Taking a trip to Watersmeet has been on my to-do list for a while now, and I finally managed to get there last weekend. I'd been to Lynmouth and Lynton a couple times over the summer, but always tended to go the direct route, or if I wanted to get out in nature I'd detour to Valley of Rocks.
This time though I decided to take the long and winding road around the hillside above Lynton and spent a little time in Watersmeet. I wasn't disappointed!
Watersmeet is a gorge area where as the name suggests, the waters meet. The waters being the Lyn River, and Hoar Oak Water. At it's meeting point is a delightful tea room, owned by the national Trust, as is a lot of the surrounding area. From here you can explore the pathways that take you along the waters edge, and check out the numerous waterfalls and rocks that give the area it's beauty. It's home to a lot of wildlife, from herons and otters, to deer and salmon.
I decided that from here I would take a walk along the river, following the woodland pathway that ambles along for a couple of miles towards Lynton. It wasn't too strenuous, and gave plenty of opportunities to see the valley from a number of viewpoints.
I only really managed to scratch the surface here, there's a wealth of opportunities to explore the area from here as a starting point. As Arnold Schwarzenegger says, I'll be back!
