I dodged a bullet with the weather today. It rained heavily all yesterday afternoon and evening but today ended up only partly cloudy, albeit with a bitterly cold wind.  Just a thin layer of mud covered a lot of the path but the wet grass kept my shoes clean!

After going thru a park at the end of town the Path went straight up through a forest, providing an excellent warmup for the day. After 2.5 miles it leveled out at a diversion point: left for views/wind, right for trees/protection. I chose the former as I’m all about views but brrrr, very chilly indeed.

The route is the Old Coast Path and basically follows farm tracks over the inland hills. Another 2 miles in was another option to join the path closer to the sea but the wind was ferocious, gusting up to 30mph and therefore potentially dangerous on the exposed coastal route so I kept safely to my inland bridleway.

A pleasant descent down thru the trees, then a never-ending 3 miles along the marsh and stoney beach to Porlock Weir. I mean this literally: I saw signs stating 3m, then 2.5m, then 3m again, then 1 3/4m, then 2m, and so on!