Friday 13th April: Weather 10°C to 12°C mist with some visibility
Lynton to Combe Martin: 21.5k walk: 8hrs 30mins from 9.15am to 4.45pm Ascent/Descent 1200 metres
Accommodation: Mellstock House Combe Martin
Checking the cracks
Gotta stop for fresh bread
A bitument path
Mountain goats on the cliffs
Eerie mist on the cliffs
Morning tea with a view
More mud on the tracks
There’s a boat out there
A lone boat in the mist
Cliff track
Mist rolls in
Lunch with the sheep
Muddy moors
Exmoor and farms
Highest point on SWCP 318m
Stand still mum
Combe Martin
A cold Cornish ale after a 21k day
Highlight of the day was reaching Great Hangman's Rock at 318 metres. Doesn’t sound high but we’d already ascended then descended almost 1000 metres earlier in the day going up and down up and down. The views of the surrounding farmland, cliff tops and ocean would have been spectacular if not for the mist. But we’ve come to accept that if the average climatic conditions in the South West of the UK for the month of April are 12 days of rain and 18 days of sunshine, then our three days of mist and mud is probably the norm and we’ll enjoy it as it is.
Another early start at 5am. Time to blog, make phone calls and plan the day. Breakfast is at 8am - fruit, yoghurt, cereal and a traditional English Breakfast but we’re quick to ask if it’s ok to take it with us for morning tea. We’ve brought 2 containers down in anticipation and soon have sausages, eggs, bacon, mushrooms and fried tomatoes stashed in our jars. The baked beans were too messy to take, so we had baked beans on toast for breakfast after the muesli and yoghurt
Out the door at 9.15 am but first I need to check if my shoes have cracked open any more - yes, but they might last another few days in the mud. They are such comfortable shoes I’m not looking forward to changing to the new ones yet. On to Costcutters, the local supermarket, to buy some hot fresh bread then back down the hill a bit towards Lynmouth before turning on to a bitumin track along the cliff edge. It’s a popular walk with tourists hence it’s easy grade and sealed surface. It’s 10°C with mist but visibility is a few hundred metres, so although we can’t see Wales across the Bristol channel, we can make out the cliffs stretching long the coast through the mist.
Mountain goats cross the track and daringly move tippy toe to the edge of some unstable rocks lower down the cliff face. The SWCP follows a road past Lee Abbey and down to Woody Bay. At 11.30am, morning tea on a seat with a view is a welcome break. Our saved breakfast can wait, so biscuits and coffee will do. But the coffee on skimmed milk powder is yuk - congealed blobs of tasteless casein and whey. Moving on, the track once again becomes muddy and a mist rolls in giving an eerie look to a lone sail boat a few hundred metres off shore.
Hugging the fence line of coastal farms, the grassy path once again becomes muddy. We go through a series of farm gates, making sure we close them securely to prevent the sheep from wandering out of the paddocks, but there are still many escaped sheep grazing perilously close to the cliff edge, some half way down to the water. I have no idea how the farmer retrieves them. It’s still cold and at 1.30pm we huddle inside a sheep paddock behind an earthen stone wall imbedded with grass and moss, to have lunch of an egg sandwich with our beautiful fresh bread. Some sheep have a wander over, do a wee and a poo in front of us as if to send us a message, then return to grazing a few metres away from where we’re sitting.
The track leaves the coast and passes through the barren boggy moors and for 2 hours we’re sidestepping mud before descending down a steep valley then up the other side to Great Hangman, the high point on the South West Coast Path at 318 metres. It’s marked by a pile of stones, and the view would have been spectacular if not for the mist.
More sheep on the path as we slowly descend into Combe Martin across the inlet, then up a few hundred metres to the Mellstock Guest House where we are warmly greeted by John who shows us to the best room in the house - No 1 with views to the inlet and paddocks of sheep. John is a walker and Mellstock House caters especially for walkers. We have a beer in the room to recover from a long 21k day - Tribute, a cold Cornish pale ale. After a shower and a bit of washing we have another beer because we can, with left over breakfast - sausage, bacon, mushrooms and tomato.
An early night at 8.30pm. The weather tomorrow is supposed to be fine. We’ll see!!