Me? I am happy either way, unless my foot and my leg disappear into a water filled hole that I can't see because it is hidden beneath the thick cover of knee high grasses that dominate Dartmoor's landscape once the paths are left behind. Or my boot sinks into bog that for reasons we have never fathomed is in both the sloping valleys and on the high ridges..... But on a beautiful clear blue sun-shiney Autumn day I can forgive the moor its idiosyncracies and even laugh (yes I laughed!) when I do these stupid things.....
Athletic Nellie breezes it (despite doing a 5.5 hour walk on this terrain on Friday there was no reduction in speed or enthusiasm for the little bit of agility she did in my class she joins in with on Saturday morning), Arch goes at it with terrier determination and Misty gamboled along blissfully unaware of anything too arduous for her because at those points where we considered we were asking a bit much of a less fit 2 year old Shih-tzu she was whisked under Iain's arm and carried.
Above Okehampton the moors are accessible by a narrow bumpy track and we parked the van there before heading off into the pathless yonder. Well there are paths initially as it's accessible but once beyond Yes Tor they disappear.......For about four hours we saw no-one, apart from each other.
On West Mill Tor:
Misty has does her aerobics below West Mill:
Watching sheep from Lints Tor:
I trained Nellie around sheep when she was younger and like to keep her up to speed with them around.
Exploring Yes Tor:
Posing on High Willhayes:
The zoom on the iphone gave this view of sheep and beyond to Great Links Tor the texture of a painting. Not a great photo but an interesting effect. And I always like photos of sheep :-)
Looking out from Great Kneeset Tor towards Firs Tor and the ridge and in the distance, the sea:
Met up with my Mother who is still house-sitting down in Devon to take her out for a meal in a lovely pub in the evening (The Red Lion - Chulmleigh, below Barnstable on the A377 www.theredlionchulmleigh.co.uk) before heading home with our two, plus 'Little Snoring' (Misty) in one of our crates. Just one of the nicknames we have for her when she stays - 'Squidgey' and 'Big Dog' being the other favourites...
Pubs seem to have figured largely in our adventures recently. Last Sunday we took a very well marked path from Win Green Hill on the chalky borders of Dorset and Wiltshire (that I have mentioned many times on here) down to Tollard Royal to spend a while sitting in their lovely pub garden (The King John - Tollard Royal -www.kingjohninn.co.uk). And back again, this time on the less friendly sign-marked public footpaths that cut through the Estate formerly owned by Madonna and Guy Ritchie. Like a lot of very rich people who buy country estates that have public footpaths going through them they successfully diverted public attention from one right of way that went past the house, and directed people onto another that existed, without much effective muscle from the county council to intervene. It gives me great pleasure to exercise my rights to walk on the second of the two rights of way, (hearsay suggested that using the first of the two resulted in rather nasty confrontations - how true that is is anyone's guess - neverthless there are no signs for it now) despite the 'dogs on lead' signs that appear here and there which are designed to intimidate (and keep away)peopel walking with their dogs who don't know that the only legal expectation on public rights of way required is that dogs are under control . OK for some that is 'on lead' but some of us can do 'under control' unleashed. Well I can with mine (except for deer with Arch so if there is any chance ie in woodland that there might be some deer he goes on a longline). Consequently I ignore such signs. Having a healthy disregard for stupid, officious 'rules' and being fully aware of my responsibilities as well as my rights in the countryside makes me an unfortunate choice for a gamekeeper to 'take a verbal pop at'. And Iain is pretty good at providing a bit of male 'beef' when present and required! Anyway, today no one tried it on and so we had an happy and uneventful walk with Mandy and three of her dogs who joined us along with Misty. And we got to sit in great deckchairs and sunshine at the pub.
In the week I had got a text from Ruth Abrahams with whom we had had a long conversation about 'things to do in Dorset' back in September as she was planning a few days away in these parts with her partner for a particularly momentous birthday he was having at the end of October. Knowing we live down here, she picked our brains and we made a few suggestions mostly about the New Forest (Hampshire really) and the Purbecks and thought nothing more of it, except for hoping they would have good weather and enjoy it. Anyway the text asked us if we wanted to meet up at Corfe (Corfe Castle - at The Greyhound pub www.greyhoundcorfe.co.uk) with Mandy and Neil and the two of them? So we did - for an evening of eating, drinking (well not me as I was driving and I rarely drink anything alcoholic anyway!), embarrassing kareoke and a Mexican board game we have called Perudo. The pub shut its doors with all of us and a bunch of Hallowe'en party people in it and I think we left about 12.30! A good night. If we had wanted the dogs could have come in too. And Nellie did for a short time to have a cuddle!
We arranged to meet up today. I found Ruth at Zoe's field near Langton Matravers doing a bit of grid stuff with their dogs and Nellie was invited to join in! She thought that was great. Then for a walk, and of course with Chapman's Pool not far off I had to take them there and, just for us the drizzle stopped and a bit of sun emerged as we arrived at Renscombe to park. Not sure they were as used to the gradient combined with the mud as we are :-) but with Zoe and two of her collies, Ruth and Rob and three of Ruth's collies, Iain and me and our two (Misty went home yesterday to put her paws up!) we had a really relaxed couple of hours walking there with the waves heaving and the beach empty but for a couple of wetsuited surfers walking on to the next small beach along....
...followed by a trip to The Square and Compass pub in Worth (Worth Matravers)(www.squareandcompasspub.co.uk) which has been run by the same family for over 100 years and was almost certainly a den of smuggling at some point before that! A tiny pub with beautiful views (which I explained to Ruth she would have been able to see were it not for the sea mist!) free ranging chickens and a simple but perfect for 'rounding off a coast path walk' food menu - cheese and veg or meat pie, crisps and peanuts. With its tiny rooms, Purbeck stone floor (the same as we have here at home and probably from the same quarry and at least as old if not older), odd furniture and a fossil museum as part of the low ceiling-ed structure, you really can't find a much more atmospheric pub in Dorset. And dogs are welcome. Though we felt 7 at once was asking a lot so they stayed in car and vans.
Bearing in mind how much work I know I have to get through between now and January I feel remarkably chilled. I wonder how long it will last?
Oh and I found this picture of Al and Iain at Stourhead from last Wednesday!!
Bogs can form anywhere at any height as long as there's an impervious layer ie clay. Plenty of clay on Dartmoor formed from the debris of rotting granite. The tors are unrotted granite but even they are gradually weathering out and adding to the clay deposits
ReplyDelete(written by my Mother!)