Foreland Point, Lynmouth and Watersmeet Circular Walk

This walk consists of 2 short walks from Countisbury (nice pub, car park) on the main Exmoor coast road, with a regular summer bus service from Minehead and Lymington. The walks can be done together as a figure of 8, but they both are exellent walks in their own right.

The Foreland Point loop heads to the coast via Butter Hill to reach the point, then follows the South West Coast Path east along the side of a partly forested hill sloping own to the see. It returns over the top of the hill

The Lymington/Watersmeet Loop is something quite different. It follows the SWCP west along the coast, gently descending to Lynmouth. It then follows the River Lyn through a very narrow steep sided, forested gorge. The gorge is 200m/600 feet deep in places. After 2 miles, at Watersmeet, which has a popular NT cafe, the gorge splits in 2 to form the East and West Lyn rivers - both in narrow, steep sided gorges. A little further, there is a steep climb out of the gorge to return to the pub at Countisbury.

The 300 bus (Lymnington - Lynmouth - Countisbury .... Minehead, April-October only) stops outside the pub at Countisbury. If you starts from Lynmouth, there are more year round choice from the West or South.

Countisbury, EX35 6NE, on the A39, with a National Park car-park nearby, is the best place to park. Lynmouth or Watersmeet (steep climb up to car park) would also be possible.

• The Blue Ball Inn - Countisbury, on the A39, national park car park nearby, nice view from the terrace
• Watersmeet NT Cafe - set in a deep river gorage where 2 rivers meet - a magical place - but (as of April 2012) "over-priced with very poor food"
• Many places in Lynmouth. For picnics, the churchyard in Lynton has picnic tables and nice views.

There are no train stations nearby. To get here, take 1) a National Express Coach to Minehead or 2) a train to Taunton, and then a bus to Minehead.

Regular buses run along the coast on the SWCP day 1 route to Porlock, then a summer only services along the SWCP day 2 route to Lynton. The coastal road heads inland, and doesn't rejoin the coast until the end of SWCP day 3 route - a summer weekend only bus service. NB the #300 bus along the coast runs in 2 sections: i) Minehead to Lynmouth, and ii) Lynmouth to Illfracombe

Bus Routes

• National Express : London to Minehead
• #28 Taunton (train station) to Minehead : year round
• #39 Minehead (day 1 start) to Porlock and Porlock Weir (day 1 end / day 2 start) : year round
• #300 Minehead (day 1 start) to Porlock (near day 1 end / day 2 start), County Gate (day 2), Lynmouth and Lynton (day 2 end) : April to October, reduced service on Sunday
• #300 Lynmouth (day 2 end / day 3 start) to Combe Martin (day 3 end / day 4 start) and Illfracombe (day 4) : April, October: weekends; May-September: daily

After the walk, please leave a comment, it really helps. Thanks!

You can also upload photos to the SWC Group on Flickr (upload your photos) and videos to Youtube. This walk's tags are:

National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Apr-17 Andrew