With two nights booked at our hotel in Lynmouth, we decided to spend the day walking the surrounding area. We started off with a breakfast in the hotel.
The Bonnicott Hotel, along with its attached restaurant, The Bay View are owned by two enterprising women, Catheryn and Sarah. In addition to the property we’re staying at, the also own a seafood restaurant down the street, a gift shop next door and have 120 lobster traps. While they have staff to help with the other enterprises, they do it all by themselves for the hotel and the Bay View.
We had to pre-order our breakfast the night before and when we came down, one of the seven tables in the dining room had our room number on it, with our juices and jams. A French press with our coffee soon followed, along with toast and our requested breakfast entrees. At breakfast, we made reservations and placed our dinner orders – which is the only way the Bay View operates.
Following breakfast, we took a hike up along the East Lyn River. About two miles up, we came to Watersmeet, where a tea house sits in the middle of an otherwise remote river canyon. The teahouse was originally built in 1832 as a fishing retreat, but has been a teahouse for the past century.
We made our way back to the hotel and changed into some cooler clothes, as our afternoon hike was going to be in a more exposed area. We then walked to the other end of Lynmouth and caught the Cliff Railway to Lynmouth’s sibling town of Lynton – sitting on the bluff above.
The Cliff Railway is one of four water-powered railways in the world, and bills itself as the longest and steepest. It consists of two cars and a pulley system. Each car has a water tank located under the carriage. When a car is on top, the tank is filled with water, while the car at the opposite end empties its tank. Each brakeman signals the other when the water is filled/emptied and passengers are aboard. Then the weight of the top car pulls the bottom car up a 60-degree slope gaining 500 feet of elevation in just two minutes. The railway has been in use continuously since the 1890’s.
From the upper town, we headed out on a walk along the high bluffs to an area called the Valley of Rocks. We walked along a steep hillside and enjoyed watching a herd of wild goats as they grazed.
We had dinner in the hotel dining room – one of two guest tables this night. Pam had lobster rolls, with fresh catch from the morning. I had salmon on yakisoba noodles. We shared a heated brownie with ice cream for dessert. After our meal, we walked down the hill to a local pub that had advertised live music tonight. We enjoyed the solo female singer who had karioke-style musical back-up. She had the crowd up dancing and singing along. All but an local dog who befriended us and curled up on the bench next to
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