Lynmouth, The Valley of Rocks and Watersmeet

I love Lynmouth and Lynton, if it wasn't so busy I think I could spend a holiday there. Lynmouth straddles the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers, in a gorge 700 feet below Lynton, which was the only place to expand to once Lynmouth became as built-up as possible.

On the 15th and 16th of August 1952, a storm of tropical intensity broke over south-west England, depositing 9.0 inches of rain within 24 hours on the already saturated soil of Exmoor. It is thought that a cold front scooped up a thunderstorm, causing debris-laden floodwaters to cascade down the northern escarpment of the moor, converging upon the village of Lynmouth; in particular, in the upper West Lyn valley, fallen trees and other debris formed a dam, which in due course gave way, sending a huge wave of water and debris down the river.

Overnight, more than 100 buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged along with 28 of the 31 bridges, and 38 cars were washed out to sea. In total, 34 people died, with a further 420 made homeless. The seawall and Rhenish Tower survived the main flood, but were seriously undermined. The tower collapsed into the river the next day, causing another temporary flood. Similar floods had been recorded at Lynmouth in 1607 and 1796. After the 1952 disaster, Lynmouth was rebuilt, including diverting the river around the village.

Opposite Lynmouth Harbour is the Flood Memorial Hall. The permanent free exhibition inside includes a scale model of the village pre-flood, along with images of the buildings which were destroyed and how to identify their sites. There are many personal accounts, photos, as well as material on the recent theory that it may have been the result of cloud-seeding experiments by the military.

Today, whilst still pretty and retaining its charm, Lynmouth is a typical resort with many cafés, restaurants and gift shops. The two villages are connected by a funicular cliff railway opened in 1890 which is the highest and the steepest, totally water powered railway in the world and one of only three in England.

We had a nice walk around the village, but again, not a lot was open due to the pandemic. We did manage to find a pub which was serving coffees, so we sat in the beer garden overlooking the harbour and had a cappuccino each. However the village was still fairly busy, so we didn't hang around too long and instead, went off in search of the romantically sounding Valley Of Rocks situated above Lynton. What a fabulously impressive place it turned out to be.

The Valley Of Rocks is thought to have been formed during the Ice Age when the ice sheet prevented the East Lyn River from reaching the sea on its normal route and was diverted westwards. When the ice sheet retreated, the river was able to resume its original path, leaving this valley riverless. Over the years, the valley has silted up to become the U-shape it is now. The right-hand side of the valley is separated from the sea by a series of rocky cliffs, along which The South West Coast Path runs.

Dodging the showers, we managed to have a quick look around and take some ace photographs of the cliffs but, as time was pressing, we didn't really do the place justice. Hopefully the next time we go, we will stay longer and have a proper walk and explore.

Our last port of call for the day was Watersmeet which was a couple of miles out of Lynmouth and which lies at the bottom of a steep wooded valley where the East Lyn River and Farley Waters meet in a series of waterfalls and cascades. It is one of those places where, whatever superlative you use to describe it, falls well short of the mark. It is without doubt the most beautiful woodland area I have ever visited, and every step we took was a pure joy. We walked up in to Barton Wood which is all native woodland and then back down to Watersmeet House where we sat outside and had a coffee. Come to think of it, I don't recall seeing one evergreen tree in the entire area. I should imagine it is spectacular when all the autumn colours are on show.

Reluctantly, we toiled our way out of the valley and back to the car and then drove back over Exmoor. The road we returned on came out only a stone's throw from Torre Cider farm, but sadly it was closed for the day, so it was back to Watchet.

A long but incredible day. We had seen the best of all worlds: coastal, woodland and moorland scenery.