A Dreary, Rainy, Windswept Day!

The West Lyn at Lynmouth

The second day of my visit to Somerset and the rain settled in with intention. But were we downhearted? NO! .....autumnal rain here in England is all part of the weather systems that give us our beautiful English gardens, so I try not to complain - though it has to be admitted that lots of things look better in the sun. But I know you don't mind - you all have your rain-hats and wellies on - so off we go! This time, our second outing -  to Lynmouth and Lynton on the North Devon coast.

Lynmouth, just over the county border in Devon, is sadly remembered here for the terrible flood which wrought havoc on the little coastal town on the night of 15th August 1952, when the innocent stream in the picture turned into a raging flood overnight, as rainwater collected from Exmoor and poured in a torrent down the ravine, carrying large boulders from the gorge, demolishing many of the buildings below in the main street and taking with it the lives of 34 people.

The disaster is now remembered in Lynmouth in the Flood Memorial Hall, with evocative photographs taken on the morning after, a list of those who lost their lives, and some touching artefacts collected from the devastated buildings. Around the corner from the Memorial Hall, a monument to an earlier period, in the Cliff Railway, completed in 1890, with two carriages operated by the simple and very green expedient of water power...reservoir tanks under each of the two carriages filling and emptying with water to produce a counterbalance system, differentially weighting each carrage, so that the weight of the one at the top causes it to descend, and at the same time, the weight of the descending carriage pulls the empty one below back up to the top via connecting cables. It's quite an experience to sit on the rising carriage and hear the cables rumbling away beneath you as you ascend what feels like a sheer cliff wall! On reaching the top, the drizzly rain below turned into heavy downpour rain up in the clouds...and in a situation like that, the next sign was a sight for sore eyes...a booksale running almost permanently in the Town Hall...can you guess where I spent the next half hour? Also there, a small display in the main entrance of the content of a Victorian trunk that had been discovered some time ago, filled with delicate needlework - click on the image to see it all in greater detail and of course, no visit complete for me without a look around the local church - this one St Mary's, Lynton - notice the very unusual beaten copper altar frontal and the surprising, life sized image of Mary The reredos paintings were also of very high quality... Back down on the cliff railway - you can see here just how vertiginous the view is from the top, and also the tiny carriage just arriving at the bottom station below. Can you see the beach through the mist?

Nothing brighter at the bottom - the beach still bleak and windswept - but, "making lemonade when handed lemons", I also saw an inviting beach full of rock pools and covered with shining pebbles and shells in so many gorgeous colours and shapes. I am a total five year old as soon as I arrive on this sort of beach and could poke around in the nooks and crannies for hours...not sure if the young gull being blown about felt quite the same way about the place, though - but what amazing camouflage. 

Leaving Lynmouth, past the 14th Century Rising Sun Hotel and back to the car, across  windswept Exmoor...
and back to Porlock...calling in at the church in the tiny village of Exford, up on the Moor, which is, nevertheless blessed with a spectacular rood screen of a kind typical of Somerset churches, with beautiful carved tracery arches supporting a four foot wide platform on the top - the site, in pre-Reformation times of the Holy Rood.

Finally back, cold and wet, to the apartment, for very, very welcome hot tomato soup - but also the memory of a happy and interesting excursion. I'll leave you with the jollity of a clay sculpture by J. Dean, on show in the old Methodist Hall, now turned into an Art Gallery. Who would not be cheered up by seeing this on a cold and dreary day?

More tomorrow!

Comments

[Boyd]

What a lovely way to interrupt the afternoon! I trust you shall give us more, yes? I'm with you on the beach thing. When travelling, I'm forever threatened with prompt abandonment if I don't get my backside into the car ASAP!

[Margaret Lambert]

You have relatively unhurried excursions, with time for the unexpected- I like that! It's not just what you know is there,but what you discover from beach shells and pebbles to whimsical ceramics.
I was sorry to see "An Unknown Woman" on the Lynmouth flood victims list. Did no one ever miss her and wonder?

[sonja poor]

Another wonderful "trip" for me, a keyboard traveler. You really gave me such a sense of the place. What a treat to see the Victorian trunk items. I don't think I would be brave enough to ride the cliff railway in person anyway.

[Brigitte]

Thanks so much, Roz, for taking us with you on your journey! I do enjoy it ever so much!

[Gracie]

Another interesting day! Thanks for taking me along your journey.
When I visited England, I was enchanted by all those old churches, my husband and friends had to literally push me away!
Waiting for what's coming next.

[Darla]

What a wonderful way to start my morning. I loved every bit of this post, between your photo's and writing it was almost (!) as good as being there.

I tremble at the thought of riding that railway but I would have enjoyed the rainy beach.

Darla

[Diana]

Ah, you've done it again, Roz - taken me along on your interesting journey. Pleasure mixed with poignancy as I would so love to live there; but also with gratitude because you not only have the knack of conveying a you-are-there feeling, with your artful juxtaposition of town and country pictures, focusing in on details and drawing back to see the landscape - but you *use* this talent and share it with us. Thanks and love!

Diana

[Nina Walsh]

what lovely pictures, im going to railway this weekend so looking forward to it. I hoping the weather reports are wrong and it does not rain this weekend.

[Southcliffe Devon]

The Cliffe Railway is one of our prize attractions!