Shorter, flatter walks on Exmoor (part 2)

Here are some further ideas for Exmoor and Somerset walks for people who don’t want to – or aren’t able to – do more strenuous walking.

Horner Woods

foxgloves in Horner Wood

Start from Horner village and follow the (mostly level) track into the woods; walk as far as you like, then back the same way. There are two (seasonal) tea gardens in the village, near the car park, for refreshments after your walk. Horner Wood is very atmospheric, and rich in both flora and fauna.
Find more information about the woods here:

http://www.everythingexmoor.org.uk/encyclopedia_detail.php?ENCid=549

Snowdrop Valley near Exmoor House

Snowdrop Valley

When the snowdrops are in bloom (February to early March) there is a park & ride bus from Wheddon Cross down to the valley. The rest of the year, you can drive down there via the narrow lane and use the pull-in car park, which has space for just a couple of vehicles. There’s a flat, even-surfaced there-and-back walk in the valley itself; you could make it a circular walk by returning on the other side of the river (gentle slopes, more uneven ground).

Washford to Watchet (or vice versa)

Follow the line of the old Mineral Railway. You could combine this walk with a trip on the West Somerset Railway as there are stations in both Watchet and Washford.

Tarr Steps

Tarr Steps, Exmoor

A favourite spot for picnics. For an easy circular walk: go down to the river from the car park near Tarr Farm (quite a steep slope), turn right along the river path without crossing the Tarr Steps clapper bridge, then in about a mile cross the river via a footbridge. Walk back on the other side and cross back over the river via the clapper bridge. If you don’t like the idea of walking across Tarr Steps, then you could just walk along the river and back again.

Discovering the Old Mineral Line, Brendon Hills, Exmoor

It seems hard to believe now, but the Brendon Hills on Exmoor were once a centre for iron mining. Whole settlements were constructed for miners and their families, although most of the houses and industrial buildings have since disappeared or remain only as ruins. There was also the West Somerset Mineral Railway (or Old Mineral Line), which was built to take iron ore to Watchet Harbour, ready to be shipped to Newport in South Wales.

The route of the old railway included the Incline, a very steep slope down which wagonloads of iron ore were lowered by means of cables; the empty wagons were hauled back up again. The remains of the Winding House, which housed the machinery for this, are by the side of the road near the Beulah Chapel, shortly after you turn down the road towards Wheddon Cross.

Beulah Chapel is interesting in itself. Standing at the road junction of the B3190 and the B3224 near Raleghs Cross, it is all that remains of a mining village where at one time several hundred people would have lived. The congregation were Bible Christians, a North Devon and Somerset splinter group of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.

Some suggested Old Mineral Line walks

From the car park just off the B3190 near Raleghs Cross, you can take a short walk through the woods to see the Incline, continuing if you like towards Comberrow and Roadwater.

At Chargot Woods, a few miles from Wheddon Cross, there are walks taking in the Bearland Flue chimney (which was, literally, a lifeline for the miners) and the former site of Langham Engine House.

There’s an easy walk between Washford and Watchet along the route of the Old Mineral Line. In the Market House Museum at Watchet you will find a lot of historical information and a fascinating collection of old photographs.

To discover more about this amazing chapter in Exmoor’s past, visit http://www.westsomersetmineralrailway.org.uk/welcome/