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There s no denying the thrill of turning our backs on Minehead. Slightly faded English seaside towns have their charms, it’s true. But it’s what lies westwards that draws us back time and again to the Exmoor Coast: some of the wildest and most majestic landscapes in Britain.
We head out past the old harbour, and then cross the meadow towards Culver Cliff. The South West Coast Path snakes up over mighty sandstone headlands and down into damp sessile oak woods, dense with lichens and ferns.
In spring, there’s a massed chorus of birdsong. And there’s poetry in the place-names: Giant’s Rib and Desolation Point, Sir Robert’s Chair and Burgundy Chapel, a ruined hermitage deep in the woods.