Walking on Exmoor and the Quantock Hills

Walking on Exmoor and the Quantock Hills

A foot injury is currently stopping me from walking any distance, so I haven’t been able to update any walks recently. Work currently stalled includes finishing walk 102 around Kingston St Mary, and rewalking the Withypool and Tarr Steps route to update walks 58 and 59 (see ‘New bridge at Great Bradley’ below).

Dulverton Information Centre moving December 2024

The National Park Information Centre in Dulverton has now closed for the winter. When it reopens in the spring it will be in Exmoor House, the National Park offices, rather than next to the library in Fore Street. Exmoor House is the large building next to the River Barle, at the back of the green along the road from the Bridge Inn.

New bridge at Great Bradley October 2024

Exmoor NP has added a new bridge at Great Bradley where there was formerly only a ford. When walking south along the eastern bank of the River Barle from Withypool, walkers will now be directed to cross over at Great Bradley and continue along the western side to Tarr Steps (it is still possible to cross back over just before Watery Lane). This affects walks 58 and 59, which will be updated in due course.

Changes to the SW Coast Path July 2024

Several sections of the Coast Path have recently been re-signed, generally to use routes closer to the coast (for instance the Rugged Coast Path between North Hill and Bossington Hill, and the narrow path around Hurlstone Point). The details, with plans, are here (click on ‘Exmoor and North Devon’, then the specific area). They don’t affect the walks other than that sometimes where I refer to the ‘Coast Path’, the route will now be a normal public path, while a different path is now signed as the Coast Path. I will change the instructions when I update the relevant walks.

Buses April 2024

There have been some minor changes to bus timetables including the Exmoor Coaster (running from the end of March to the end of September and no longer from Watchet), route 25 from Taunton to Dulverton, and route 28 from Taunton to Minehead which is slightly less frequent. Please check the timetables from the bus operator or Traveline SW.

Plans for 2024 April 2024

We moved from Dulverton to Staplegrove, on the NW edge of Taunton, in March. Once we are settled in I’m aiming to add some new walks north of Taunton and along the A358 corridor, e.g. in the Bishops Lydeard and Tolland areas, to complement the Brendons and Quantocks walks already on the site. We will also spend some time walking on the Blackdowns and into Dorset and east Devon, so while we will still be frequent visitors to Exmoor inevitably the walks on the site won’t be updated as often.

Tea room changes April 2024 – changes in 2023 are below

In Brushford (near Dulverton, on walk 68), the Carnarvon Stores now has a small café which opens from 7.30am (closed Sundays).

Boevey’s in Simonsbath is now open again with new owners; closed on Sundays.

Tea room changes 2023

On the Quantocks, the Foxy Bean at Adscombe has now closed. Planning permission has been granted to rebuild the burnt-out Pines café as a house, so it is unlikely that a tearoom will reappear there any time soon. The Blue Ball at Triscombe looks unlikely to open any time soon, though the Rising Sun in West Bagborough has now reopened. Overall the Quantocks are very short of refreshment options.

In the west of the region, in Combe Martin there is now a kiosk (Bobbie’s Bakes) with outdoor tables overlooking the beach, next to the small car park directly off the A399. In Ilfracombe, if you start from the long-stay Hillsborough car park there is now a choice of two, Larkstone Diner just down from the swimming pool and the Lime Kiln café further along above the harbour.

There is a tea room again at County Gate – the Rambler’s Rest – very welcoming with lunches as well as tea and cake, and a few groceries for sale. Another reopening after a long closure is the Horner Vale tea garden (so there are now two refreshment options in Horner, as well as ice cream from the farm shop next to the car park).

The Parracombe community shop and café has been open since 2022. There is limited parking, but enough room to leave a car there for a walk. Bratton Fleming community shop – again with a small car park, so viable as an alternative start for walk 33 – also has a small café.

The popular Bridge Cottage in Winsford closed at the end of 2023 due to the owners’ retirement.

Porlock Pilgrim’s Trail October 2023

This 29-mile trail takes in nine churches and chapels in the north-eastern part of Exmoor, to the south and west of Minehead. It divides easily into three day walks. You will need the trail guide: it is £8 but profits go to the churches. More details here: https://www.porlockpilgrim.co.uk/

Exmoor superlatives October 2023

I was involved in a discussion recently about the highest church, village, inn etc. on Exmoor. There are some surprising (wrong) claims made, such as that Stoke Pero church is not only the highest on Exmoor but in England! Here’s a page with the results of my research: highest.pdf

Walk 67 Dulverton and Ansteys – bridge now repaired May 2023

The bridge and steps at Beer Cottages just west of Streamcombe have now been repaired. The approach to the bridge can still be quite muddy.

North Devon parking charges April 2023

All-day parking in many North Devon car parks has increased to £10-15, particularly between March and November (and all year in Lynton and Lynmouth) – please check parking charges here before planning to use a particular car park. This is more than a three-fold increase for some car parks, e.g. Mortehoe which has gone from £4.40 for a day in 2022 to £15 in 2023 (with no long-stay alternative). You may like to use alternatives where they are available, such as starting from County Gate, Woody Bay or Hillsford Bridge, or using the bus connections where they exist. If you are put off doing a walk by the parking charges please complain to North Devon Council. When I revise North Devon walks I will aim to point out alternative parking where possible, e.g. walk 15 (Lyn gorges) can now be started from the National Trust car park at Hillsford Bridge.

Dulverton walking book March 2023

Walking Dulverton and area is no longer available online. Exmoor National Park Authority will continue to sell the book through the Dulverton information centre. The updates can be downloaded here.

New web site February 2023

Walking on Exmoor and the Quantocks is now hosted at https://devmts.org.uk/weq/ rather than on emyspot. The old site just has a note with this address on, and http://exmoorwalker.uk now redirects here. You can bookmark either exmoorwalker.uk (it directs to the homepage) or a specific page on this site, but please update any links to the old emyspot site. If you notice any problems with this site, please send me an email.

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