Sus and I decided we would go off in the Pickwell motorhome 'Henrietta' and explore some of the beautiful coastline of North Devon and Somerset, walking for a couple of days. As the parents-in-law had our children, we couldn't pass up the chance for a mini-break of our own.
First stop was Lynton and a walk out to the Valley of the Rocks.
We stayed overnight parked up next to the River Lyn at Sunny Lyn campsite, which was a beautiful place to stay, in the valley less than half a mile from Lynton.
Once we had parked up the van and hooked up the electricity - essential when camping out in April to get the heater working - we headed off on a long walk in the afternoon sunshine.
Our walk took us along a sweet little track called Lynway which runs along the side of the valley parallel to the river. We passed some beautiful houses and gardens, picking up some ideas for the doors at Pickwell, as we went.
There was a fantastic view as we went along Lynway,
and some great viewing spots to stop and take it in.
When we arrived in Lynton we started to recognise a few sites we'd seen before when we've visited with the children. The Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway ferries people from Lynton at the top of the hill to Lynmouth down below. Our walk out on the path to the Valley of the Rocks passed over the railway on a small bridge.
The path then took us past some lovely looking hotels and guest houses with stunning views across the valley and the Bristol Channel.
One which we really liked the look of was Hewitts Villa Spaldi (only because we have good friends with the same name, could be awful inside?!).
The walk then became a lot more remote, although the footpath is excellent and very smooth,
it has some sections where there are steep slopes falling to the sea and dramatic rocks both above and below.
When we reached Castle Rock, which is at the end of the Valley of the Rocks,
we decided to stop for a cup of tea at Mother Meldrum's cafe. The place was adorned with witch paraphernalia (see the black thing hanging from the tree on top left of pic) which started to slightly unnerve us (the only people there and otherwise completely deserted) as we sipped on our coffee!
There are many footpaths you can take in this area but Sus and I decided to loop back past the cricket pitch and then climb over one of the hills before dropping back down through a wooded area to Lynton.
The view from the top of the hill was truly stunning.
Lynton is a very pretty town and retains an old English charm,
we loved the colours of some of the buildings.
The cinema looked like it was in a converted church building, with windows like ours at home, full of character.
Finally we stopped to pick up some fish and chips before heading back to 'Henrietta' for a nice chilled evening.
On to Porlock next...
First stop was Lynton and a walk out to the Valley of the Rocks.
On to Porlock next...