Today we set out in the wind and rain to visit the Exmoor National Park, to the north. Exmoor lies along the north-facing coast of this part of England, looking across the Bristol Channel to the south coast of Wales. Our car's satnav system seemed to often send us down miles of tiny narrow roads, but we did end up in the right places, so perhaps it knew best. The road took us through high open country, with just scrubby grass and reeds, although most of the time we could still see hedgerows and paddocks in the distance, which we had not expected.
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| Wild horses beside the road. |
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| High on the wind-swept moorish country of Exmoor. |
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| Our car satnav sent us down miles of roads like this! |
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| Ancient looking road signs. |
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| An Exmoor sheep, checking to see who interrupted her grazing. |
We found a nice cup of coffee in a tiny village called Withypool. It was close to our next objective, the Tarr Steps "clapper bridge". A clapper bridge is a very old style of footbridge, made by stacking large flat stones across the river. The Tarr Steps are the largest known bridge of this type, and date back a few hundred years, or perhaps a few thousand - there seems to be some uncertainty.
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| The Tarr Steps over the river Barle. |
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| This walking track took us up one side of the Barle and back down the other. |
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| Crossing a side stream on the track. |
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| Back across the Tarr Steps to complete the loop. |
We moved on north to the coast, visiting first Porlock Weir, then the twin towns of Lynmouth and Lynton. There are high cliffs all along these coasts, so the roads down to these seaside towns are very steep. We drove down Porlock Hill past signs warning us to stay in low gear, to test our brakes first, and to avoid stopping in places where out-of-control vehicles might crash into us! It was all a bit exaggerated really. Porlock Weir is a little village, with the usual sheltered "basin" where its fishing boats can be protected from the wild sea. After lunch we decided to climb back up via the "new toll road" which offered a more gentle ascent. We stopped at a gate which a man opened when we paid him two pounds, then set off up what turned out to be a one-lane, pot-holed bumpy road up the hill! Later I read about this "new" road on Wikipedia - it was built in 1840!
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| A friendly rock-man on the beach at Porlock Weir. |
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| Boats at anchor inside the gates of Prolock Weir. |
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| The new "Worthy Toll Road" from Porlock Weir. |
Last stop for the day was Lynmouth and Lynton, further along the coast. Lynmouth is down by the sea (mouth of the River Lyn), while Lynton (Lyn-town) is above it on top of the cliff. They are linked by a very steep road, but also by an ingenious water-powered cable car railway. Like the Wellington cable car there are two cars fixed to the opposite ends of a long cable so one goes down as the other goes up. However the Lynmouth/ton cable cars have no motors; just a large water tank on each car. When a car stops at the top it immediately fills it's tank with water. When both cars are ready to go, the car at the bottom suddenly empties it's water tank, which causes the whole system to start moving as the heavier car at the top comes down, pulling the lighter one back up the hill!
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| The water-powered cable car. The water is held in the green tank under the car. It's very steep! |
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| Lynmouth boat harbour, waiting for the distant tide to return. |
