Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

Agreed. Your photo shows the wide bit. It's the bit that leads up to there that is fun. I went there in 1997, but did not take any pictures.

 

It is a concern, when one reads some of the comments against the re-created railway, that those making the decisions might be swayed by what we, the supporter, might class as 'mindless boollocks'.
'I am very concerned that if the Flying Scotsman were a regular visitor to Parracombe, tourists might prevent me getting to the post-office....'
and you sit there thinking ' what the actual???'
but then you are worried that the people making the decision might not understand why this objection is fantasy.
In the 1960's, and trying to reinstate the Severn Valley Railway, you could be reasonably confident that the planning officer had at least a mildly approving attitude toward steam trains, tourist money being spent in a somewhat under-developed area, jobs, history etc.
In these times where many people have their jobs in certain land-trust organisations simply because they went to university and had the correct new-think installed, rather than having a robust knowledge of rural economics, animal husbandry, land management and so on, many decisions seem to depend on political views rather than common sense. 60 years ago, even people in bureaucratic roles were only a generation away from land or industry. Now the decision makers are often 4 or 5 generations away from reality, and it shows.
But how far should those on one side of a debate go, explaining simple sense, when those on the opposing side are either incapable, or unwilling, to comprehend basic reality.