 The L & B rises and falls several times along its length. Starting at 15 feet (4.6 m) above sea level, The first 3 3 ⁄ 4 miles (6.0 km), through Barnstaple, and along the Yeo Valley stays relatively level. Collard Bridge marks the start of an 8-mile (13 km) climb, mainly at one in fifty, to Blackmoor Gate. A shallower down-gradient follows, of about 2 miles (3.2 km), towards Parracombe Bank, and the start of another climb, of about 2 1 ⁄ 2 miles (4 km), to Woody Bay — at 1,000 feet (305 m), the highest railway station in southern England. The line then falls, again mostly at one in fifty (2 %) - to Lynton & Lynmouth station, still 700 feet (213 m) above the sea, and hidden by the landscape from the town of Lynton. The minimum radius on curves was 5-chain (100 m).
