England is a walker's paradise, despite the cold and wet. Exmoor is a fantastic place to go walking, and whilst we didn't wander too far, the walk to Heddon Valley from Hunter's Inn was pretty fabulous, including a walk along a stream and a amble on a rockey beach and stare out to sea. What's not to love?
What was quite interesting was the route we took - instead of going inland, we took some roads through private propertys. The toll was 2 quid but since there was no one around to take it, we didn't bother. This was partly as we asked some Exmoor parks people for change and they laughed and said 'I'm sure they're not bothered mate'. All good. The route was great as there was no one else on the road and we got some fabulous views as we went.
I love the winding bridges covered in moss - the curves are just gorgeous. How cute is the Fiat 500? It was a great hire car and not too expensive either for the two weeks we needed it.
At one point, whilst stopping to admire the view, we met a sheep. As you do. The carpark was level and there were no 'no camping signs' so we stopped for a while to figure out how to drop a pin on google maps for the summer. Camping can be quite expensive down here - as is everything - so a possiblity of a free park up is worth nothing.
The drive took us past a super old church - amazing! It just astounds me how old these places are. I guess if you live in Europe you take this stuff for granted, but for this little Australian - wow! And goodness, how old can it be if you're using old headstones for a retaining wall?
We began our walk at the Archers Inn. We managed to get a free park which is a boon in this country.
From the Archers Inn, the walk took us along a valley where a stream rushed wetly and loudly past. Like everywhere at the moment, it was quite full - I imagine it's just a trickle in the height of summer.
Jamie even got some rare photos of me on this walk - enjoy. The woollie hat is new. You can't beat a bobble hat.
Let's stop a moment and appreciate this bridge. I call them stegosaurus bridges - can you guess why?
As we walked down to the sea, Jamie had to stop and explain to me that it would have been an ancient ice flow here a long time ago, with the ice THIS BIG! I do adore my husband.
Looking up and down the way, we could have been anywhere - Scotland perhaps. Or hey, maybe even ... Exmoor.
Before long we were at the sea. Like many sea side places in England, it was all rocks, but I love to see what I can find in the rocks, perhaps a fossil, perhaps just a pretty rock cut through with quartz, so we stayed here for a while.
Lo! I did find something - probably a bit of pottery from an old flagon. The letters T and S got us speculating and we got a little silly with it. 'Tons of Snakes?' 'Tina's Sausages'? I'm sure it was neither of those things!
I'm not sure what this construction was but it was pretty cool.
After a while we strolled back up the path. The sun had come out so it was pretty lovely, albeit cold. We took a 'short cut' which was actually a traipse through field, gorse and brambles. I felt full of joy walking with my beautiful love through England again. So many beautiful memories of just that - walking with this man down valleys, over hills, and through mud.
At last we were back at the Hunter's Inn. Just in case you weren't sure we were in England, here's a post box and telephone box to prove it.
The pub did have meals, but nothing really appealed to us and we were getting so fed up with paying a fortune for lunch, so we drove looking for somewhere cheap - that was actually going to take forever, and would land us in Woolacombe looking at the surf and enjoying a nice dirty chai, but that's a story for tomorrow.
With Love,Are you on HIVE yet? Earn for writing! Referral link for FREE account here