Mel, Tab, Mewla & Cathy - Their Exmoor Holiday

Chapter Four


  There were a few cars in the carpark already when we got to the Valley of the Rocks.
  "Oh." Tab said, when we pulled in. "I hope all these people won't be down on the beach."
  "I doubt it." Dad said. "As I said, it's a hell of a trek down there and an awful climb back up, especially in this weather - people don't usually bother. This lot have probably one for a walk and a picnic in the heather."
  The whole area was pretty impressive. Huge outcrops of rock rose into the sky, and on these grew gorse bushes and small plants. Just past the rocky outcrops was the sheer cliff face, with marvellous views of the sea. A few wild goats clambered about the rocks. The ground was just a mass of heather and ferns, with a few paths winding through the foliage here and there.
  "So how do we get down to the cove?" Mewla asked, as we got out and looked round.
  "See that tall rock over there, the thin one by those goats?" Dad pointed. We nodded. "Well the path starts there somewhere, at the edge of the cliff. For goodness sake be careful, girls."
  "We will." Cathy said. "We're not about to be silly and go rushing about or fooling around on a path like that."
  "Good." said Mum. She hugged us. "Well have a nice day, and we'll see you here at about five."
  "Will do!" I called, as we all linked arms and set off across the carpark to the path that wound off through the ferns to the cliff face.
  We had only been walking five minutes when Mewla cut her leg on some gorse. She yelled so loudly that anyone passing would have thought she'd broken a limb. Cathy, who always carries plasters and antiseptic cream in her bag, soon had Mewla's cut leg cleaned and covered with a huge plaster. I'm not sure what was funnier - Cathy's Florence Nightingale routine or Mewla's sulky face.
  We got to the tall thin rock that Dad had pointed out and stood and looked round. We were right on the cliff edge, and below was the clear green sea, which was very calm and sparkled beautifully in the sun. We could see right to the bottom of the sea bed, and in the deeper water we could see rocks down in the clear dark green depths.
  "Wow - I just can't wait to get in there and swim!" Cathy said.
  "I know - it looks amazing." I said. "And so calm - no currents or anything here."
  "So where is the cove?" Mewla said, peeping over the edge. Cathy grabbed her arm.
  "Don't you go toppling down there!" she said. "I might carry plasters but I don't carry slings and leg casts!"
  We giggled.
  "Hey - look here!" Tab had wandered a little way away from us. "Do you think this is the path?"
  We went to join her, and sure enough, there was a small stony clearing in the long thick grass, that seemed to lead right to the cliff edge and over.
  "Could be." I said. "Hang on." I knelt down and leaned over the cliff to look. If you were standing where we were, the path looked as if it went over the edge of a sheer cliff, but when you actually looked over the edge at it, you could see the path, winding downwards between bushes and plants - very steep, but not as bad as you might think. I got up again. "Yes it is." I said. "Come on - let's join hands and give it a go!"
  We all made sure our bags were firmly on our shoulders, then joined hands and stepped carefully onto the path and down the edge of the cliff. The path was very dry and stony and a few stones clattered from under our feet as we went slowly down the first few feet.
  "Jesus." Cathy giggled. "It'll be a miracle if we get down here in one piece."
  The path seemed to get steeper as we went down. It wound back and forth in several hairpin bends, and was so narrow between the bushes that we had to walk in single file. It was very hot, and in certain places, great clouds of flies swarmed round the plants, over which Mewla nearly had hysterics when we had to walk through the clouds of buzzing insects. Cathy snatched the castle guidebook from her as she tried to swat away the flies with it.
  "Oi!" she said. "I don't want to be looking at dead flies when I read that!"
  Our sandals slipped and slid on the dry stony path as we carried on down. Tab went on her bottom at one point and grabbed my leg to stop herself sliding, which nearly took me down with her.
  "Blimey this is harder than I thought it would be!" Cathy said, stopping as we got up, and perching on a rocky outcrop sticking out from a bush. "There's one thing that's certain anyway - it's going to be a hell of a laugh trying to get back up here!"
  "We'll have to come up on our hands and knees!" Tab grinned, hauling herself up and brushing the dust off her shorts.
  "How much further down is it, I wonder?" said Mewla.
  We couldn't see much of the beach below us or the sea because of all the thick bushes that lined the path and the cliff face. We just had to keep going.
  A bit further down, the path widened out a little and we all came to a skidding halt as Cathy stopped and exclaimed.
  "Look! Is that a bit of beach I can see?"
  Sure enough, between the bushes, we could see some golden sand a fair way down below us, and some rocks.
  "We made it!" Mewla said.
  "Well, not yet, but we're close." Tab grinned. "Come on!"
  The further down we got, the wider the path became, until we got to the bottom. We were still about fifteen feet above the beach, and a rather precarious-looking rope bridge connected the bottom of the path with the rocks at the foot of the cliff that we would have to climb over to get onto the sand.
  "Oh my God." laughed Mewla. "This should be interesting!"
  Quite near the rope bridge, running down the sheer cliff face, was the waterfall we had heard about. It wasn't a big one, but looked very pretty. It made a small stream running down the beach.
  Cathy stumbled down the rest of the path to the bridge and had to grab onto the wooden post to stop herself from racing on over the bridge, as she had broken into a run that she couldn't stop. We all laughed.
  "Well the good news is that the bridge doesn't appear to have any holes in!" she smiled, as we all trotted carefully down the path and joined her at the post.
  "Of course it doesn't!" Tab said. "We're not in uncharted territory, Cath - this is National Trust land and they have to keep it safe for people, you know."
  Cathy looked at her with a disapproving look and we all laughed.
  Mewla was the first to step onto the bridge. She held onto the rope sides and bounced.
  "Quite safe!" she said.
  "Just wait - she'll go through that any second now." Cathy grinned.
  The bridge was fine, if a little wobbly and rickety. I had the feeling that Tab bounced a bit too much as we crossed, just to shake us all, but we made it to the rocks at the foot of the cliff, and scrambled down them without much difficulty. We landed with thumps on the soft sand, and looked round. The cove was beautiful.
  High cliffs surrounded us at the back and a little way down each side towards the water, making the cove very secluded. the sand was very soft underfoot and a gorgeous golden colour, and all around the cove were clumps of large rocks, some quite high, that would make great places to sit or laze in the sun. The tide was going out, which was a great bonus.
  "Woo hoo!" Cathy jumped into the air. "What a place!"
  "Let's put our things down over there on those rocks." Tab pointed to a large, flattish clump quite near the water. "Then we can have a good look round."
  After we had put all our things down, Cathy immediately flung off her sandals and went charging down the sand into the water, soaking her shorts.
  Tab pulled the guidebook out of Cathy's bag and looked at it again.
  "A hidden cove at the Valley of the Rocks." she read. "I wonder where it is, Mel."
  "Let's have a look round and see if we can find any holes in the cliffs or anything." I said. "Cath! We're going to look for the hidden cove!"
  "Oooh!" Cathy came out of the water quickly and joined us as we strolled across the cove to the rocky cliff face.
  We examined all the rocky walls and the cliffs but there was no sign of any hidden entrance or any secret places behind the cliffs. It was all rather disappointing. At about quarter to twelve we sat down on the sand to have some food. Cathy opened the guidebook again and frowned.
  "There must be something somewhere." she said. "Something we've missed. Otherwise why put things like that into books if it isn't true."
  "Maybe there used to be a cave or something but it's flooded now, or got filled in by a rock fall or something." Mewla shrugged.
  "Could be." I said, considering. "After all, it was a very long time ago, when she was alive."
  "Oh, you lot!" Cathy smiled, putting the book down and reaching for a sandwich. "Never believe in anything!"
  After we had eaten, Tab, Mewla and I set about the task of arranging our beach rugs in nice places to lie and catch some sun. We had all brought books with us. Cathy, however, leapt straight up again and went off round the cove, looking for hidden places.
  "It is a bit disappointing." Tab said to me, as we lay reading our novels. "I guess part of me knew that there wouldn't be anything, but part of me just hoped that we would find something exciting."
  "Yeah." I said. "Well, there's still hope - Cathy intends to search this place from top to bottom."
  Tab laughed.

*********

  Later on in the afternoon, when we had all laid in the sun and roasted for a few hours, we all decided to go for a swim. The sea was calm and the water was fairly warm, although still cool enough to be refreshing in the heat. We were all starting to get great tans now.
  The beach didn't slope very much, so we found that we could wade out a fair way before the water became deep enough to swim in. It was the most gorgeous clear green colour, and we could see the sea bed far below us. Huge rocks littered the sand, and tons of green weed swayed and in gentle current. We saw the odd fish dart here and there.
  "I just love the colour down there." Cathy said, after she had stuck her head under the water to look down at the sea bed. "It's such a deep, mysterious green."
  We had swum quite a way out, and were all floating in the water quite near to a large clump of tall rocks, stcicking out of the water. The water must have been about thirty feet deep beneath us.
  "Let's have a race to see who can dive to the bottom first." suggested Mewla, looking down into the water. "Come on!"
  "First one down there gets the rest of the pate sandwiches!" Cathy yelled, and she dived under the water like the speed of light. We were all right behind her. Mewla was very close to her feet and Cathy kicked to make bubbles. Mewla couldn't help but burst into giggles, and she surfaced quickly, breathing out bubbles everywhere. Tab is a very good swimmer and she matched Cathy for speed the whole way down. It looked to me as if they both touched the rocks at the bottom at exactly the same time, and they held each other's paws as they turned round to surface, Cathy grabbing my paw on their way back up.
  "Who won?" Cathy grinned when we surfaced. She slicked her hair back off her face.
  "Well me, obviously!" Tab laughed. "That was fun - I want to go down again!"
  We looked round for Mewla. She was sat on the clump of rocks nearby, dangling her legs in the water. She grinned.
  "Sorry - I just couldn't help but laugh!" she said. "Are you going down again?"
  "Yes." I said.
  "I want to look for shells and things." Cathy said.
  "Nice." Mewla jumped of the rocks and swam to join us. So down we all went again.
  We spent the rest of the afternoon down in the deep green water, picking up pretty shells and pebbles. Mewla found some green glass, rounded by the sea and the other pebbles, and convinced herself that it was part of some ancient cargo, but we all just laughed at her and told her that it was most likely part of a Perrier bottle. Cathy found a huge twisty shell tucked in a rocky cleft, and grabbed it at once. It was like the kind that you buy in seaside gift shops - at least 8 inches long, and a pinky-grey colour. Cathy was thrilled with it.
  When we finally waded ashore, our hands as full of things as we could carry, Cathy opened her bag and looked at her watch.
  "Blimey - almost four o'clock!" she said. "I suppose we should start to head back soon - we've got to get up that damn path yet."
  "Oh crikey, I'd forgotten that." Mewla said. "I'm knackered!"
  We all sat and a drink and a snack for ten minutes, then packed away our blankets, shells, books and food etc. We were ready to leave.
  "Well, it's been a great day." I said, as we stood and took a final look round the beautiful cove. "I hope we can come again."
  "We definitely will!" Cathy said. "And in the meantime I am going to do some research into this hidden cove business, so the next time we come I will know where it is!"
  We all laughed.
  The rope bridge seemed more rickety somehow, when we crossed it again onto the bottom of the horrendous path.
  "I don't like this thing." Tab said, as she held on very tightly and stepped gingerly over the last few slats of wood. Cathy held out her paw and helped her onto the rough path.
  The sun was still very hot and we felt sticky and sluggish as we trekked up the first few yards of it. Mewla, who had been hooing that the insects would be gone by that time of the afternoon, was most annoyed to see them all still buzzing in huge clouds over the bushes and flowers.
  "Mewl, they won't hurt you!" Cathy grinned, swatting at a few as we went past.
  "I know they won't kill me, Cath - I just hate them landing on me!" Mewla said. "And one always goes in my eye or something!"
  The trek up the path was worse than we had imagined. Coming down was one thing, as you had to go slow, hold onto rocky bits or firm twigs, and try not to slip on the loose stony bits. But going up, with heavy bags on our arms, was even worse. We had to literally bend down and pull ourselves up with our hands in some places, and the rough stony parts slipped from under our feet a lot more, as we were climbing against the slope of the path. We stopped after a little while. The path ahead of us looked almost vertical, until it bent away from sight, round a corner.
  "God, I can't do this!" Mewla said, and perched herself on an outcrop of rock at the side of the path. "I bet we're not even halfway up yet!"
  Cathy looked up and squinted in the bright sun.
  "Not sure." she said. "It winds round through those bushes and I can't see. The top of the cliff still looks miles away, I must admit."
  "Well we'll have to go on!" Tab said, wiping her brow. She pulled a hairband off her wrist and tied back her hair. "We don't have much choice!"
  After we'd all had a swig of water, we started off again. Cathy slipped at one point, shrieked, fell over, and skidded down the path a few feet. We all gasped and tried to reach her as she slipped past. She caught onto a rock and pulled herself up, sending a shower of stones and dry earth down the path after her. She had a nasty graze on her knee.
  "Jeez Cath, are you OK? You'd better let us see to that knee." Tab ventured gingerly down to where Cathy had fallen, and held out her paw to help Cathy up to where we had stopped and were clinging onto various bits of rock and trunks of bushes. She laughed when she saw us all, bandy legged and awkward, trying not to slip.
  "I wish I could take a photo of you all!" she said, sitting down on a fairly safe part while Tab opened her bag and looked for the antiseptic cream and plasters.
  After a couple of minutes, we had cleaned the graze with some water on a tissue and Tab had carefully applied antiseptic and a plaster. We carried on.


_______________________________________