Climb 1 of 14

Today is going to be brutal.  As far as I can work out, 2000 metres of climbing in about 50 miles.  That's well beyond ridiculous on my scale of hilliness, at 400%.   First, I will ascend Selworthy Beacon, nearly 300 metres with a viewpoint at the top.  It's a dead-end road, so I will then attempt to descend a bridleway to Selworthy.  Along the valley for a few miles, to Porlock.  Honestly, who planned this??  It is a pointless climb, but that is the point, I suppose.   The journey, and the discoveries along the way, are the point.

Minehead

Kindness of strangers

Minehead harbour

Thatcher (in his van, left)

I slept well but woke at 5.30 again,  so I had an early start.  A double breakfast of porridge with banana and honey, and beans on toast, set me up for the day.  The sun was shining, with a brisk and cool north westerly wind.  Minehead looked beautiful.  It is a lovely town, with a harbour to the west, main beach by the town and station, and Butlins out of town to the east.

Loading up the Garmin, it told me there were 62 miles and nearly 3000 metres of climbing.  My main aim today is that my legs survive for another day, so if I can get to Lynton, around the 50 mile mark, I will be happy.

Into the Park

Climbing out of town to Selworthy Beacon was slow but nice.  Gentle hairpins took me up beautiful North Hill, and then I was in the Exmoor national park, not so gentle climbing among the gorse and the ponies.  I had plenty of time to study the roadside violets and tiny dewy cobwebs in the grass.  Even the dandelions held a fascination, compared to looking at where I had to go.

I'm writing this on top of the moor, surrounded by gorse and views, in the company of many bees and the birdsong.

As I climbed the views opened out; Minehead and the bay glittering behind me, and high moors across the valley to the south.  I caught occasional views of the Welsh coast across the Channel. It was very quiet, unsurprisingly for a dead-end road.  At the end, a stunning view of the cliffs from Porlock to Foreland Point greeted me.   Then I turned back, for the bridleway down off the Moor.

I was apprehensive.  What if it was impassable - overgrown deep mud?  But I didn't need to worry.  It was a wide path, stony or grassy, sometimes too steep to ride, descending from moorland to woodland and then beside a river gorge, to arrive in Selworthy Green.