Excerpt from The North Devon Coast

Of course, the ideal way to arrive at Lynmouth is by motor-car, and there, as you come down the salmon-coloured road from Minehead and Porlock, the garage Of the Tors Hotel faces you, the very first outpost Of the place, expectantly, with open doors. But, good roads, or indeed any kind Of roads, only rarely approaching the coast Of North Devon, it is merely at the coast-towns and villages, and not in a continual panorama, that the motorist will here come in touch with the sea.

TO give a detailed exposition Of the route by which I came, per cycle, to Lynmouth might be Of interest, but it would no doubt be a little beside the mark in these pages. Only let the approach across Exmoor be described.

I come to Lynmouth in the proper spirit for such scenery: not hurriedly, but determined to take things luxuriously, for to see Lynmouth in a fleeting, dusty manner is to do oneself and the place alike an injustice. But the best Of intentions are apt to be set at nought by circumstances, and circumstances make sport with all explorers.

Thus leaving Dulverton at noon Of a blazing July day, and making for Exmoor, there is at once a long, long ascent above the valley of the infant Exe to be walked, at a time when but a few steps involve even the most lathy Of tourists in perspira tion. And then, at a fork of the roads in a lonely Situation, where guidance is more than usually necessary, a hoary signpost, lichened with the weather Of generations and totally illegible, mocks the stranger. It is, Of course, inevitable in such a Situation as this that, Of the two roads, the one which looks the likeliest Should be the wrong one and the likely road in this instance leads presently into a farmyard - and nowhere else. This is where you perspire most copiously, and think things unutterable. Then come the treeless, furze-covered and bracken-grown expanses Of Winsford common and surrounding wide-spread ing heaths, where the Exmoor breed Of ponies roam at large and you think you are on Exmoor. TO all intents, you are, but, technically, Exmoor is yet a long way ahead.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.