B2B Day 6 Brendon to Porlock--Uphill Again

For an OS map of today's walk (10 mi.; 16 km; 1,562 ft total ascent), click here.

This morning after a hearty granola breakfast we say goodbye to Nigel and Annie and to the lovely shepherd’s hut. 

Sara outside the shepherd's hut

It was cloudy and threatening rain when we left. We decided to take the path through Southernwood rather than the road, even though we knew the path would be steeper. It was. We navigated our first major climb of the day, and then came down the path into sunshine and Malmsmead, where there was a Lorna Doone path, Lorna Doone Farm (a gift shop) and Lorna Doone Inn with refreshments. 

The Lorna Doone Inn

We ordered a ham and mustard baguette to go, to take with us for lunch. We did sit at a table outside for a rest, watching the cars drive through the splash. 

The splash beside the bridge at Malmsmead

We then set out down the narrow road to Oare. 

As one driver was creeping past us, pressed into the hedgerow at the side of the road, he rolled down his window and said teasingly, “Mind your toes!”

We liked little Oare church, which was small and bright. 

The interior of Oare church (west end)

After Oare church, we set out on our upwards path. It went up and up, and of course we needed to rest in order to take in the splendid views!

The view from the top

Once at the top, we crossed a major road and then could see the ocean, and took a path downwards to join the South West Coast Path section we had taken before in 2013, and enjoyed it again (especially knowing that the major climb was over). It was windy and fairly cold. 

Sheep, ocean, and a brisk breeze

We stopped and sat on a small bank at the side of the road near Parsonage Farm. There were various family members who walked up and down the road, and instead of discouraging us from sitting on their land, they made us feel most welcome. One woman kindly invited us to sit in their garden at a picnic bench, but we were almost done eating. Our takeaway sandwich came with tortilla chips and salad, and we put the salad inside the sandwich. It was all quite good.

We set off again and took photos of Ash Farm, where the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge apparently was resting when he wrote “Kubla Khan” (and was famously interrupted by a person from Porlock, as we mentioned in 2013). 

Ash Farm

As we were going on the road down the hill towards the Worthy Toll Road, a man in a car drove slowly past us, rolled down his window, and said, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” We think he was referring to himself, and that he had found that the road became poorer the further he went, so he had turned around.

Walkers weren’t permitted on the Worthy Road, so we took the woodland path, partly following the instructions for the Coleridge Way that we had printed out. The instructions were poor, most frustratingly describing the path as going downhill when it went uphill. 

The Coleridge Way directions were poor, but the woods were fascinating

We also had some fairly steep downhill walking, and we took a zig-zag path down through woods infiltrated by rhododendrons, coming out at the bottom at Porlock Weir. 

Ken going downhill through the ferns to Porlock Weir

We had a good time looking around the weir, and we had some lemonade at the Ship Inn (the Bottom Ship; the Top Ship is in Porlock). 

Porlock weir

At the Ship Inn in Porlock Weir

Our path to Porlock began on a shingle beach, and hearing the large rocks underfoot was an interesting sound—sort of like someone clicking bricks together. 

Colourful shingle

After we left the shingle beach behind, we decided to take the road—a bit uphill but not bad. The experience was nothing like we remembered in 2013, when we had walked from Lynmouth to Porlock, were quite late, and were walking as quickly as we could uphill to Porlock, arriving at our B&B at 7:30 p.m. This time we arrived at a respectable 5:15.

We had a warm greeting from Nigel (and later from Jan), who served us tea in the garden. Yes, we have had two hosts named Nigel and two named Jan so far, and they have all been wonderful.

We had dinner at The Ship Inn (the top ship in Porlock). It was Bank Holiday Monday, but we got one of the last tables and enjoyed a delicious meal, the best pub meal by far we’ve had this trip. We thought we’d order something different, so Ken had venison meatballs in stroganoff sauce with basmati rice, and Sara had pork steak with mustard sauce, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. The portions were reasonable rather than gargantuan, and so we shared a sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream for dessert—a sweet ending to the day.