When I retired from farming my redundant cattle shed became storage for caravans and campervans, none of which ever appealed to me to own, I had a tent and there was always B&B. But one little caravan arrived this spring and I instantly took a shine to it and things got better when the lady who owned it decided to sell as she didn’t feel confident enough with towing and reversing. To cut a long story short I’m now the proud owner of a Wendy house on wheels and I love it and Eddie was soon giving it the once over and bagging his spot – that’s what he thought!
I decided that my first trip would be up to Exmoor, not too far away and somewhere I always enjoy going for the great walking.
The first walk we did was from Dunster Castle and as there were still a lot of people around we set off away from the NT owned property where the Luttrell family still live and, after following along the river’s edge, started to climb steeply amongst the trees. We only saw a couple and then three more walkers all day until we got back to the castle later in the afternoon. Not only were the people absent but the squirrels were present, giving Eddie the slip every time. One day he might cotton on but in the meantime he gets some very good exercise.
Dunster Castle is built on a natural hill with fine views all round and out to the Bristol Channel, a great advantage back at the time it was built, in 1070, and during the Civil War. Steep-sided hills are a feature around the local area and a number of them are crowned by ancient hillforts. We stopped at a fine viewpoint and had sandwiches overlooking the village of Timberscombe, the scenery is very dramatic whether it’s in the woods or on the open tops of the moor.
Another walk that tested us was having parked on the A39 Porlock to Lynmouth road and then followed the footpath steeply down away from the road to come alongside Oare Water which joins into the East Lyn River and eventually reaches the sea at Lynmouth. Those of you who have read Lorna Doone would love this walk (assuming you enjoyed the book) as it took me along to Oare church, above, where Carver shot Lorna Doone through the church window. It’s a gorgeous little church and has a large number of visitors throughout the summer and, no doubt, receives a lot of donations. We picked up a footpath just beyond the church and climbed up over large open fields to come down the other side to Cloud Farm with a lovely campsite that had yurts tucked away looking very inviting. The footpath took us away from the road and followed beside Badgeworthy Water, which rises high on Exmoor and has a fair flow of water. It must be treacherous in winter with a high rainfall on the moors. After dinner was eaten sitting on a slab of rock I lay back in the sunshine and was soon nodding off and when I looked across I saw that Eddie was doing the same. Sometimes I wish that I could just keep on walking to see what might be around the next corner but I’ve never done that yet and don’t expect to start.
Back in the village of Malmesmead I had an ice cream at the cafe before picking up the footpath back up to the main road. That was really hard work as I had relaxed too much and got lazy bones but when we reached the top and looked back down into the valley it was certainly worth the climb.
Another day I drove nearly to Porlock and parked at Selworthy, a ‘chocolate box pretty’ village of old thatched cottages owned by the National Trust. They were given the 12,420-acre Holnicote Estate by the Aclands in 1944 – their largest donated property and, in my opinion, one of the best.
We climbed steeply up onto Selworthy Beacon and headed out to the coast not far from Minehead. The weather was beautiful and the Welsh coast seemed very close but there was a heavy bank of cloud not far into Wales and thankfully that’s where it stayed all day. Since the King Charles III Coast Path has begun to be formed the SW coastpath has been moved to follow a line closer to the sea than it was when I walked it. To put things right, we walked the new section which was quite strenuous in parts. I could never calculate how many miles Eddie actually travels when we go walking but he never tires while out but he certainly is worn out when he finishes the day and when we got back to the caravan each day he and I were really happy to have a comfortable place to sleep and I’m sure that it is a different rain that falls on a caravan roof than that that falls on a tent!
Erica
