SWCP: PORLOCK TO LYNTON
Day 2 - Roughing it in a B&B
If you are hoping to read exciting tales from the trail, you might want to skip ahead a day or a two.
The night was initially very still, then the rain came and eventually the wind picked up. I woke up well before 7 and decided to take advantage of the quiet time in the toilet block.
Back in the tent H was already packing her pack and her side of tent was empty by 9am. She decided to use the site kitchen and enjoy couple of cups of coffee while I was having snacks and packing. I was getting ready to pack up the tent which was nearly dry after the morning breeze picking up and at that very moment a shower started. Luckily it lasted only about 20 minutes and I got out to wipe the tent dry and pack it up. We were aiming to take the 11.20 bus from Porlock to Lynton and have brunch cum lunch on arrival. We were at the church bus stop watching the tourist drivers causing frequent traffic delays while trying to drive through the narrow high street. The bus arrived 25 minutes late and the driver signed to us that the bus is full and it didn’t stop.
A friendly local rushed over to us and told that if we were to wait at the earlier stop by the One Stop, we’d have better chance of catching the bus. We had about 40 minutes to kill and H had researched that the Old Library cafe was the place to go. Luckily for us, it was also right across the bus stop to Lynton. I had fried eggs on sourdough toast and H had fish cakes with samphire and fennel slaw, and prior the trip she was worried about having to eat nasty, processed food on this trip. First sourdough pizza in Lynton, now fancy fish cakes for brunch. I finished my plate earlier and paid off our tab, grabbed H’s pack and headed out to the bus stop to ensure we’d catch the bus if it was in time. It was only little late and had space for us.
A39 is the steepest A road in the UK according to the driver and the automatic gearbox did struggle through the narrow turns as it would think the lower gear was revving too high, but changing to higher gear couldn’t provide enough torque, so it kept changing back and forth every few minutes which felt like the uphill part of being towed up to the start of a rollercoaster ride. A39 is a beautiful drive with amazing sea views. A few years ago we drove up to Minehead and drove back on A39 staying in couple of places on the way.
Lynmouth was busy with tourists queuing for pasties, ice cream and the water powered railway. Our B&B was in Lynton, and since we had already skipped a section, it didn’t feel like cheating to take the railway up, especially with my legs still aching from the day before.
We checked into a our B&B and just chilled for a bit watching the Olympics and had even a little nap.
We washed some clothes and went out to eat Thai food by the Sunny Lyn campsite which is a popular stop for the hikers.