Apr 27 - Beer (in Devon)

 Apr 27  - Beer (in Devon)

After some advice from our genial ‘mine host’ at the B&B our itinerary for today is to visit the local Beer Quarry limestone caves, hike to one of the local villages, Branscombe, and then hike back via the SW Coastal Path. 


First stop to the Beer Quarry Caves just outside of town.  These caves are a man-made complex and are a result of over 2000 years of mining. The Romans first started mining here after they discovered that the rock here, that was to become  known as ‘Beer Stone’, was ideal for use in the making of church and cathedral features such as window and door surrounds.  This was favoured because of its colour and when recently mined it is still soft and ‘damp’, therefore easily workable, however, it becomes five times harder and stronger when completely dry.  The tour was interesting, however the description of the quarrymen’s work conditions just sounded horrendous. Working in the dark, noise, and cold for up to 14 hours a day must have been horrific , and because of the temperature we’d had enough of being in there for only an hour! 🥶 😊

The walk to Branscombe, “Over hill, Over dale”, was lovely, the countryside can be really beautiful in this part of the world, and we even got to see our first pheasants of the trip.

Top Right: JEM climbing over one of the
many styles we came across today. 

Branscombe was equally nice, and typical of some of the more ‘upmarket’ villages around here, i.e. cottages with thatched roofs (rooves?), houses built in the 17th / 18th centuries, and beautiful old Norman churches, being just some of the signs. Of course magnificent old pubs, with low ceilings, wooden beams, and roaring wooden fires, also tend to give it away! 

The hike back to Beer, mainly along the coastal path, was in complete contrast with this morning’s walk, and instead of woods and farmland we had limestone cliffs, sea and beaches.  The strong ‘breeze’ coming in from the sea was certainly ‘refreshing’ 🥶, but was still appreciated when walking up some of the cliff paths which, at times, were pretty steep. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sept 27 - Perugia (Day trip to Spoleto)

Image
  Sept 27 - Perugia (Day trip Spoleto) Off to Spoleto today, an ancient city in the foothills of the Apennine Ranges.  Divided into the medieval upper town, and the predominantly modern lower town, our initial goal was to head up to the fortress at the top of the hill.  In theory this was going to be relatively easy as the town has installed a number of escalators all the way to the top making it an easy ‘climb’. However, signage to said escalators being non-existent, we found ourselves wandering around town for ages before finding our way up.   The fortress, the ‘Rocca Albornoziana’, was built in the 14th century and was originally part of a fortification system constructed by the church to strengthen its military power.  Today however, it houses the ‘National Museum of the Duchy of Spoleto’, although in more recent times it was used as a prison.  Having some great views of the city and the local countryside it also overlooks the magnificent 13th-centur...
Read more

Sept 28 - Perugia (Day trip to Assisi)

Image
  Sept 28 - Perugia (Day trip to Assisi) Having experienced some pretty steep hills yesterday, today, on arrival in Assisi, we took the easy option and got the bus to the top of town before strolling down! 😊 On a recommendation we first visited a couple of churches in the upper part of town.  Both nice, although nothing spectacular, but considering where we were, i.e. Assisi, I suppose we were both thinking they’d be a little bit special (sorry St Clare! 😊 ) Walking through town though was very nice, really ‘Olde Worlde’, with some great piazzas, cobbled lanes, some Roman remains, and, because it’s in the hills, lovely views of the local countryside.  It’s not often that I’ll mention food on here but today we found a sensational restaurant, overlooking the walls of the city and just metres from the Basilica of Saint Francis, we chose it simply for its location. The food however was superb and, considering its setting, it was no more expensive than most other places w...
Read more