Hurlstone Point in squally weather 5th December 2011

The day was windy with a mixture of sunny spells and vicious showers of rain and hail. I was lucky and only endured one shower. Visibility was good between showers.


View Hurlstone Point in a larger map

The walk was about four miles and took me about two hours. I started from the car park above Bossington, at the end of the North Hill road out of Minehead. There is a network of possible walking routes from here, and although I have visited the area a few times I still managed to find sections I had not walked before.

From the car park I took an unsigned path that headed off in a north westerly direction rather than those signed to the Coast Path or Bossington. I then headed  west until I came to a stile crossing the wall on the edge of Bossington Woods. Looking to my right I could see below me a path heading down Lynch Combe and hoped to be able to meet this path at a lower level. I soon found myself heading south, and would have eventually arrived at Allerford if I continued this way. However, the path eventually slanted downhill to meet the more formally designated foot path that would take me to Hurlstone Point. The path leads down into Lynch Combe, crossing the track in the bottom of the combe before taking a short climb out of it again and more or less following the 100 metre contour to Hurlstone Point. Having been in woodland for some time with glimpses of the view across Porlock Bay, I was glad to get out into the open again.


The official guide to the South West Coast Path web pages describe a walk starting and ending at Bossington described as the  "Hurlstone Point Adventurous Walk". This includes a description of the next section.

In a westerly wind Hurlestone Point is about as exposed as you can get and there were some vicious gusts; but having been this way before, I passed the warning sign and continued cautiously. Although narrow and rather exposed the path is firm and even though I tend to suffer from vertigo where there is a real danger of falling and have never felt inclined to take up rock climbing, I felt reasonably safe.

The shell of a former look-out tower stands above the jagged headland which is composed of the tough Devonian Hangman Grits.

Hurlstone Point look-out station

The narrow path continued with rocks above and a steep grassy slope below. There are steep cliffs at the  foot of this. Further along is a large rock strewn ampitheatre  flanked by sheer rock faces and screes. This is a corner of Somerset that bears some resemblance to parts of the Pennines or the mountains of Wales.

From here, at low water on a calmer day, I would have been looking at the inaccessible Selworthy Sands. I described the access to the beach in an earlier posting. There is also a photo. On this occasion the tide was well up and the sea was rather lively.

Just beyond the look-out station

Rocky ampitheatre above Selworthy Sands

A small path diverts to the left towards the climber/fisherman's rope access to Selworthy Sands, but the path I wanted to follow curved inland before ascending the rear of the ampitheatre in a series of zigzags. It was narrow and it was not obvious from below where it was going to lead. At one point it appeared that there was a path across some scree. This is not the way to go.

The path winds its way to the top of the ridge between the coastal cliffs and the steep sided Hurlestone Combe. Now this really was a windy place to be! I followed a path below the spine of the ridge on its landward side, glad that the wind was behind me and not in my face. The path led to the meeting of ways at the head of the combe. Just as I reached this, I was battered by a shower of hailstones that came at me horizontally from behind. Now I really was glad I was not trying to go in the opposite direction. Fortunately, this did not last long and I followed familiar tracks back to the car park.

I have not been for a significant walk since then and my feet are getting itchy.