The Lazy Cherub Enigma: Poetic Pathways, Satan and Surfers

May 25, 2016

Lynmouth to Combe Martin

23.50 km

34,463 steps

According to our guidebook and our “helpful” proprietor, this day’s stage is supposed to be the hardest on the Devon Coast. Ken tossed and turned most of the night worried we would be walking forever. I had contacted our next lodging to let them know we may be late and thus we steeled ourselves with what we were told would be a day of many, many ups and downs.

But first, I have to mentioned how the pub “Mum” made us a HUGE breakfast with so much food I was able to make sandwiches with the left over toast, sausages and eggs. So the good news is we shouldn’t bonk on our way to Combe Martin. And we save money – more pounds for cider!

Once again the weather was fantastic which is both a blessing and a curse when you have a lot of climbing. Great views because of the sun. But hot going as the heart rate goes up. If I have to work out, I’d rather it be a cold day than a warm one. So perhaps I should re think any future hikes in deserts or any place where the temperature gets above 18 Celsius during the day.

Leaving Lynmouth you have one of two ways to get up to Lynton – the very cool antique cable car or walk. Sadly, the cable car does not open until 10 am so we walked. It’s a nice switchback path with lots of stairs and great views. Although I could have done without a climb early in the morning I was glad we did since this route is also decorated with poetry plaques from a contest held a few years ago. In 2014, poetry boxes where left on trail viewpoints for people to stop, linger and pen some prose. They would leave them in the box and eventually, out of 2000+ poems collected, a series of 24 were chosen. They now dot the way up attached to solar lamp posts. My favorite was by 5-year-old Casey:

I am sitting in the sun

I am sitting with my Mum

I am sitting on my bum

There are lots of sailboats

And seagulls

The end I want ice cream

After leaving Lynton we enter the Valley of the Rocks with formations such as “The Devil’s Cheesewring” and “Jack’s Castle.” Legend has it the stunning formations were once a castle filled with beautiful women who were the wives’ of the Devil (also known as Jack). One day the Devil returned home and found his wives indulging in a drunken orgy and in a fit of rage, he destroyed the castle and turned all the women into stone pillars. (I know. I know. Devil. Orgy. Why was this even an issue… but someone else made up the legend not me.) Prior to Roman and Christian invasion, this was a popular site for Druids to congregate for ritual. Nowadays, it is used as a routing for extreme runners in the Lorna Doone ultra marathon held in September.

From Valley of the Rocks it's down into the stunning grounds of Lee Abbey and then back up again via Woody Bay to the old Roman “fortlet” on top of Highveer Point. We didn’t see any fortlet but we did see signs saying Hunter’s Inn (SCONES!!) at the bottom of the valley! So SHUT UP LEGS let’s get down this valley pronto!

The descent into the Heddon Valley is the steepest in England and your knees will never forgive you for it but you can’t beat the spectacular scenery on the way down. The river Heddon empties into the beach at the base of majestic cliffs. The valley floor is forested and serene. I did not get any scones because it was a 2km hike off the trail to Hunter’s Inn and Ken had us on a ridiculous military march schedule due to all the drama around this stage being so arduous.

So now begins the climb up. Way up. From here we do a lot of switchbacks with stairs that are not ergonomic (my knees hate me) until we reach the top of Great Hangman – sea level to 1,043 ft. Another decent and then climb up “Little Hangman” and now we are on the home stretch into Combe Martin.

The good news is we are making excellent time. We got into town around 5:30 and to our lodgings at the Cranleigh House by 6. This was our first Air BnB stay (ever) and one of many we will have throughout the walk. Stewart and Katherine were great. Very New Age and Zen. So much so that when we arrived they mentioned they were in the middle of a cleanse and are vegan. Ken is taking this all in while drinking a Diet Coke that he is trying to discreetly tuck under his jacket sleeve. Good thing when we bought it at the corner store we didn’t also go for a couple of “Man Size” sausage rolls to munch on when we arrived.

Dinner that night was across the street at the famous “Pack O' Cards” so named because it has 52 windows, 4 floors, 13 doors on every floor and 13 fireplaces. Sitting behind us was Leonard Nimoy’s doppelganger. Or maybe it was Mr. Spock himself. He's came back before so who’s to say it can’t happen again?

May 26, 2016

Combe Martin to Woolacombe

26.78 Km

38,511 steps

After two back to back climb days we were prepared to let our guard down and relax our way through this next stage into Woolacombe. One of the things to look forward to is the halfway point at Ilfracombe – a beautiful harbor town that has been a summer retreat for the well heeled since Victorian times. Getting into Ilfracombe was uneventful – some road walking and general path and bridleways. The main draw as a walker for the town is food and a chance to check out “Verity” – a 65 ft. statue based on Damien Hirst’s “flayed pregnant girl” history. The pose is reminiscent of Degas’s “Little Dancer” so basically Hirst’s statue is a fourteen year old girl who is nine months pregnant, nude, has the skin on one leg peeled back to see the muscles, half of her scalp is gone so you see her skull and her pregnant belly is sliced open so you can see the fetus in the womb. An art critic from the Guardian described it as “Hirst exploring his inner Hannibal Lector”. It’s a controversial piece to say the least that is only on loan from the Hirst estate. You know, until he gets a bigger place and wants it back for his own garden of the grotesque and macabre.

After a lack luster lunch of deep fried roast chicken (it’s how the chippy “warms it up") it was time to push on to Woolacombe. From here, we undulate up and down the rugged coastline to our destination for the night. Occasionally we see seals bobbing below. Sheep and lamb dot the landscape punctuated by the occasional cow. We dip into the vale to the tiny hamlet of Lee where again, I could have had scones but Ken stops for no one or nothing so I had to fuel my uphill climb on an apple and a few chocolate Minstrels that Ken told me AFTER THE FACT he had dropped in sheep dung but applied the 5 second rule so I should be fine.

Approaching Woolacombe you walk along the Damaged Cliffs and Bull Point Lighthouse (a way more climatic lighthouse than the one into Lynmouth). Then a final push around Baggy Point and into Woolacombe

Woolacombe is known as a surfer’s paradise but I saw nary a wave. There was also no Chinese Take-Away, which really annoyed me because all I could think of for the last 10 km was how badly I wanted beef and broccoli on rice and about 40 spring rolls. Instead, we had takeaway chicken gumbo (surprisingly good!) and a mini bottle of prosecco for my legs.