Devon Coast to Coast

 I awoke to an overcast but dry day. Whilst it did rain quite a lot yesterday evening and overnight, I don’t think it was as bad as forecast!  After a cooked breakfast, I set off, only to stop 50m down the road at the village cafe. No I wasn’t having a second breakfast, but I got them to make me up a sandwich for lunch.  There was a steep climb out of  Withypool onto the moor. I then made a mistake, following GPS and OS maps, rather than the obvious path. This meant that I had a bog to cross and got quite wet in the process!  When I eventually rejoined the path, it was a lovely walk to Simonsbath. It mostly followed the River Barle valley, with some lovely views.  I reached Simonsbath just after midday and made my way to the Exmoor Forest Inn, for some liquid refreshment, but just my luck, it was shut on a Tuesday.  There was another stiff climb out of the village onto Dure Down, which at 480m was the highest point of the day. I stopped to eat my sandw...

 Today has been a rest day. Although it’s only been drizzly most of the day, the forecast is for heavy rain tonight, with a yellow weather warning in place, especially for Exmoor and Dartmoor.  Whilst I could have continued walking today, I would have had to camp tonight, which quite frankly, I’m not prepared to do, in the tent I am using. It’s pretty flimsy and I think I would have ended up soaked!  So today, I have done very little. I walked down to the village shop for a paper, which I have now read from cover to cover! I’ve even done the crossword!  I am just about to sit down to a plate of slow roasted lamb and mash, which I think you’ll agree sounds more appetising than a pot noodle (that I would have had, if I’d been camping).  Tomorrow, I plan to walk to Simonsbath, then make a decision as to where to camp. I’ll probably go up onto the moors weather permitting, and find a spot not too far from Lynmouth.  I’d like to finish this walk before lunch on ...

I slept quite well in my wild camp spot, even if I did get woken up by rain showers a few times.  I got up at 7:30 and fed myself with a dehydrated meal, because I knew I had a long day ahead.  I set off to sunshine, but in no time had my first soaking of the day.  I had diverted off the path to a service area on the A361 that had a cafe, but just my luck it was all shut up on a Sunday. I sat in the entrance to some locked toilets, dodging some really heavy rain.  I really did begin to question my sanity and my choices ( I nearly chose to go to the South of France instead of this walk)! After that drenching, I walked to the village of Knowstone, which had a pub ( that was also shut on a Sunday). Are they all Methodists around here?  As I was walking through the village, I got propositioned by a man dressed in Lycra, who asked me if I wanted to join him in a spin class. I declined his offer and walked quickly out of the village.  That’s right, I left Knowsto...

 I had an excellent sleep in my king-size bed, followed by a superb breakfast. Whilst it wasn’t cheap, the proprietors of the New Inn went the extra mile with their hospitality and soft touches, that it was worth the expense. I can heartily recommend.  Whilst getting ready to leave, we had a heavy shower of rain, which soaked everything. I decided to put my waterproof socks on and headed out. Coleford was already off-route, so I decided to make my own route to Morchard Bishop, where I would re-join the official route. I thought I was being clever by picking road and farm tracks, which should have kept my feet dry. Unfortunately, a few of the by-ways turned out to be too narrow for tractors and therefore very overgrown by lack of use. This meant that my boots soon got saturated, but fortunately the waterproof socks seemed to keep my feet dry.  I made fairly quick progress to Morchard Bishop, where there was a small community shop, that also sold coffee and pasties. They al...

I slept well last night despite the rain pattering on the tent. It had stopped by the time I got up at 7:30. I made the decision to continue walking rather than remain on the campsite. There was a weather window of a few dryish hours, so it seemed sensible to get a few more miles under my belt before the heavy rain set in.  The first mile was pleasant walking across several livestock fields.  However, there was then a succession of ‘hay’ meadows with 3ft high grasses. Obviously, after the overnight rain, the grass was soaking wet, which quickly transferred itself to me, despite me wearing gaiters. In no time my boots became saturated, making walking quite unpleasant.  There was also quite a lot of road walking, along typical Devon lanes (narrow and high-sided), so there were few views to be seen.  By 2pm, the heavy rain was threatening. I made the decision to curtail the days walk and checked into The New Inn in a small village called Coleford ( west of Crediton)....

 Another rubbish night’s sleep, this time caused by the noise of the wind making my tent flap about!  I got up at 6:45 to a lovely sunny morning. By the time I’d packed everything away, it was 7:25 and the clouds were already starting to bubble up.  I made my way down off the moor on a circuitous route to Chagford. It was quite a gentle walk and at one point I came across this line of standing stones.  I then cheated slightly. Rather than follow the official route, that took you in a circular route to Chagford, I chose a more direct route along a typical Devon road ( single track, with high banks either side).  By the time I reached Chagford (7 miles) I was famished, so I found a popular tea-room that happened to do breakfast!  After letting that little lot go down, I began what was the best stage of this trek so far. Firstly, the path took me along some lovely meadows, where the sheep and cattle were obviously used to people, because they didn’t budge an i...

 It was a lovely peaceful campsite at Dartmoor Shepherds Huts, or at least it should have been, Unfortunately, at about 10pm a group of Indian men turned up at one of the cabins and promptly started to have a drinking/cooking session on their veranda. I’ve no idea what they were saying because they were chatting in Urdu or Punjabi, but they continued on laughing and talking loudly until well past 3am, despite me asking to be quiet a couple of times! Needless to say, I was a bit grumpy when I got up this morning!  I packed up and left the site just before 9 and headed over to Holme, where there was a community shop/cafe. They weren’t quite ready to do breakfast when I arrived but I decided to wait for them, to get the prep done and I’m glad I did!    Whilst in the cafe, I recognised some of my fellow Two Moors Way hikers. A couple of men (Paul & Andy) and another man & wife team. Paul is camping and doing the whole thing like me, Andy was just accompanying him...

 I slept quite well, despite the room being like another sauna. Obviously must have tired myself out!  After another cooked breakfast, I headed out back onto the path. It was a long steady climb out of Ivybridge onto the moor. I decided to take an alternative route up Western Beacon, because the views were spectacular! I only took video, so if you want to see them, you’ll have to wait until I put the video of my walk onto YouTube! However, all that climbing obviously made me a right sweaty mess!  I headed across the plateau and soon saw the first of many standing stones. Allegedly, these were put in place by local Abbey’s to assist their monks in navigating the moor.  The path followed an old railway line, built in 1910 to a china clay mine.  This went on for quite a long time, with very little to interest the eyes( that’s the problem with moorland walking)! It was quite tiring and I started to feel a blister on the ball of my left foot. I stopped and aired my f...