Steep Hills and NO BRAKES!

Bank Holiday Monday today …so decided to go for a day out at Lynmouth. Its a small village just inside Devon (just outside of Somerset!) that was ravaged by a freak flood in 1952 ……very small, but the history of the place manages to draw quite a crowd! …parking was nigh on impossible, but we managed it in the end!

Had a walk around the village and?its blatantly very tourist-ey. Can imagine it being a complete ghost town in the winter months. Had some lunch in one of the many cafe’s and then went on Lynmouth to Lynton hillside railway! ….a creation by the Victorians to allow them to travel between both towns, which are seperated by about 300ft of cliff! ….so yes, i was hauled up 300ft of cliff in a rickety victorian rail carriage! much squeaking and grinding….Lucy looked petrified! bless her

When we got to the top I took this great picture:

Took this on my mobile phone! ….am amazed at the quality! This is a downsized version just for my blog, but the actual picture is mucho big and incredibly detailed….. very impressed! Will be using the camera part of this phone more methinks!

By far the most eventful part of the day was the car journey into and out of lynmouth! …its literally at sea level, so descent from the hills above was needed. The main problem with this was a hill with a gradient of 1 in 4! stupidly steep with twists and turns everywhere! … I tried using the gears to brake as much as possible, but still had NO BRAKES left when we got to the bottom of the hill! I braked foot to the floor and the car wouldn’t stop! scary stuff! luckily the carpark was not far so was able to park quite safely, wouldnt have been able to continue driving without any brakes, thats for sure! …. On the way back, going up the hills was just as much of a challenge …its not a pleasant sound to hear the car screaming in 2nd and 3rd gear up a stupidly steep hill! changing gear too soon meant the car would virtually grind to a halt… poor thing has done 125k miles, and is only a little 1.4 …..i felt sorry for it afterwards!

Anyway ….thats enough ranting for now