[Illustration: VIEW ON THE EAST LYN.]
[Illustration: CASTLE ROCK, LYNTON.]
[Illustration: THE DEVIL'S CHEESE-RING.]
[Illustration: TOWER ON THE BEACH, LYNMOUTH.]
From Oare the valley of the Lyn can be followed down to the sea, flowing
through its wooded gorge and disclosing many pretty views. It runs
rapidly over the rocks, and, when at last seeking the sea, the little
stream manages to escape out of the hills that have so long encompassed
it, we again find coupled together an upper and a lower town--Lynton,
perched hundreds of feet above on the crags, and Lynmouth, down by the
water's edge, both in grandly picturesque locations. Crowded between the
bases of the crags and the pebbly beach is the irregular line of old
cottages beside the bubbling stream, with creeping vines climbing over
their walls and thatched roofs, while beyond is thrust out the ancient
pier that made the port of Lynmouth. Up on the crags, with houses
nestling here in nooks and perched there upon cliffs, Lynton mounts by
zigzag paths, until, on a rocky terrace above, it gets room to spread
into a straggling street. The two streams called the East and West Lyn
unite here before seeking the sea, and join their currents at the edge
of the town. Here they leap over the boulders:
"Cool and clear, cool and clear,
By shining shingle and foaming weir,
Under the crag where the ouzel sings,
And the ivied wall where the church-bell rings."
Southey rapturously described the East Lyn Vale as the "finest spot,
except Cintra and Arrabida, that I ever saw." It is like a miniature
glen in the Alps or the Pyrenees, and every turn in the road up to the
Waters-meet, where the Brendon joins the Lyn, discloses new beauties. It
is an exquisite combination of wood, rock, and stream that baffles all
description. Gentle flowers grow here to luxuriant perfection, protected
from all chilling blasts and with ample moisture to assist the sunshine
in their cultivation. But barely a mile east of Lynton on the coast
there is told a different story: there is a valley of rocks, where
between two ridges of hills the vale is covered with stones and almost
completely laid bare, a terrific mass of boulders, the very skeleton of
the earth. Overhanging the sea is the gigantic "Castle Rock," while
facing it from the inland side, at an elbow of the valley, is a queer
pile of crags known as the "Devil's Cheese-Ring." From the castle is a
view over the sea and of the romantic towns, with the little river
flowing alongside and the tower on Lynmouth beach, while far westward
the moorland spreads away towards those other romantic spots, Ilfracombe
and Clovelly.