I was having the severest doubts and started to worry if I had missed a turn. The ferns were so close together it looked impossible for it to be the trail, but I pushed through it and 30 feet later there was the path. It was obvious that I was the first person through this morning and apart from a German fellow, Marcus, (more on Marcus later), I had seen no other through walkers since leaving Minehead which I find shocking, especially as August is the time when Brit's flock to the coasts for their holidays, and walking this trail is a national pastime!

I got to within about 2 1/2 miles of Lynton, and the end of the days journey, when I encountered incredibly strong wind gusts, and on reflection I'm so thankful I did not encounter them earlier otherwise the walk would have been in serious jeopardy. I then crested the hill and say the signpost indicating 2 miles to go, and by now the wind was at it's strongest, and was, in my opinion, dangerous. Every time I lifted my hiking poles they almost flew away and so I had a decision to make, as I could clearly see the trail hugging the cliffs and one wrong move could have had catastrophic results.

I had made a commitment to Liz before leaving that I would be careful, and not take unnecessary risks, and so instead of following the path down to hug the coastline I went up, as I figured I would eventually intersect with the road that I could see coming out of Lynton. I only had about 3-400 feet to climb but was exhausted by the time I reached the top due to the incessant buffeting from the wind. I eventually arrived at the road and started down it, and was eventually able to re-join the path as the wind was nowhere near as strong lower down as it had been up top.

I eventually reached my accommodation at 4-05 pm, seven hours after leaving PW, and was very happy to be greeted with a pot of tea and chocolate biscuits (cookies). The owner advised me he was expecting another walker, who was German, and I said that I'd met him briefly the day before. 15 minutes later he arrived and we had a great visit in the drawing room, me drinking my tea and my new German friend had a drink that is popular in Germany, which is coke and orange soda mixed together. Who would have known.

The German fellows name is Marcus and because it's not fun eating out on your own we made plans to meet up at 6 pm for dinner. At the duly appointed hour we headed out looking for a bowl of pasta, as it's really tough to find food that we have both become accustomed to, as the British diet tends to be centred on either fish and chips or meat and two veg, neither of which are going to power me up and down the hills tomorrow! So we ended up taking the cliff railway, which runs up the hill from Lynton to Lynmouth where we found our Pasta fix.

Marcus is a very interesting character and is a former German Army Officer having served in Peace keeping missions to Bosnia and Somalia, and now has his own company. He has 3 boys the oldest of which has just joined the German navy, and although son #2 still has a couple of years in school wants to get into teaching or become a Policeman. Interesting choices.

Well time to put up some pictures before I go to bed, it's already late and I have my biggest day tomorrow, both in terms of miles (18) and elevation gain (5,000 + feet.

Oldest church in England! Culbone Church

The trail leads around the farthest point'

The trail is ahead there somewhere!

The problem with the I-Pad Mini camera is it's tough to take long distance shots! What I'm trying to show is where I've come from!

You can't really gauge the steepness but the road you see leads to a Lighthouse and is quite steep, and the trail leads down the road before veering right and the long climb up to where I took this photo.

Looking down to Lynton/Lynmouth. Unfortunately I could not tell if I was getting a good shot or not due to the glare, plus this is the point where I was getting buffeted by the wind.

Posted with Blogsy