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On holiday down at the edge of Exmoor and ended up with the car getting snowed in! The perils of staying up a narrow country lane
No matter though, there was nothing stopping my feet from getting me out of the house so Moss and myself set off on an adventure on foot/paw heading down the lane towards Watersmeet where we followed a pleasant route alongside the river leading us down towards Lynmouth.
The route was signposted all the way to Lynmouth, which was a bit quiet as most of the shops were shut because of the weather so we didn't hang around much following the road along to the path that would take us up to Lynton.
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- Good luck getting leftovers here today!
Along the path a signpost gave a choice, continue on into Lynton or detour along the coastal path to the Valley of Rocks...choices choices! Coastal path it was! It was only a short distance to the Valley of Rocks. I'd been there last time I was in the area and it was a pretty busy place. Not today though! The car park was empty and there were only a few other people wandering around - and two of those were fellow dog walkers.
There are goats around here but I didn't spot any as we did a loop around rejoining the coastal path to head back towards Lynton.
Retracing our steps, at the signpost we turned up towards Lynton which was a bit busier though several shops were still closed. After a short wander around, we headed out on the road towards Balbrook. At an inn with a bridge we left the road and headed onto another track. The initial plan had been to follow a route that would come back to the cottage from the other side but part way along we found the way was blocked by deep snow drifts that not even Moss wanted to tackle so we retraced out steps back to a fork.
Here was another choice - follow the road to Balbroook and take the main road back to the cottage or follow the signposted route back towards Watersmeet. There were a lot of footsteps in the snow, most of them going one way so I figured that indicated that the route was passable to somewhere and it was a lot more interesting than walking on the road. We decided to chance it.
The path climbed higher and higher and the views were pretty good from up there looking across towards Lynton and down towards Lynmouth Bay and across to the hills on the other side.
There were a couple of turnings that offered a route back to the main road, and it was tempting to take them as snow drifts created patches of deeper snow. But there were footsteps to follow, even if I did end up wishing those blessed with longer legs than myself would take slightly shorter footsteps so it would be easier for me to follow in them! We stuck to our route, Moss was enjoying herself in the snow anyway!
At another turning we stuck to the main path heading towards the bridge rather than heading back down to Watersmeet. This section was on a bridleway making the going much easier and soon we were on the road and turning onto the lane to head back up to the cottage.
