Lynton & Lynmouth

Lynton and Lynmouth is where Exmoor meets the Sea in North Devon, Exmoor is a big national park in the South West. We have wanted to visit Lynton & Lynmouth since we arrived, but other things have always been chosen instead. However, on Saturday 29th August we finally got there! It was about an hour and half drive into Lynton, where we parked the car and headed to the cliff's edge where there is a cliff railway that takes you down to Lynmouth. The view was pretty spectacular!

Lynmouth is a fishing village with a big harbour and it was freezing here today! It was the first time I have felt really cold for what seems a long time. (We really have had pretty good weather, which is kind of weird cause everyone says the weather sucks here - we must have picked a good year!) I didn't really have the warmest clothes on, but boy it was cold! I did warm up after a few good old fish and chips though!!

This is looking back up at the cliff railway from Lynmouth, which was actually a little scary to come down on by the way, it looks like a pretty smooth and relaxed ride from here though - pretty deceiving really!!

The girls enjoyed their beach time, playing on the rocks and throwing things into the water. You get used to the cobble beaches after a while, and I think I have just about forgotten what a beautiful white sandy beach looks like - can't wait to get back to one of those!! I know Lani is hanging out for it... although she does always seem to entertain herself without the sand - like on this rock slide she found...

... or on this very comfy beach chair for a bit of sun-baking!!!

It's funny how kids find all sorts of things on the beach, and always want to keep them, this day was no exception!

Leilani really was using her imagination today - I think she must have been pretending to be stuck on an island or something, this time she made a bed!

She even got Emily to come and tuck her in!

That was before she worked out that you could write on the rocks with the small stones! She was very impressed, and soon had her apprentice working hard - probably recording how many days they had been stuck there for!

Just before we left the beach to check out the town of Lynmouth, Leilani asked her Dad if he would take her looking for crabs.... so off they went while I searched for a toilet for Em. There is a crab somewhere in this picture...no really!

There were quite a lot of people wandering around this small harbour-side town, that's one thing I have noticed here, there are always people around - even in the small villages and country towns - but in a good way, there are not so many that you can't breath but enough to create a bit of an atmosphere! I guess it's no surprise really because Great Britain's 59 million people have to be somewhere!

I love this sight - little thatched roof cottages just appear in all sorts of places - it's just so English... and still so bizarre to me - all these tiny houses crammed into this one little spot and then huge amounts of open space all around them!

If you wanted to take a photo of the weird, scary man made from bolts and chains then you had to give a donation!

These kids love their ice cream!

After a good look around Lynmouth we headed back up to Lynton on the cliff railway, which from this angle looks pretty steep! It was actually quite bumpy on the way up and a tiny bit frightening! As you can see, one car is pulled up, while the other one is pulled down, where the track curves is where they pass. It is operated by water, which is pumped from the West Lyn River. The cliff railway opened in 1890 and has pretty much been in use ever since.

It was worth putting up with the cold to see this view!