Lynton and Barnstaple Steam Railway

A couple of months ago I reported that we'd gone out on possibly the coldest day of the year and all nearly frozen. Well today was possibly the hottest day of the year so far and I decided we'd all go out in Victorian costume. We boiled. Still, we weren't out for long.

The Lynton and Barnstaple Steam Railway was today celebrating its 110th anniversary with a Victorian themed weekend. The railway now only has a bit of the old narrow gauge track left, and this has been restored in recent years. It runs from Woody Bay station, to Killington Lane, some ten minutes away. The cost for this return trip is £5 for adults and £3 for children or £13 for a family ticket. Today, anyone wearing Victorian costume got a 20% discount. Hence our attire.

There is nothing at Killington Lane station, but you get to walk up and down the platform while they move the engine from one end of the train to the other. Then, once back in Woody Bay, you get to avail yourself of the tearooms. We sat in the garden in the blistering sunshine and enjoyed our tea and cake whilst listening to two Victorian gentlemen tell a tale of Martians on Bodmin Moor. Very entertaining and even the audience participation wasn't too bad.

In case you were wondering, my oldest daughter stayed behind on the pretext of revising for her mock GCSEs hence avoiding dressing up, and my husband was a party-pooper and wore jeans and a t-shirt. Boo Hiss!

Valley of the Rocks

Ordinarily this is a lovely place to visit. Today we had a bit of a bad day. When I looked out my window this morning it was lovely blue skies and bright sunshine everywhere. By the time we got here it was cloudy and windy. Plus the whole point of the visit was to take some nice photos to put in a frame I've just bought and getting out of the car I discovered I'd brought my camera but no memory card, so I only managed a few photos on the internal memory.

Anyway, the exercise was good. The Valley of the Rocks is just outside the town of Lynton on the coast of North Devon. It is very rugged and beautiful and today there were loads of wild goats everywhere. Most people come for a walk round and follow the many paths along the cliffs, other come to climb. My husband decided we would go down to the beach despite the fact that the sign said the path was closed. We saw others coming up the path so we thought it would be OK. Well teenaged daughter was up for it, smallest daughter didn't know any better, but middle one was rather worried so when we got near the bottom of the steep, windy and precarious little path on the edge of cliff and the path had collapsed she decided to stop where she was and I waited with her. The others made it to the bottom without incident and ran round on the sand for a while. Of course that meant they had further to climb back up. My husband is now paying for this, moaning about his aches and pains! Ha!

If you do go for a visit, stick to the paths that are open. And make sure you drive round to the toll road so you can see the White Lady, a hole in the rock formation that looks just like a lady in a white dress.