CHAPTER II. 
THE VALLEYS OF THE LYN. 
We got our first peep of the fascinating region which lies 
along the course of the Lyn from the towering heights of 
Countisbnry Hill. Above, the blue sky is dappled with 
fleecy clouds. Away to the west lies Lynton, resting on 
mid-cliff over the sea, its clustering houses forming the 
foreground of a delightful network of green fields and 
hedgerows, yet reposing at the base of hills rising above 
and around, covered also with a network of field and hedge- 
row. Below Lynton the wooded cliffside descends swiftly to 
Lynmouth, reposing snugly at the head of its shingle beach. 
Over the bluffs that rise on the seaboard above Lynton the 
eye follows the jutting headlands which stretch away to 
Combe Martin. On all the sun shines gloriously, lending 
richer colour to the golden green of the meadows and to the 
deeper green of the trees, sparkling from the moving sea, and 
increasing the silvery whiteness of the fleecy clouds that lay 
banked above the highest hill-tops. 
Turning our eyes inland, towards the south, we gaze upon 
an expanse of field and hedgerow, backed by rolling moor- 
land. To the north and east stretches the sea between us, 
and the white sands of the Welsh coast. The azure of the 
sky, heightened by the clearness of the air, lends an intenser 
shade of blue to the waves, the intensity of colour being 
deepened where the shadows of light cloud-banks fall across 
the water. 
i 2 
