to the lighthouse: 2014

And so, to the North Devon coast for our annual family holiday. I stayed in Ilfracombe for four nights at the very end of July with my mother and siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents; it's something of a ritual (I've been visiting the seaside in Devon practically every summer since I was born - see here for entries on 2013 and 2012 trips). Anyway, I came across this mural whilst changing trains at Exeter St Davids railway station on my way down and had to take a quick snap. Obviously I found it completely brilliant.

The view from the first floor of the little pink house on the harbour, which we have rented for a week in summer for the past three or four years. We've almost always stayed in houses on the harbour.

One day we visited the nearby coastal villages of Lynton and Lynmouth, as we usually tend to do. We took the water powered cliff railway from Lynmouth up to Lynton, where we walked west to the Valley of the Rocks, which runs parallel to the coast. The views from the cliff path were spectacular. Can you spot the wild goat?

Stereoview of Valley of the Rocks photographed by W.E. Palmer (late 1800s). The sea cliffs here are amongst the highest in Britain.

The night before leaving, I took my family to the Quay - Damien Hirst's restaurant on the harbour, which I've been wanting to visit for some time. The Lundy crab claws were particularly delicious, although the uninterrupted view of the raging sea alone would have been worth the visit.