The high plateau of Exmoor National Park meets the Bristol Channel rather rudely and abruptly, with an average drop-off of around 300 metres down to sea level. Sometimes the height is lost in steeply wooded slopes, sometimes in England’s highest cliffs. The effect down at kayaker’s eye level, is that everything appears to be fairly big.
We planned to paddle from Woolacombe to Minehead over this Easter weekend, but the lousy turn in the weather beat us, and we only completed half of the trip, as far as Lynmouth. What we did paddle was fantastic.
I’ve since learned that the cliffs between Coombe Martin and Lynmouth are the highest on the British mainland, not just the highest in England. They’re big!