Exmoor Exploits

After a weekend in the Forest of Dean it was time to head straight to Exmoor. I had a week of walk leading with HF Holidays from their house near Selworthy in Somerset. The house is owned by the National Trust and its extensive estate is managed by the Trust from the Estate Office in the grounds.

Holnicote House, Selworthy, Somerset

A bit of running & cycling

Arriving the Sunday night provided me with the opportunity to go for an early run up to Selworthy village on Monday before breakfast. Afterwards I went for a ride on the bike around the winding lanes and came out just beyond the 'honey-pot' village of Dunster. A quite tour of Minehead brought back memories of childhood holidays and then the long drag back to the house along the A39. Over the week I managed a couple of runs and on Friday before driving home I took the bike out to Porlock. There was no way I was going to tackle the infamous Porlock Hill on the A39, but I did take the toll road up. This winds on and on at a progressive steady incline. Halfway up is the toll booth and a compulsory stop to pay the £1 fee, before continuing ever upwards! This is mostly through woods, so near the top the winds hit you as you leave the relative shelter of the trees. A quick ride through the Exmoor lanes was interesting, although lots of downs, most roads were rather winding and impossible to safely assess what could be coming the other way. Hopefully the Porlock toll road hill will go some way to prepare me for the Prudential Ride London 100 miler on 2 August. Although I'm not sure whether this will help with Sunday's 10K race at Luton.

Guided walks around Exmoor

Taking in the view

As this was a midweek break I only had three walks to lead this week. As usual we divided up the walks fairly between us and explained the walks the night before to the guest for them to make a choice. The first days walk was out from the house to Dunster, by late morning we had reached Wooton Courtney and the steep hills become excessively so. This caused problems for some and required careful management of the group. Once we reached the ridge it was more or less downhill gradually to Dunster and the cream teas many were busy planning. As the threatened rain hit us in the woods, somewhere dry to wait our transport back was necessary.

Landacre Bridge

A harder walk on the Wednesday took us across a more remote part of Exmoor. Our route started east of Exford, which we reached in time for a quick coffee stop and a chance to remove layers. The day started wet, but was rapidly becoming warm & muggy. the route took us onto Withypool and finished at Simonsbath. A very varied route with a wide range of habitats to see, but a tight schedule to meet our transport at the end of the walk.

Heading to Lymouth

The final walk of the week was a coastal one from east of Countisbury and then following mostly the South West Coast Path to Lynmouth. A gentle paced walk with plenty of time to enjoy the scenery and see some of the birds, including Stonechat's. Another hot and sunny day with plenty of sea breeze.

Although I've walked a lot around this part of North Devon & Somerset, it was my first visit to the house. A very welcoming stay & excellent facilities (food & accommodation). definitely a house to revisit.