WW 30th April 2014

Boots on
Gaiters on
Torches checked
Flask filled
Fog lights on
Must be Wednesday
Over the grey moor
To Whiteworks
And across the mire
Nice and shaky
To Goldsmith's
And on to the perfect cist
To Childe's
And up to Fox Tor
Through the workings
Mount Misery
And down the long, long wall
Along the leat
To Fox Tor Ford
And back
To an empty Plume

WWW 30th April 2014

Now that was nice, very, very nice. On a beautiful spring morning out from Lopwell Dam. So many, many flowers and all the trees in their fresh foliage. Down by the Tavy as the tide ebbed and on to Blaxton Quay for a cup of tea. Back through Maristow land where a deer fence is being erected. To the cafe which provided a suitably educative lesson in patience.

WW 23rd April 2014

So, now the petals of the Dartmoor daisy are complete - only the stalk to do. Our intrepid hero set out from Venford to explore the workings before heading for Snowdon and on to Ryder's. Good job someone is keeping up
all the good work. 

WWW 23rd April 2014

Not a single one to be heard, and, like, they are always there. Someone thought they might have seen one and the lady at the Basket Meals said her neighbour had heard one. But nothing, nothing at all, how odd.
Out we set in the thickest of mist and rain, but once past Princetown, sun, sun, sun. Smartly off to Bonehill Rocks and on to Bell. Then Chinkwell to find Slade's Well, to Honeybags before turning south and to Holwell Lawn. The bluebells were very shy. Round to Greator Rocks for the traditional ascent before the settlement and round Hound to the basket meals for lunch sitting in the sunshine - very nice. Then back over Hound Tor to the cars and home. No pub because we took lunch on the way - very nice.

WW 16th April 2014

Down Dr Blackall's drive. Who was he ? Red sun over Bench Tor. Birds singing. Through twisty roots on twisty path to river valley and lodge houses. Past Spitchwick , woods, tracks and fields before road back to Beltor. Then down to Tavistock Inn and a red moon."

WW 9th April 2014

spot the dog

WWW 9th April 2014

An early hint of spring this still, dry Wednesday morning: tendrils of cotton-wool mist swathe the approach to Bere Ferrers and white-coated avocets peck breakfast from the tide-line as we half dozen head west under the railway line and down steep fields to Liphill at low water. Then, in panting silence, its that long uphill across the hunched shoulder of the peninsula to  Well Farm, then gently down to the wooded valley of Hole Wood beyond. En route there are explosions of white blackthorn in the hedgerows, a riot of differing species of daffodil, a wheeling buzzard or two and even new lambs playing pontoon in sunlit fields now spring-rich with new grass as we pick our way back towards lunch and a carefully-drawn pint at the Olde Plough Inn. Lucky ?  We all think so. Just a bit.

WW 2nd April 2014

Another petal in the Dartmoor Daisy completed. The first light evening ever, ever. A select team set out from Cumston in the mist. Round and down towards the Dart over Hamlyn's Leat to this lovely clapper bridge over Aller Brook. Then round the buried pipeline and over Venford Brook to Bench to listen to the Dart roaring below. In the gloaming to Venford  and on. Reluctantly seeking out the headtorches for a cuppa. Following the old leat in places and out to Horn's Cross which emerged from the gloop. Then down to the cars and on past the dark Forest Inn to the PoW. Where, much to our surprise, there was no festival at all being planned - now there is something new.