A Ceilidh band and a real ale festival were the attractions at our second stop on our recent West Country jaunt.
We arrived in blazing sunshine at the Bottom Ship at Porlock Weir to find the revellers already in full swing. My wife and I checked our bags in, ordered two pints of Betty Scoggs and went out to join in the action.
The evening's entertainment was provided by the Exmoor Doo Dahs who were performing a samba infused Irish jig with the local vicar performing some fancy footwork as we took our seats.
Then the mood turned more sombre as we remembered the tragic events in Lynmouth some decades earlier with a tale of the selfless act of 2 brothers from Simonsbath who crossed the moor in their underwear in torrential rain to prevent a similar fate befalling the people of Porlock.
It is said that one of the boys had a vision in which he was told to go to Porlock and awake the populace from its slumber to prevent the village from being consumed by a landslide of monstrous proportions.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm and some of the more elderly inhabitants perished in the freezing rain while waiting for the danger to pass and the villagers swiftly turned into an angry mob, turning on the 2 lads.
One of them lost his underpants in his attempt to get free and locals maintain to this day that a spectral pair of underpants can be seen blowing in the wind at certain times of the year.
Nonetheless, the deeds of the Simonsbath brothers are still celebrated in song and verse to this day by the people of Exmoor and in no more moving fashion than that of the Exmoor Dooh Dahs.
I have to say, it really was a very good craic!
We arrived in blazing sunshine at the Bottom Ship at Porlock Weir to find the revellers already in full swing. My wife and I checked our bags in, ordered two pints of Betty Scoggs and went out to join in the action.
The evening's entertainment was provided by the Exmoor Doo Dahs who were performing a samba infused Irish jig with the local vicar performing some fancy footwork as we took our seats.
Then the mood turned more sombre as we remembered the tragic events in Lynmouth some decades earlier with a tale of the selfless act of 2 brothers from Simonsbath who crossed the moor in their underwear in torrential rain to prevent a similar fate befalling the people of Porlock.
It is said that one of the boys had a vision in which he was told to go to Porlock and awake the populace from its slumber to prevent the village from being consumed by a landslide of monstrous proportions.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm and some of the more elderly inhabitants perished in the freezing rain while waiting for the danger to pass and the villagers swiftly turned into an angry mob, turning on the 2 lads.
One of them lost his underpants in his attempt to get free and locals maintain to this day that a spectral pair of underpants can be seen blowing in the wind at certain times of the year.
Nonetheless, the deeds of the Simonsbath brothers are still celebrated in song and verse to this day by the people of Exmoor and in no more moving fashion than that of the Exmoor Dooh Dahs.
I have to say, it really was a very good craic!
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