Friday, 11 May 2018

11th May

We have had a great last day, we drove back to Simonsbath and started with a bit of a trek up onto Exmoor.  The weather was dry but colder and very windy, so we got gloves and hats on and got going quite quickly with the first 3 miles or so.  The navigators had a bit of work to do as it was open moor again for a while.  
Cows with their bottoms to the wind!


We managed to find a sheltered spot for coffee.  

We carried on covering quite a lot more moor until there was no more moor!  We then started a bit of a descent into woodland and rivers, where we actually found some picnic tables for our lunch spot.  
So on we went and by now we could see the sea😎.
We started zigzagging down through woodland towards Lynmouth, then we started zigzagging up again!!😟  not to worry though we soon started downwards again, although of course walking down is quite hard going on the old knees.  
Eventually we got back to see level and into Lynmouth.   We found the bus at the bottom of the path, but no Phil and Carol - we found them having tea at the cafe on the harbour just at the true and of the walk.  
A few spots of rain arrived, but fortunately we had had a dry 10 mile walk.  The whole walk was about 117 miles. 
The stones we had carried from Wembury 11 days ago were thrown into the sea.

Ok, so Carol and Phil did have a walk up to the Valley of the rocks - I think they did cheat slightly in that they got the cliff lift up to the start of the walk.  The lift is powered by water filling a tank of one car which goes down and the empty tanked car goes up to the top.  Very clever.


The plan was to have fish and chips later, so we all went either for tea , beer, or looking round for a couple of hours.  We found an interesting museum that showed information on the flood that devasted Lynmouth in 1952 - about 34 people died and many injured.  Also found that the information centre was showing a short film about the Devon coast to coast,  it was lovely to see where we had walked from some ariel photography.  
Fish and chips were superb, and we came out to a brilliant rainbow.


 I 'm writing this sitting on the bus as we have about an hour and a half journey Back to base.  - Some people though have a sleep!
Steve W had an idea - to stop your head from flopping forward when trying to sleep, remove your belt and secure around the headrest and your head!

Cheese and biscuits with port and prosecco await back to the house




Home tomorrow,  so I'm signing off for this year.  Thanks for reading the blog, it's great for us too as a reminder, as when you're walking every day one day blends into the next! 
Tim and Pat trying to read the message from Carol.


First glimpse of Lynmouth



Thursday, 10 May 2018

10th May

Just a quick blog tonight as we were late back and I was on cooking team.
Distances are increasing again as it is very difficult to get to the start of the walk each day; we’re going out on main roads and motorways as it’s quicker than trying to navigate round tiny thin roads!

Absolutely beautiful 10 mile walk today; from Tarr steps Simonsbath along the river Barle.  Lovely river walk to Withypool, then still following the river, up over the moor and then down again to come into Simonsbath.  We had a bit of rain today which meant we had to put waterproof coats on; but it was only a couple of showers

Last day tomorrow and it promises to be dry until mid afternoon; so hopefully we will finish at Lynmouth by then ready for fish and chips.


Rain!!

Wednesday, 9 May 2018

9th May

We walked from Knowstone to Tarr Steps today, which was a lovely varied walk.  We reached the beginning of Exmoor which was a real milestone!  We walked about 11.5 miles.


Shortly after leaving Knowstone and walking over a number of fields, we found this tree with a hole in - Tim tried to get in the picture (you can just see his elbow)! 


When we reached Exmoor itself we found the other half of the stone sculpture with holes in it; this one made quite a good noise when you rubbed your hands over it.
A Peter Randall-Page sculpture

Quite a lot of up and down today, but the views at the top were tremendous.

We also had to wait for a digger and dumper truck to move off the road to get through as there was no other way - putting in water pipes I believe.
Road closed!


Lunch was taken in the porch of the quaint church of St Giles, as it was a bit colder today and we wanted to shelter from the wind.  This church has a history going right back to the 13th century, and had a good set of 6 bells that get used quite a bit I believe - 2 of the bells are medieval.
St Giles' church Hawksworth

We met Phil and Carol at Tarr steps and we all had ice creams :)

I've got my eye on you!


Tuesday, 8 May 2018

8th May

Today was the easiest day of all, it was just about 8 miles and quite a lot on roads which made quick walking. We did have some mud and a nice walk through wooded areas.  We have seen lots of wild flowers on the walk including marsh orchids and bluebells in all colours.


  In Tim’s book, it told us that on one road we probably wouldn’t pass any traffic - well - we encountered 2 huge tractors pulling muck spreading things; a tanker type lorry and a couple of cars!  At one point we were almost running to a wider part in the road to allow the tractor to go by.

Yesterday we passed a shop in a small village and Walt decided he might like a pie - but - the shop was shut! 
Outside the shut shop!
Today when we were dropped off at  Witheridge there was an open shop that sold pies, so Walt bought one for lunch.
'Yes, I've got my pie'
The other place we passed was a 'naturist' club - Steve W was nearly in there!

We actually finished the walk by lunchtime, so we met Carol and Phil at Knowstone and all lunched together; but it did start to drizzle or ‘mizzle’ as it is sometimes called.  Much colder today, what a contrast to yesterday.


We only actually had to travel about 15 miles as the crow flies, but the drive home took over an hour as we had to go about 32 miles through country lanes, avoiding on coming cars, tractors and lorries.  Poor Phil and Carol have had some interesting driving; tomorrow we may return to the starting point via the A30; M5 and another A road - about 30 miles longer but should be quicker and smoother!

I had a nice swim this afternoon after the usual tea and cake; one or two seem to have sneaked off for a little shut eye I think!

Monday, 7 May 2018

7th May

About 11 miles today, and should have been quite an easy route.  We are between moors, and we all found it a bit ‘samey’ in that it was field after field, gate after gate, hill after down, not much light relief - and it was hot!  So we all felt a bit drained after the walk today and everyone was asleep on the bus back, so thank you Carol for staying awake to drive us!

We do have a couple of tales to tell; firstly Alan took a tumble and grazed his knee (no more damage though).
Alan's knee!

 Some farmers really don’t want walkers across their land so they make it quite difficult; there was one point where there obviously had been a bridge across some very muddy land, but it was completely overgrown, so we had to pick our way through the mud!  Then there was a place at the top of the field where it was just crusty mud and cow dung and poor Stuey got a boot full!  If only the farmer had kept the bridge up and directed us to the correct route we would have been off his land a lot quicker.
At lunch today there was a lot of boot washing in the stream.

Boot washing

Towards the end of the walk we came to a part that Carol and Phil were walking as part of their circular walk from Witheridge.  We found they had put a couple of large arrows for us, and left a couple of biscuits for us (the sort you get when you have had coffee - now where did they have coffee today?)
Stick arrow and note!


The walk ended about 2.30 and typically the pub was shut again; so home for tea and cake - yum.

Today's walk had a lot of little ups and downs as you can see - 30 hills Tim!! (The scale of this does look quite dramatic as it does squash up - the flat bits are coffee and tea breaks)


         

Sunday, 6 May 2018

6th May

Can you believe another sunny day!  It was beautiful again today and although it was hot in places there were other times when we walked by cool streams and through wooded areas.

Today we had a 5 minute journey to Drewsteignton;

 then we walked 12 1/2 miles to near a village called Copplestone.  There were a few ups and downs, but nothing too bad - we have left the Dartmoor national park now and are walking the part between towards Exmoor.  We also passed the halfway point somewhere on today’s walk.
About 5 minutes after setting out, we had to wait for the farmer to move his sheep!
This was a huge stone put in the woods by artist Peter Randall-page and is called the '2 Moors Way' sculpture.  Hopefully we may see the other half of  this later in the walk.  If you rub your hand over it quickly you can make a singing noise - we did try but it wasn't too successful. 


We passed over the main A30 from Exeter to Oakhampton, and also a railway line (used once in a blue moon, thank goodness for Stuey!)
Opening the electric fences.
Carol and Phil had a great walk from Fingle Bridge around the valley that we did yesterday and up to Hunters tor.

Saturday, 5 May 2018

5th May

We started today with only a 20 minute drive up onto the moor where we finished yesterday.  the weather today has been fabulous, not too hot, but just beautiful.  We made our way back up onto the ridge of the moor, then very gradually back down again into the valley eventually finding the river Teign and walking along it for some way. 

We past through Chagford where there is an outdoor public swimming pool, it opens at the end of May, but it was very big; longer than a usual 25 metre pool.  It was opened in 1933, dug by hand by local residents on land entrusted to the village by the Hayter-Hames family.
It is the largest open-air, fresh-water swimming pool in the south west, being fed by the River Teign.


Today had much more of a downward theme to it, with not too many big hills.  We had to however climb up from the river towards Castle Drago and around a beautiful valley and then climbing and dropping into Drewsteignton.  It was allegedly a 12 mile walk again, but it actually came out at 11 1/2 - so quite happy!
A lunchtime paddle


At Drewsteignton we stopped at the pub for a drink at the end.  Phil and Carol met a friend for lunch today at Widecombe and had to avoid hundreds of cyclists who were racing over the moor.

The trip home was only 5 minutes,  so plenty of time tonight to relax a bit.  Walt’s daughter Megan joined us last night for the weekend to walk with us, as she is thinking of running the 2 Moors Way - that just seems mad!  (I think she may be having second thoughts too) but she does do a lot of running including marathons, so maybe one day.  She did however bring a very delicious apple cake with her that was devoured this afternoon. 
yesterday's walk
Today's walk

Friday, 4 May 2018

4th May

Today started well again; weather promised to be good, but actually although it was just about dry (a few spots of rain) it was really humid, sweat - or is it perspiration was dripping from my face and nose like a tap - yuk!
The walk was again allegedly 12 miles, but actually turned out to be over 13 as yesterday; but it was a nice walk with varied scenery, along rivers, up over moorland and on tracks through nice countryside. 

A lot of climbing though, and towards the end of the day we were told no more hills - and what happened - there were 2 more to climb!  (Tim protests that they weren’t hills just minor perturbations!)  One of these perturbations was after ‘Grimspound’ which is an outstanding example of a neolithic animal pound circle, and was about 100 metres in diameter.  This is well visited and interestingly there was loads of grass seed scattered along the well trodden path from the small car park.
 I must say I was pleased to see the bus at the end as I was a bit tired; sweaty and muddy legged.


Phil and Carol had a lovely walk from Postbridge before meeting us, fortunately they weren’t attached by the hairy hand - According to the story surrounding them, the Hairy Hands are a pair of disembodied hands that appear suddenly, grab at the steering wheel of a moving car or the handlebars of a motorcycle, and then force the victim off the road. In some cases the hands are described as being invisible.


Dinner was lovely, and a filling apple crumble put all the energy back into us to walk tomorrow. 

Thursday, 3 May 2018

3rd May

Today was the start of the Two Moors Way route, so we started at Ivybridge and walked to Scorriton, allegedly 12 miles.  The road and path was good going to start with gradually going up and up and up and up to get onto Dartmoor itself.  We had a coffee stop and lunch stop looking at some glorious scenery over the moor; and the weather was once again being good to us.


After lunch was a different story - we had 5 miles to go, but we had to strike off over the moor without a proper footpath.  This tested the navigators Tim and Walt, and brought back some interesting memories of mine being a police cadet in the 70's and doing lots of treks over Dartmoor through bogs, water, rivers, over very lumpy terrain etc.!  We got a little off track at one point near the end, but we eventually got back on the path down to Scorriton.
Alan trying not to get wet feet!


Phil and Carol went for a couple of good walks including one from Widecombe which meant driving the bus across 3 x 7'6" wide bridges - I think there was about an inch to spare on each side.  I think they’ve got to do it again one day to collect us.

All this made us a little late back to the house, and as I was on cooking duty this blog is late, and maybe a little short.

Wednesday, 2 May 2018

2nd May

Wednesday 2nd May
Having real trouble with the internet - can't get pictures on!

Today started by waking up to rain which continued for a while, but by the time Phil and Carol dropped us off at Yealmpton it had stopped - and stayed stopped for the whole walk!  We had about an hour’s drive to the start and we set off about 9.30.  It was a very picturesque walk today, a lot of it along the river Erme.  The river was very full and very fast running as there has been a lot of rain, but beautiful.  There was however a lot of mud today, so boots and trousers got a bit mucky.

Whilst we were stopped for coffee, so apparently were Phil and Carol - carrot cake I understand!


Lunch was taken in a field that was reasonably dry, as there was a lot of wet about today.

We past some preparations for a point to point race -
and near there was Flete House which is a Grade 1 listed manor building, which is now a retirement village - looked rather nice.

The route was just 8 1/2 miles with not too many hills, and finished at Ivybridge - and we’re down to our last 100 miles :).  Tomorrow on the other hand looks as though it is going to be a lot harder as we start the 2 Moors Way properly and we ascend up onto Dartmoor.  Weather is looking ok fortunately, but it can change really quickly on the moor so we need to be a bit prepared!

Tuesday, 1 May 2018

1st May

Today started well with everyone up early and ready to go.  We had about an hour and 15 minutes drive to do 44 miles - the roads are very narrow and there was a lot of traffic so tucking into spaces to let cars and vans past.  It bucketed down with rain on the way, so we thought we were in for a wet walk, but amazingly it dried up and we had a completely dry walk!

We arrived at Wembury which is just east of plymouth on the coast, and in is a beautiful cove, so we spent a while admiring the view, and taking photos, and collecting a pebble from the beach to carry to Lynmouth, and using the facilities etc. etc.

We did eventually get going on the walk; Phil and Carol tried the coffee at the cafe on the beach (resisting the pies and pasties) then walked a 4 mile walk around the coast path towards Plymouth and had some good views from the top.

Phil at the cafe.


Our walk was beautiful too, lots of fields, woodland with bluebells coming out; lots of wild garlic that Walt picked a bagful to have in his sandwiches tomorrow; also quite a number of ups and downs to get our legs working.  It was only 7.5 miles today, but that was enough really for a first day.  The coast to coast walk is in 2 parts, as it follows the 2 moors way for most of it from Ivybridge to Lynmouth, but to start from the coast we follow the Ermeplym trail (named after 2 rivers) for 15 miles, so we are doing that in 2 days before getting up onto Dartmoor on Thursday.

Apart from getting our legs going, we learnt that we needed to keep an eye on where everyone is, as 5 of us went one way and 5 the other at a junction!  A few phone calls were made as after a while the other 5 were missed; fortunately we found each other again.
Now where did we lose everyone?


We finished today at Yealmpton and were scooped up by Carol and Phil then had just an hour’s trip back to base.  Tea and cakes all round followed by a swim in the rather nice pool at the house; it has a jet that you can put on and swim against which was quite fun.

Cooking team today is Pat, Steve and Tim, to looking forward to curry.



Monday, 30 April 2018

Monday 30th April

Today was a travelling day; we had a slightly different start in that the mini bus had a wheel arch that was hanging a bit loose, so Phil had to go back to the hire garage and get it fixed at 8am.  Anyway we were off by about 9am, picked Walt up at Bere Regis; coffee stop near Honiton, and on to Fingle bridge near Drewsteinton where we had a 4 mile walk along the river and back.


We decided not to do a bit of the main walk as it was a long drive to Wembury and back to the house, so had lunch and then a leg stretch along a most beautiful river.
After the walk we drove to the house along some very thin narrow lanes, so Carol had a taste of driving conditions for the next couple of weeks. 


The houses are lovely, and we’ve all got settled in.  Sainsburys managed to find us and delivered everything except milk, so we had 4 pints which will have to do til we can get some tomorrow. 
whilst have tea and cake outside (it was actually sunny and quite warm), Walt was saying that their shower needed tying up and needed string or a cable tie (the owner had only just noticed) - amazingly Lynn said ‘ooh I've got a cable tie’  we shouldn’t have been surprised as she is the keeper of the rucksack with everything in.

So just enjoying a pleasant evening ready to start the main walk tomorrow.