It didn’t bode well. Thick cloud and strong winds, temperature, 14 degrees according to BBC Weather.
When we got out of the cars it felt more like winter than August but it wasn’t raining and visibility was a lot better than on our last visit. It all turned out rather well in the end.
We set off past the memorial to Charlotte Dymond, the young housemaid murdered in 1844 by her boyfriend. Her ghost, dressed in her Sunday best roams the moors each year on April 14th apparently. Heading south below Rough Tor we explored lots of Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements before heading towards Louden Hill. Here there was a divide of interest with some going to play on the Logan stone and others, lead by Jane searching for and finding a long house or maybe two not even covered in bracken.
After coffee the next objective was a very nice stone circle. Extra Brownie points to Raz who spied it with his little monocular.
All were shushed as we crept along the forbidden track past Rough Tor farm. No barking dogs, no farmer with a twelve bore. We made it safely, Whew!
As we climbed Up, up, up to the many tops of Brown Willy the wind got stronger, some of us finding it difficult to keep vertical for a photo shot at the cairn. It was more like a mountain top in Scotland than a hill in Cornwall but the views were worth it. After lunch down, down, down and up,up,up to the saddle between Showery and Rough. Some went to join the emits on the summit while others had a leisurely stroll back to the car park to meet Rosie with her van for a very nice cream tea.
Lovely!
Stella
