After probably the wettest winter on record in the UK I thought I might have another walk sealed in my waterproofs as gusts of wind made me zig-zag like a drunkard as I walked over the hills. Instead, the sun shone on my visit to Exmoor and I wore a T-shirt most of the time. I walked along stunning coastline and through beautiful woods of ghostly trees yet to come into bud.
The following photos give a flavour of this great weekend. They are of my walk last Saturday along the South West Coastal path between Countisbury and Heddon’s Mouth and back again via a slightly different, often higher, route.
Lynmouth
Lynmouth Harbour
Lynmouth from Lynton
Walking the South West Coastal path by the Valley of the Rocks.
Approaching Castle Rock in The Valley of the Rocks.
Castle Rock (left) and Rugged Jack (right) in The Valley of the Rocks.
Me standing on an outcome of Castle Rock.
There are some good looking, if short, rock climbs on Castle Rock. Unfortunately, this wasn’t something I had a chance to do this weekend.
Lee Bay and Duty Point.
Heddon’s Mouth, where the River Heddon meets the sea.
A relaxed goat in The Valley of the Rocks. One of a large herd that lives there.
A kid in The Valley of the Rocks
Another goat in The Valley of the Rocks.
The South West Coast
Back at Lynmouth, with the tide now out and the hill on which Countisbury sits bathed in warm, late afternoon sun.
the Severe climber 
The next step is to do it at sea-level…….
It seems that since Coasteering became a leisure-industry it has been forgotten that it was pioneered in North Devon by C R Archer in the 1950s….
Iain Peters’ North Devon and Cornwall Climber’s Guide published 1988 contained a fairly full summary – though Archer once wrote a whole book about it!
Fantastic bit of coast – I lived in Alcombe [Minehead] for several years
That’s got to be a pretty big undertaking, although I wouldn’t mind giving it a go for some of it. Coasteering something I’ve yet to try and it would be fun to try it on such beautiful cliffs.
As I recall the key section is round Heddon’s Mouth and Woody Bay -that’s the bit the aficionados regard as the crux