Day 4 - Lynmouth, Dunster Castle, & Tintern Abbey

World-class hotel at Lynmouth and not nearly enough time to sightsee means I'll definitely be back here. Wow...it is so beautiful. Lynmouth sits at sea level with the Bristol Channel lapping at the beach and tall, sharp hills surround it in the other directions. It's a fabulous seaside town.

Once we headed out, we backtracked a bit, but the views from the top of Countisbury Hill were unreal and heavenly. I think Marianne might be having a moment in the one shot below.

Our first stop of the day was Dunster Castle. The site was first occupied as a Saxon hill fort 1,000 years ago. Upon entering, a 13th century gateway greets you as the oldest remaining piece on the land. In 1571, the Luttrell family bought it and started extensive renovations. This family lived here for over 600 years! A school group was visiting today and you'll see below, they decided to practice jousting on the front lawn.

 

A medieval village is a short, but steep walk down from the castle so we made the trek, grabbed some Cornish pasties (pronounced pass-tees), crisps (potato chips), and some drinks. After a picnic in the car we headed north to Wales and Tintern Abbey.

Tintern is another magical ruined abbey. It's skeleton is more intact than Glastonbury and it's settled on the banks of the Wye River. We are lucky to be here now as some of the trees are turning a beautiful yellow and red. The abbey was established in 1131 and was destroyed by Henry VIII in 1536. The towering stone framework is impressive to behold and is now also serving as a place that gulls and other birds nest and feed: always fun for someone who isn't big on birds! While near where the altar would have been, I pulled out my iPhone and did a search for Gregorian chat music. Sure enough, I had a song in my phone so I pressed play and just imagined monks in the abbey. The song lasted about 40 seconds and was unfortunately included on a Halloween sound effect CD I downloaded years ago. After the chanting stopped, the next piece automatically played. It was called Evil Demon Chat. A quick fumble for my off button did nothing to help the ruined moment!

After some tea, we jetted on to Hay-on-Wye. Our B&B tonight is fantastic! We'll explore the town and its bookshops tomorrow. Until the morrow...