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On Sunday the 19th of September 2021 after just 4 hours sleep, I was up and driving the 4 hour drive to Minehead by 230am. The drive down was pleasant enough at that time of morning, next to nothing on the road. The A303 was pretty much deserted!
I parked up on Northfield Road in Minehead at 630am where there was free parking.
I pulled on my boots, threw on my rucksack and was straight out onto the trail.
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| Looking back towards Butlins. |
I walk along Quay Street to the official start of The South West Coastal Path.
The beginning, ( or the end if you start from South Haven Point) is marked by a wonderful piece of sculpture. A huge pair of hands holding a giant map. This was designed by local art student Sarah Ward and executed by Owen Cunningham in bronze.
I pause and think of the 630 miles that lay ahead of me, of course not all at once!
A photo is a must and I then walk on as the sun begins to rise.
The town sits at the foot of a steeply rising outcrop of Exmoor known as North Hill, and the original name of the town was mynydd, which means mountain in Welsh. It has also been written as Mynheafdon (1046), Maneheve (1086), Menehewed (1225) and Menedun (also 1225), which contain elements of Welsh and Old English words for hill.
Minehead was part of the hundred of Carhampton. It is mentioned as a manor belonging to William de Moyon in the Domesday Book in 1086, although it had previously been held by Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia. William de Mohun of Dunster, 1st Earl of Somerset and his descendants administered the area from Dunster Castle, which was later sold to Sir George Luttrell and his family.
I walk on and past Minehead's Harbour and the Pub The Old Ship Aground.
The Old Ship Aground pub was built in 1880 on the site of a 17th century thatched customs house formerly called the Pier Hotel. In 1940 the pier was demolished.
There was a small port at Minehead by 1380, but it was not until 1420 that money given by Lady Margaret Luttrell enabled improvements to be made and a jetty built.
During the reign of Elizabeth I, the town had its own Port Officer similar to the position at Bristol. Vessels in the 15th century included the Trinite which traded between Ireland and Bristol, and others carrying salt and other cargo from La-Rochelle in France.
Other products included local wool and cloth which were traded for coal from south Wales. In 1559 a Charter of Incorporation, established a free Borough and Parliamentary representation, but was made conditional on improvements being made to the port.
The harbour silted up and fell into disrepair so that in 1604 James I withdrew the town’s charter. Control reverted to the Luttrells and a new harbour was built, at a cost of £5,000, further out to sea than the original, which had been at the mouth of the Bratton Stream.
It incorporated a pier, dating from 1616, and was built to replace that at Dunster which was silting up. Trade was primarily with Wales for cattle, sheep, wool, butter, fish and coal. These are commemorated in the town arms which include a woolpack and sailing ship.
Privateers based at Minehead were involved in the war with Spain and France during 1625–1630 and again during the War of the Spanish Succession from 1702–1713. The first cranes were installed after further improvements to the port in 1714.
I consult my guide to find where the path now climbs out of Minehead.
I'm using the Cicerone 'Walking The South West Coastal Path. From Minehead top South Haven Point'. Looks very good guide indeed!
Pass the road end and turning point I take a path that leads upwards through a wooded area.
The path joins and follows an access road towards Greenaleigh Farm.
I now turn left and up some steps and follow a very steep zig zag up the wooded slope.
The first steep climb, I'm now sweating and puffing my way up and the steam coming off my head is steaming my glasses up!
But the hard climb up is rewarded with great views of the coastline!
I walk through a gate, then up to a junction and turn sharp right. I walk up another wooded slope then through Gorse and Bracken. I reach a junction where to my right is the ruins of Burgundy Chapel downhill and off route. I'm not going to add any extra to my route so I turn left and head uphill.
I am now at the top of North Hill at 250m (820ft). I stop at the bench and try out my new stove and boil myself up a cup of tea. Very impressed, boiled within minutes and a cup of tea in my hand, no more awful flask cuppas!
I packed everything away and turn right signposted for Bossington.
A view across to Port Talbot in South Wales.
I reach a sign where the path splits to either rugged or standard path, its a long day and again I have no intention of adding to it ,so I stick with the standard path.
(Rugged path adds 1.5km or 1 mile, 200m or 655ft of ascent and about 20 mins)
The path now runs more or less level and leads up to a gate.
There are livestock grazing on these fields, so take extra care that all gates are closed securely behind you.
I cross a road end and continue along a track before reaching Selworthy Beacon with the summit just to my left at 308m (1013ft).
Like much of the Exmoor coastline, the ridge is formed of Hangman Grits – grey, green and purple sandstones – and the hillside plunges dramatically down to the shoreline. The sea can be heard as a distant rumble as it rolls the shoreline shingle back and forth far below, but it can only be reached from the wide flat valleys at either end of the ridge, where the softer rock was eroded and the sea encroached as the ice melted at the end of the last Ice Age.
Selworthy Beacon, like nearby Dunkery Beacon, was one of many hills in the south west used for this during the sixteenth century, when French and Spanish troops threatened to invade. The number of fires lit on a beacon hill sent information about the state of affairs: one fire meant that an enemy had been spotted, two fires meant that an invasion was imminent, while three meant “It's too late, they're here!”
I see my first Exmoor Ponies, beautiful animals they are too!
They are one of a number of British native ponies and a common sight on Exmoor, where a number of managed herds graze the rough pasture. The ponies are only ‘wild’ in the sense that the herds roam freely on the moor, for all the ponies belong to someone. There are around twenty different herds that run on the various commons of Exmoor, two of which are owned by the National Park. As many of the commons have shared boundaries, it is essential that those visiting the moor remember to close the gates.
The Exmoor pony’s colouring ranges from dun (a smokey-brown) to bay (red-brown) or brown (dark brown). Underparts, and the area around the eyes and nose, are a mealy buff colour while the mane, tail and points are dark brown or black. The summer coat is fine and glossy, but in winter the ponies grow a thick, two-layered protective coat.
Foals are born in the spring and early summer and spend the summer running with their mothers, known as dams, and building up a store of fat to take them through the hard winter ahead. In the autumn the herds are driven down to the farms, to be inspected and micro-chipped. Foals are weaned and either sold or returned to the moor for the winter.
I turn right at a signpost with views inland to Exmoor. After a slight incline the path starts to go down again and I take the right fork on Bossington Hill towards Bossington and ignore the path ahead that leads to Lynch.
More Exmoor Ponies grazing in the fields.
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| Belted Galloway cow grazing on the common. |
Just by he signpost above, the path now leads steeply and I mean steeply down through the valley.
After the steep decline down the path that killed my legs I reach a path down below at Hurlstone Point.
There is a ruined coastguard station on a detour to your right, but again I was unwilling to detour at all!
I follow the path along before it runs inland a bit beside the River Horner that I follow.
The path leads me over a bridge and into the car park at Bossington and onto the road.
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| Kitnors Cottage |
The 'lime washed cottages in their cream and brown livery are owned by and maintained by the National Trust. The majority of these, like Kitnors and Tudor Cottage, are late medieval (14th and 15th century), and none are later than 17th century. Built in sandstone and cob and sometimes rendered, many boast a rounded bread oven and a distinctive tall chimney'.
Tall chimneys are a feature or the cottages in the villages and hamlets in this part of Exmoor. They were designed to keep sparks away from the thatched roofs.
I follow the road past pretty cottages towards the beach and the Coastal Path.
I turn left as signposted and walk through fields following the coastal path.
I trace around the edge of the saltmarsh and pass a memorial.
A monument to the memory of the United States airmen whose Liberator plane crashed in the marsh on Oct 29th 1942. A simple concrete monument erected by the members of the Porlock Branch of the British Legion with materials available at the time. Initially erected at SS 88148 47763, it was moved to its present site at SS 87934 47975 alongside the coastal path so more people can see it. The plane was a long range Bomber, Transport and Reconnaissance Aircraft, its full title being Consolidated B-24 D. It was a Liberator. The plane had four 1200 horse power Radial engines; a wing span of 110 feet, and a total length of 67 feet 2 inches. Its maximum speed was 300 miles per hour at 30,000 feet and its range 2100 miles. It carried a crew 12 and had ten and carried 50 machine guns. This particular plane, which was helping RAF Coastal Command at the time, took off from Holmsley, South Hampshire, at 7.20am on October 29th, to fly on anti-submarine patrol in the Bay of Biscay. The weather was dreadful, a very wet day with low cloud all around when, returning about 3.30pm, it hit the top of Bossington Hill. Pieces fell off, a wheel and part of the undercarriage were lying at the bottom of Sparkhayes Lane and the rest of the plane crashed onto the marsh. Only one man survived Staff Sergeant H B Thorpe. Very little of the plane was seen by locals as its remains were salvaged within a few days.
I pass the monument and a stone barn turn right along the path towards Porlock Weir.
Here is a submarine forest, exposed stumps of ancient trees exposed on the beach.
I now crunch my way along the pebbled beach until I reach some steps up onto a road into Porlock Weir.
Porlock means place of the port and Porlock Weir is its harbour. Weir refers to salmon stakes and traps that were situated along the shore.
Like most ports in West Somerset, the harbour is tidal and is home to a small flotilla of yachts and is visited by many more in spring and summer. The port has existed for more than a thousand years. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that in 1052 Harold Godwinson came from Ireland with nine ships and plundered the area and before that in 866 AD it was raided by Danes. In the 18th and 19th centuries coal from South Wales was the main cargo and in World War II pit props cut in local forests were the return cargo.
I stop in Porlock Weir for a short rest and some lunch.
Here in Porlock Weir is where section 1 of the path finishes, but my plan was to finish where I'll be staying overnight in County Gate.
After lunch and a short look about I left Porlock Weir and took the path between The Ship Inn and Porlock Weir Hotel.
The narrow path climbs up through a gate and along fields with views down to Porlock Weir. It then follows a track past a farm.
Further up I reach the thatched double arched toll house at Worthy.
The left arch is for the Toll Road and the right is the Coastal Path towards Culborne.
Worthy Combe Toll Lodge.
An attractive thatched Toll House at the bottom of Worthy Combe ,
built in the late C19 in the Arts and Crafts picturesque style.
Porlock Hill is notorious for its steepness and can be by-passed by this Toll Road ,
or another Toll Road (4.2 miles long) near Porlock.
The Coast Path goes through the right hand gate.
I follow the path through the right arch and it passes two other arches as it continues onwards.
I take a winding footpath up into a wooded area.
I'm thinking now, looking at my watch maybe I could make Lynmouth and do the two days walk in one. I reckon I could make the last bus. I pick up my pace and push on.
The path climbs through the woods with the occasional glimpse of the coast.
I each Culborne Church down below, there is a fork in the path, one leads down to the church, I take the other and head up.
Culbone Church, located in the village of Culbone in Somerset, is said to be the smallest parish church in England. The church, dedicated to the Welsh saint Beuno, has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building and the churchyard cross is Grade II*.
The church is recorded in the Domesday Book.
The church seats about 30 people, the chancel is 13.5 × 10 feet (4.1 × 3.0 m), the nave 21.5 × 12.33 feet (6.6 × 3.8 m) and the building has a total length of 35 feet (10.7 m). Services are still held there, despite the lack of access by road. The church is probably pre-Norman in origin, with a 13th-century porch and a late-15th-century nave. It was refenestrated and re-roofed around 1810 and the spirelet added in 1888. It underwent further restoration in 1928.
Joan D'Arcy Cooper, psychologist, Yoga teacher, author of Guided Meditation and the Teaching of Jesus, and wife of the potter Waistel Cooper, was organist at the church and is buried in the graveyard. The graveyard also contains a war grave of a soldier of the Welsh Guards of World War II. Sir David Calcutt QC, a barrister and public servant, is buried in the churchyard too.
I follow the path through Culborne Woods and cross over two streams.
Over the second stream, my left leg screamed in pain as I started another climb! Oh no, am I stuck up here? I stopped , sat and drank more water. Thankfully just a bit of cramp. My body saying its had enough. So I decide to head off for County Gate after all, Lynmouth will wait until tomorrow. A couple also doing the SWCP stopped to check I was okay.
I reach the point where a path branched off the Coastal path to head up to County Gate.
Now it was a race up a very very steep and long climb to catch the bus that was arriving at County Gate in 25 minutes. The sun was blazing but I huffed and puffed up with 8 minutes to spare.
I catch the 1449 hours Exmoor Coaster bus back to Minehead. I appreciate how far I had really walked on the bus back.
Back at the car, I drop my bag off and head into town. I catch the last half of the Man U v West Ham game in a pub full of Man U supporters, with a pint of rattler Cider, as the Hammers lost after a Lingard winning goal and Noble missing a last minute penalty!
Leaving the pub I grab some Fish n Chips and sit on the beach to enjoy them.
Now I drive back to County Gate Car Pak, where I will spend the night sleeping in my car.
I have amazing views over Exmoor from here, lovely!
I'm tired and aching somewhat, but what a great walk! My legs cramp up overnight and if it wasn't for the other van staying overnight, I'd be inclined to have got out and did my ministry of funny walks around the car park trying to walk it off!
I go again tomorrow!
Miles walked today = 15.4
Total Ascent today = +1070m
Miles since beginning of South West Coast Path = 15.4
Path continues on https://myadventures3.blogspot.com/2021/09/south-west-coastal-path-county-gate-to.html