Our first day of the walk proper took us from Ivybridge (thanks to Sue Hadow for the lift) quickly up onto open moor.
Though dry, it was overcast and we faced a strong headwind throughout.
The lowering sky set off the sombre majesty of the moor with an impressive sense of drama, and we ploughed into the wind in good spirits.
We were fairly familiar with the intial stretch of moorland, as it is one of the easiest to get to from home. Oliver knows it even better as it has been a regular starting point for Ten Tors training weekends.
For much of the day we followed the route of the tramway that used to serve the old Redlake China Clay works, turning off this route just before the volcano-like spoil pile that marks the site of the works itself.
Despite being such a wild place, Dartmoor bears the traces of man's work everywhere. Of course the fact that it is now a wilderness is due largely to the deforestation carried out by early man. Stripped of tree cover, the already poor soil could no longer support agriculture. The route took us past Pile's Copse one of only three remaining bits of the original forest (not to be confused with Cops' piles, which is an unfortunate condition brought on by all that sitting in police cars).
Having left the tramway, we picked our way back off the moor to Scorriton.
Once at the B&B a siesta seemed like a good idea and some of us were drifting off to sleep when Oliver finally succombed to the stomach bug that Simon and Kate had both been fighting off, throwing up fairly vigorously over the en-suite! Fortunately our lovely hosts, Pat and Andy Dinning, took this in their stride and didn't instantly throw us out.
And so to bed, hoping for another dry day on Sunday.
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1 comment:
I was wondering who would be able to provide the sudden puke in my absence. Thanks Oliver, loyal nephew.
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