Exford to Nethercote: A Circular Walk down the River Exe on Exmoor
Here's a classic, atmospheric circular walk that captures the very essence of Exmoor's high country: down the River Exe from Exford through one of the moor's most beautiful but least accessible valleys, across the Exe on the footbridge at Nethercote, and back over Room Hill.
For years this was a walk that was difficult to do without getting wet feet, or worse. Then Exmoor National Park Authority built a remarkably low-cost footbridge at Nethercote, halfway down the roadless valley between Exford and Winsford, using its own timber and its own workforce. It was opened by the former Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington, whose speech mentioned the Latin poet Catullus – so it stands a good chance of being known locally as the Catullus Bridge.
Exford and the night of the Lynmouth flood
We start at Exford, a busy little crossroads of a village and the traditional heart of Exmoor's hunting country – it's marvellous that a village in this day and age can still boast so many people on horseback. In the 1880s the naturalist Richard Jefferies came here to write Red Deer, his classic account of the moor's wild deer, and the place has been drawing writers and walkers ever since.
Before you set off, try to imagine what the village looked like on the night of 15–16 August 1952. That was the night of the Lynmouth flood disaster, and much of the water that came off the high moors travelled south rather than north to the coast.
It came through Exford in a great wave, but the village was alerted by Police Constable E. J. Hutchings, who ran into the White Horse Hotel yelling for everyone to get out. Seconds after he entered the bar the water was sloshing around his ankles; a minute or two later it was close to the ceiling. A friend of mine, Brian Rolfe, was then a small boy – son of the hotel's landlord – and PC Hutchings hoisted him up and hung him by his jacket on a coat peg. "They got all the money and valuables out, but by the time the policeman came back for me the water was up to my chin," Brian once told me.
Down the Exe to Curr Cleeve
Hopefully you won't meet any tidal waves as you walk out of Exford past the village school and down the riverside track towards Winsford. Looking ahead, you'll notice the Exe swinging through the first of a series of great curves, around the small knoll of a hill. The footpath takes a detour away from the river to avoid this knoll, but soon leads you down to the waterside again as you approach the lonely old farm at Lyncombe.
Here there's another mighty curve as the Exe veers around to the south-west to enter deep, steep and remote Curr Cleeve. The River Exe is at its loveliest along this section, cutting its way through the great contours of the wilderness, and if you are lucky you will see wild red deer darting off among the crags that rise above the stream.
I once saw a "royal" stag hereabouts, lording it over the rocks that so dramatically punctuate the corner of Curr Cleeve, so that he looked like some magnificent creature from a painting by Landseer. If you wanted a single image to conjure England's wilderness, a great stag standing noble upon one of Exmoor's crags would fit the bill – and on this walk you've every chance of seeing one.
Crossing the Exe at Nethercote
Now the river heads east again and takes us into the beautiful, secretive demesne of Nethercote – and this is where the footbridge swings into very useful action. Before it was built, walkers had to negotiate their way across a slippery log, originally put in place by a farming friend of mine to stop his cattle wandering downstream. Walkers quickly took to using the log as a bridge, which worried my farmer mate no end.
Thanks to the national park authority and the landowner, you can now cross to the southern bank of the Exe safely and dry-shod, which opens up the return route of this walk in winter and wet weather too.
Back over Room Hill to Exford
On the far side you'll see a path branching steeply up the hill to your right. This climbs Room Hill where, close to the top, you can turn right and traverse across to Road Hill along the Exe Valley Way. This then weaves its way north back to Exford – downhill all the way – bringing you to the farm at North Court, which is linked to the village by a short lane.
It's an excellent Exmoor walk that all lovers of the moor can enjoy if they have a couple of hours to spare and don't mind the climb over Room Hill. And Exford's pubs are waiting at the end of it.
Exford to Nethercote circular walk: fact file
Start: the centre of Exford, where there's a car park by the village green.
Route: down the Exe valley towards Winsford, past Lyncombe and through Curr Cleeve, across the footbridge at Nethercote, then up Room Hill and back to Exford along the Exe Valley Way.
Distance and going: about six miles; easy going, steep in one or two places and muddy in winter.
Map: OS Explorer OL9, Exmoor.
Food and drink: pubs in Exford, or carry on down the valley to Winsford.
