25^th September 2016

Dear All,

We had an enjoyable week on Exmoor although the walking was fairly up and down and generally quite hard work. We stopped at Nether Stowey on the way down as we have some serious English Literature adherents in the group and they read “The Ancient Mariner” in the grounds of Coleridge’s cottage – very U3A but performed very well.

Exhibits at Coleridge’s Cottage

We stayed in Simonsbath taking over the pub and the Hotel which was old and family run. The hosts were excellent and told stories of the local history and helped with the walking routes.

View from the Hotel

We had a damp start on Monday and did a walk near the coast at Lynmouth taking in Watersmeet and the Valley of Rocks. It was waterproofs all day and as it was warm we were very quickly soaked from both sweat and rain. We managed two casualties on the first day – not a great start, one case of severe vertigo (Ian for those who met him at Swavesey) and one fell in the river and cracked his head (Jan Ingram for those that know him). Both recovered but it is the joys of stretching activity with the elderly! The weather improved thereafter and waterproofs were not needed again.

Start of the First Walk

On Tuesday we started at Dry Bridge on the moor and headed for Shilstone and Rockford. Unfortunately we suffered the next (and final) accident when after 3 miles or so Felicia slipped on a narrow leafy path leading down a stream and was in serious pain with a damaged arm. Kate and I returned to collect our car, which took a while and collected her Ian and Mary – an ex doctor and headed for A&E at Barnstable with Ian following in his car. It was only 23 miles but seemed to take forever as she was crying out with every bump in the road. When we reached A&E they were at first a bit slow to get going but eventually once the wheels were in motion were very good and the X Ray revealed that her shoulder was dislocated and nothing was broken. When it was relocated she recovered very quickly. As we had missed the rest of the walk Kate, Mary and I headed for Ilfracombe and explored the Tunnel Beaches and the harbour including Damien Hirst’s “Verity”.

Tunnel Beach, Ilfracombe

We did a circular moorland walk on Wednesday starting from the hotel taking in Exhead and ending up on “The Two Moors Way” following the river Barle. At our briefing Philip had assured us that “the climbs would be gentler than Whitby”. By the end of the week he was admitting that he was mistaken – a fairly rare event!

Two Moors Way

On Thursday we drove to Porlock down the infamous Porlock Hill and walked the Coastal Path to Culbone church where Coleridge had composed “Kubla Khan” and we had a recitation of this by Ian in the churchyard. The long walk then struck inland up some fairly steep climbs to Porlock Moor and back down the valley to Porlock. We did about 12 miles each day but there was very little flat walking and on this day climbed 2,900 feet – almost the height of Snowdon!

Culbone Church

Porlock from the top of Porlock Hill

The other piece of information from the briefing that did not materialise was that” the moors are teeming with ticks” and several of our number rushed out to buy tick removers. In fact, in a party of 34 humans and 1 dog, no tick damage was recorded!

We had a long journey home on Friday taking 8 hours with traffic jams and toilet stops.

Love

Mike & Kate