PORLOCK to COUNTY GATE Stage 2 (23rd April 2007)

Again we took bus #300 from Lyndale Coach Park, Tors Road, 10:58 to , arriving at 11:30. Coffee & sandwich or cake followed at the Home Cook Café in Porlock. We started walking at 12.20, direct to County Gate with only brief stops for photos and water, arriving at 16.00, in good time for #300 bus to Lynmouth at 16.37. The path is good, varying between woodland (lots of wild flowers, (bluebells, wild garlic, stitchwort, primroses, celandines, ...) then a brief spell by the sea at , followed by an ascent through woodland to church, at the head of a pretty valley. The path goes out onto the moor (there were lots of lambs at this time of year) after that, but is in a well protected ‘hollow way’ style track for much of the way. Then a descent towards the coast, crossing several stream valleys before a longish steep climb away from the path to the main road at .

Length of walk 13.7km. Ascent on walk 3740 feet = 1273m.

The South West Coast Path is the longest of the official UK National Trails, running from Minehead in Somerset round the English south west peninsula coast to Poole in Dorset. The total length is just over 1000 kilometres or, more precisely, 630 miles. Only very dedicated walkers could contemplate completing the whole walk in one go, although plenty of people have done just this. Received opinion is that it would take around 6 weeks, even for the most dedicated.

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