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| Day 1 |
Arrive in Barnstaple, take time to look around this small town (and once-sizeable port … it sent 5 ships to aid the fight against the Spanish Armada) with its historic pannier market (reportedly one of the top ten food markets in Britain) and find somewhere to eat. |
| Day 2 |
Combe Martin to Hunters Inn. After a taxi transfer to Combe Martin (included), your path ascends swiftly up to Great Hangman and along the edge of the cliff with views over to Wales. A final stretch takes you away from the coast on a small road to the tiny village of Trentishoe before reaching your destination of Hunters Inn, deep in its wooded fastness, close to the smugglers' bay known as Heddon’s Mouth. (12 kms, 4 hrs, CUSs 600m) |
| Day 3 |
Hunters Inn to the East Lyn Valley. The steepness of yesterday’s ups and downs will have warmed you up for a gentler day’s walking along barely accessible parts of the coast, the Valley of the Rocks and the Victorian charms of Lynton/Lynmouth for lunch. Then, leaving the coast path behind, you wend inland along charming river- and wood-side walks to your traditional pub accommodation at either Rockford or Brendon. (20 kms, 6 hrs, CUSs 650m) |
| Day 4 |
Free day. You might decide to take a day off or do your own thing using the excellent Ordnance Survey map, but our suggested walk takes in cliff walking, moorland and woodland, and even a lighthouse. There is time for a pub lunch at Countisbury before leaving the sea behind you and returning to your valley. (19 km, 6½ hrs, CUSs 550m.) |
| Day 5 |
Brendon/Rockford to Exford. Through country made famous in Blackmore’s evocative Lorna Doone, this walk takes you beside the East Lyn river and on across the very heart of Exmoor's wildness via Great Tom's Hill, before descending gradually to civilisation and the village charms of Exford. (18 km, 5 hrs, CUSs 280m) |
| Day 6 |
Circular walk around Exford. Ancient lanes, streams and moorland. With an early start you can take in both the clapper bridge at Tarr Steps and a well-deserved pub lunch in the Royal Oak at pretty Winsford, before an afternoon walking high above the River Exe. (18 km, 5½ hrs, CUSs 500m with (recommended) lift to start point; add 1½-2 hrs for purists) |
| Day 7 |
Exford to Dunster. The final day returns you to civilisation with a walk from rural remoteness to historic Dunster. Your path is via Dunkery Beacon, the highest point in the region, with fine 360 degree views … a fitting place to consider the variety of your past days’ walks. (20 km, 6 hrs, CUSs 450m) |
| Day 8 |
Depart for home – best via the steam railway to Bishop’s Lydeard and onward bus to nearby Taunton station, or why not stay a further night or two to visit Dunster Castle and to relax? | |
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