The ‘Needs to Know’
Distance: 5.4 miles (3.4km)
Time to walk: 3 hours, which involved a coffee & food stop & some bench time to take in the fabulous views. To be honest you could spend most of a day on this walk with opportunities to extend it
Difficulty: Easy & on a mixture of surfaces, but please be aware that, at times, you’ll be walking on a narrow path along a cliff edge with a sheer drop. Dogs are welcome, but must be kept on leads. Care should be taken with young children
Parking: We parked in the public car park in Cross Street
Public toilets: Cafes etc in Lynton; public toilets in the Valley of the Rocks
Map of the route:
Lynton lies on the Exmoor coast in North Devon & is usually spoken about in the same sentence as Lynmouth – Lynton is the one at the top of the hill, 500 feet above Lynmouth & both are connected by the cliff railway
We’ll look at Lynmouth on our Watersmeet Walk
This walk is a cracker as you’ll see so…
Let’s Walk!
1. This walk starts from the Cross Street car park in the centre of Lynmouth. Walk to the top of the hill where, directly ahead’s the impressive Town Hall…
Turn right & pass some very nice restaurants & the entrance to the Lynton & Lynmouth Cliff Railway. We’ll look at this in more detail shortly…
2. Ahead is St Mary the Virgin Church, the tower of which dates back to the 13th Century, although most of the rest is Victorian…
There’s a story that the church was originally situated opposite Cherrybridge on the Barnstaple road, but pixies spirited the buildings materials away every night, until the builders finally gave in & built it here instead
3. Turn left down North Walk Hill…
You’re now walking on a route known as Westerway. For centuries this path was used to transport goods between the two villages, including at one time by packhorses. It’s not surprising that smugglers also the path to carry contraband
4. Walk over the bridge that crosses the cliff railway & stop to enjoy how this all works…
This is a water-powered funicular railway joining the twin towns of Lynton & Lynmouth . In the late 1800s, interest arose in building a funicular or cliff lift. The civil engineer George Croydon Marks played a key role in both its design & bringing in financing from his business partner, Sir George Newnes. Local contractor Robert Jones was involved in designing the funicular’s innovative braking system & the line’s construction & maintenance in the first decades of its operation
In 1887, construction commenced & a year later, an Act of Parliament authorised the Lynmouth & Lynton Lift Company to operate it. The completed railway was opened on Easter Monday 1890 & has been in continuous use since. While early use was largely focused on moving freight, the funicular railway became popular with tourists & it became mostly used for passenger travel. Its flat platforms were converted into passenger carriages in 1947. It is the world’s highest & steepest water-powered cliff railway in operation
You must take a ride!
5. Pass the entrance to Hewitt’s Villa Spaldi, an Art & Craft Victorian period Country House Villa nestled in its own Garden & Arboretum amid 28 acres of parkland
This was formerly the summer residence of the Baronet Thomas Hewitt QC who built it on a hoe shaped rock hence the Old name of the Place ” The Hoe”. In September 2022 it was on the market for £3.5m
6. As you walk along this path you’ll come across lots of handwritten poems. This is because this section is known as ‘The Poets Walk’. Amongst others, Wordsworth & Shelley visited the town…
A selection of poems have been chosen from over two thousand written by the public on their walks around the area & placed in small boxes
7. Continue on the path as it narrows & passes through a wooded area. There’s some wonderful houses here that appear to be hanging onto the cliff edge…
Eventually you’ll arrive at a gate & pass through it…
8. Now is the time, as the sign on the gate tells you, to make sure your dogs are on their leads & small children are held onto. The next stage of this walk is along the spectacular cliff edge…
And the views are spectacular. Keep your eyes open for the goats that are hanging perilously onto the cliff edge! A herd of feral goats roamed the valley until the mid 19th century. Their habit of killing the more valuable sheep by butting them off the cliffs made them unpopular with local farmers, however, & a cull took place
Later it was recognised that the goats were great at keeping the vegetation & scrub under control, so at the start of the 20th century, a replacement herd of white goats was brought in, although by the mid 1960s the whole herd had perished
The current herd was introduced in 1976 from the Cheviot Hills in Northumberland. Today their numbers are maintained around 25
9. Continue along the spectacular South-West Coastal Path, ignoring the path that goes off up to the left…
Look above you for the jagged rocks of an outcrop known as ‘Rugged Jack’.
Local folklore has it that some Druids were dancing & partying here on a Sunday. Suddenly the Devil appeared & turned them all into stone
10. Ahead of you the large mass known as ‘Castle Rock’ comes into view…
Just before it the track turns left to enter ‘The Valley of Rocks’ & what a beautiful place this is…
11. It’s time to try & spot the mysterious White Lady. Walk forward to the roundabout & bear right up the road. Just before the sign for a Cattle Grid you’ll see a wooden sign pointing towards Castle Rock
Now look at the cracks in the rocks on the top of Castle Rock
Can you see her?? She was actually the white witch Mother Meldrum in R.D Blackmore’s novel, ‘Lorna Doone’
12. Walk back down the hill to the roundabout & look at the stack of rocks to the right. This is known as the ‘Devil’s Cheese Ring’, home of the White Lady herself. Beneath the Cheese Ring was Mother Meldrum’s Kitchen, the witch’s cave, although no such cave exists today…
13. Follow the valley road up through the valley (with the coast now on your left)…
This really is beautiful walking
14. It’s refreshment time & where better than the wonderful ‘Mother Meldrum’s’. It has a superb garden to relax in & oh….the home-made pies!! Just a word of warning though – there’s no toilets, but there are some just up the road where we’re going next
Have a look who’s up in the tree…
15. Refreshed, carry on up the road…
…passing what must be one of the most picturesque cricket grounds in the country
16. Slightly further on the right are the public toilets. On the left side of the road’s a stone wall beside the cricket ground. Follow this up to the path. There’s a couple of benches here which are worth sitting on for a few moments to admire the view back down the valley…
17. Now continue up the narrow path towards the gap in the cliff rocks…
Pass through the gap & turn right to walk down to the path we originally walked out on…
And all that’s left to do now is to retrace your steps along the cliff path, through the gate & back up the lane back into Lynton
So that’s the ‘Valley of the Rocks’ walk & what a stunner it is
If you’re in that area of North Devon you must do this one so…
Go Walk!