An Early Start.

I still find it a bit of a shock to the system to be driving off to work in the dark. Not even a hint of a sunrise this morning, only a faint lessening of the pitch black night. It was too dark to see any of the countryside but it was interesting to identify the little groups of lights dotted around the landscape. To the east about 5 miles away was the line of lights on The Station Inn at Blackmoor Gate. As the name suggests this was once a gate onto the open moor. Nowadays most of Exmoor is farmland with smaller areas of moorland on the hill tops. Blackmoor Gate was named after the Blackmore family one of whom, R D Blackmore was the author of Lorna Doone. Photo of the turbines over Barnstaple from the web.

As I reached the top of our drive I looked to the west and for the first time saw the red lights marking several of the 22 wind turbines, 2 miles away at Huntshaw Cross. They have been up and running for a while now but only at half speed. The trial period is about to end and they will double their speed which will no doubt more than double the amount of low level (like a giant cement mixer) noise from the motor and the rhythmic thrumming & high pitched whirring from the blades. I find it bad enough to see this industrialisation of our beautiful landscape and can only imagine what it must be like, in terms of noise pollution, to live near them. A local farmer near Bowden Corner has applied for permission to build a 200 ft high turbine. This size of turbine would produce 20x the amount of electricity he would need for his farm whilst destroying the peace of the countryside. Along with many local people I have made an official objection to the council and hopefully this creeping industrialisation will be stopped. It's not as if these turbines are that energy efficient as they need a secondary power source as a back up in times of low wind speed and health & safety regulations stop them from being run at fast efficient speeds.

Then as I turned to the south, 10 miles away was the vertical line of red lights on the TV transmitter at Huntshaw Cross while much closer nestled down in the valley were the twinkling lights of Barnstaple. Here and there scattered across the landscape were small groups of lights from villages and farms. So even in the dark there is still plenty to see.

I spent the whole day at school and came home early through the light drizzle that had been with us for most of the day. Looking towards Blackmoor Gate the landscape had an almost oriental quality with the hills fading away in the distance.

Walking Again.

Today was so much sunnier and very windy. What a shame it wasn't like this yesterday. Peter got up at the crack of dawn, literally - they were putting the gigs into the river as the sun rose. The wind and the waves apparently made for a very exciting row and the women's crew had to turn back early as they were making no headway into the wind. We couldn't let the fine weather go to waste so later in the morning we headed out for a walk up at Mortehoe. Morthoe was teeming so we took the quieter path that drops down into the valley and out to Bennet's Mouth.
The valley had been sheltered but once we got out to the coast the wind was strong and the waves were big and choppy.

Bull Point Lighthouse now works automatically and the various buildings have been converted into holiday cottages. Not a bad place to stay but not as special as Lundy.

Then we walked back along the track looking over the cliff tops and shortly after a lot more cloud rolled in so we had timed our walk just right.

Back home a whiff in the conservatory lead me to a piece of fox skin that one of the cats must have brought home. Yesterday as we left home we saw some hunt members with their horse boxes up at the top of our road so they must have killed a fox locally. Words cannot express how much I despise these people who get pleasure from killing an animal.

Priddy.

Today we drove 2 hours up the M5 to meet up with our friends at the small village of Priddy. It was sobering to pass the place where the recent tragic accident occured and see the flowers that had been left tied to the bridges that cross the motorway. Priddy is a small village in Somerset that dates back to neolithic times and today we met up with our friends in the welcoming pub, The Queen Victoria. The wood fires, stone floors and gleaming brasses all add to the ambiance of the old stone building. The food was excellent too, Peter and I both had braised beef in Stilton gravy, Sam had lamb stew with home-made bread and Kate had a grilled goat's cheese salad. We were much too full to consider a dessert so after lunch we headed off for a walk in the fresh air.


It was the usual overcast day but it was good to be out in the fresh air striding over the hills up a rough muddy track.

We followed a footpath that took us to a small nature reserve that contains groups of stones put there by neolithic people and this year also contained a herd of Exmoor ponies.

From the highest point we could see Brent Knoll and out to the west the sea.

After our walk we drove half a mile down into Cheddar Gorge where we stopped to brew up a cup of tea (& coffee) amongst the grandeur of the deepest gorge in the UK.

We have been to the area several times but it has only been for a quick tea break or a slow drive through. We really must go there one day and take the time to walk along the length of this beautiful place.

I had the task of driving home though the dark and now we are settling down to our usual Saturday night's viewing.

Saturday And Sunday.

The Internet fell down again yesterday and is only just hanging on by its fingernails. It will be touch and go if I manage to get this post out.

We have had lovely weather this week-end. Hard to believe that we are half-way through November. So yesterday we took ourselves off for a nice long walk around Morte Point.
It was so warm that by the time we got to Rockham Bay we had to take off our coats. I was quite comfortable in just a sleeveless t-shirt (& jeans of course) for the rest of the walk. It was the kind of sunny day that we would have been happy with in the summer.

The waves looked superb, coming in strong and clean at about 6ft and in regular sets.

Even though it was windy we stopped right at the Point for our coffee break. We are so lucky to have all this on our doorstep.

Sunday.

More good weather. Peter went off early to row. This time they were rowing out of Instow and were out in the sea. He did say the waves were quite bouncy and they had a bit of a hairy moment when they were turning and the gig was broadside on to the waves. If I ever row in the sea rather than the river I will make sure that I wear a life jacket. They do have them in each gig but no-one wears them. As my swimming abilities are rather limited I wouldn't take any chances. My day has been spent gardening and then eating a curry which had been simmering since yesterday.

X marks the spot.

Countisbury Hill.

We had more time for our walk today so we went a little further afield than usual. We started our walk at Countisbury which is just beyond Lynton. The cliffs at Countisbury are the highest in England and once we had walked out onto the hill we had amazing views of Lynton up on the cliff and Lynmouth at sea level.
We planned to walk round the coast path but we had to decide if we would walk right round The Foreland. This is one of a pair of signs at either end of the path indicating that it is not the sort of path to take your elderly aunt along, or even 2 wives both scared of heights and 5 children. But that is what Peter and Sam did one windy winter's day about 18 years ago. They strode off in front and Kate and I brought up the rear praying that none of the children would slip down the slope (only a few hundred of feet to the rocks below) and that neither of us would succumb to vertigo. We survived but it wasn't a pleasant experience. Today however the weather was fine and I am no longer worried by heights so we headed off along the path in the reverse direction to the one we took so many years ago.


At first the 1ft wide path is relatively easy though it is a long drop down to the sea.



But soon we were scrambling along scree slopes some parts of which were quite slippery because of the recent rain. It was very good for the leg muscles having to walk so cautiously.

Rounding The Foreland we were rewarded with more amazing views up towards Porlock Vale.

The path dropped steeply down to an automated lighthouse and we walked all the way round and up this tarmac road. We stopped for a few words with a local man out with his son and a 6 month lurcher pup which was very sweet and friendly.

The next section of our walk took us along the cliff face towards a place called Desolate. It was very peaceful walking along a wooded hillside with the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks below.

After another mile or so we took a path that doubled back, winding its way up the cliff face until we were walking through farm land. (That's The Foreland in the centre of the picture.)

Once again we were out in the bright sunshine through typical moorland.

Down below us we could see The Blue Bull, an old coaching inn where we had parked the car.

We saw quite a few Exmoor ponies out on the moor and cliff tops.

Finally we stopped at this bench, which we had passed on our outward journey, for a welcome cup of coffee.

It was a varied and interesting walk and we felt our muscles had been suitably exercised.

Sucker ?

Peter had a couple of holiday days so he has taken them to coincide with my holiday. This morning the weather was quite nice so we went for a walk down to Bull Point. It was warm enough for me to wear a bodywarmer over a vest t-shirt. Peter on the other hand was wearing a hoody and a jacket and was rather overheated by the end of our walk.
Out to sea we could see a rain shower but it moved off towards Wales.


We didn't tackle the steps down to Rockham Bay today but sat at the top to have our coffee. There were many holiday makers about enjoying this break in the weather.


Back home I got out the leaf blower vac which as I only use it for sucking up leaves should be called a sucker! It is heavy and noisy but it does get most of the leaves up. I find it much more satisfying to work quietly by hand leaving each section completely cleared but the size of the garden and my limited time does not make that possible. I will still have to go over the whole of the scree garden to remove the leaves that got stuck under the stones but I should get through it a lot more quickly. There are still millions more leaves up in the trees waiting to gently waft down onto the garden. They look very beautiful with their gold and orange colours but should I leave them the stones will turn black and the leaves will become a rotten mush.

A Sunday Stroll.

Peter went out rowing early this morning. When he returned, a little exhausted as they have already started serious race training in preparation for next year's gig championships on the Scilly Isles, we went for a walk round Morte Point. It was fairly overcast but quite warm. The grass is still vivid green but the landscape is now dominated by the rusty brown of the dead bracken.
The visibility was good and as well as being able to see some of the buildings on Lundy, looking northwards across the Bristol Channel using the binoculars it was possible to see individual buildings on the Welsh coast. No signs of any seals today.

I haven't done much around the house today, just put some door handles and fittings back on the doors that were painted.

Mixed Weather.

That's my (paid) working week over. I stayed in school until 4.30! as I needed to type up some class lists for the 2 classes I'm teaching and also spent some time chatting to my colleagues. It was warm and sunny as I drove home, then I looked to the east - black clouds, and to the west, south and north. I thought this might be a good time to mow some of the grass as it has either been raining or just raining for a while and I haven't had a chance to keep up the mowing. As I pushed the mower along I kept trying to think of reasons why I should only cut half of the lawns today; my back was sore (a good reason I think), I would be having a 'garden day' tomorrow and ....... couldn't think of any more. On the other hand; how often was the grass dry enough, I shouldn't quit a job halfway through and if I did it now I wouldn't have to do it tomorrow. So I cut all the grass, bar a small bit by the yard because I felt a some rain and felt a great sense of satisfaction. In the morning I cleaned the 2 small windows in the sitting room of all the plaster and paint splashes though I was mystified as to how paint spots had got onto the outside of the glass. A fresh coat of white gloss paint on the sills and that's another 2 jobs I can tick off the list. The forecast is for another sunny day tomorrow but a continuation of the steady drop in temperature.
I stopped at the top of the drive to photograph the Himalayan Balsam that is making its way down the drive and out along the road. Paul drives his tractor mower right up here and makes it look like a carefully planted garden.

The boys and I enjoy popping the Himalayan Balsam seed pods which on a dry day will explode violently at the merest touch.

Low Clouds.

This morning I carried on and just about completed sorting through all my boxes of school 'stuff'. I never know what age group I'm going to be teaching next so I have a tendency to keep lots of 'stuff' just in case. Now at least all my folders are in 2 boxes and only a few things left over that need to be found homes. I filled my car with bags for the dump (nearly all the old plasterboard has been got rid of bit by bit) and my plan was to drop in at Tescos for some essentials then go onto Morthoe for a walk. The weather had been a bit variable but warm and by the time I came out of Tescos the clouds were down to ground level and it was raining gently. As I was already halfway to Morthoe I thought I'd see what things were like there and indeed it was only a little wet. I wasn't really prepared for wet weather but I did have a light mac so I put that on and headed out. Going down from the well the clouds were suspiciously low and being blown in from the sea. As it was still quite warm I bravely carried on.

And then the clouds lifted and it was dry once more.

There are several of these flights of steps on this part of the coastline and I use them for gauging how fit I am. When we first started walking this year I would be puffing a bit by the time I got to the top of these ones but now I can usually manage a conversation while keeping up a steady pace. Needless to say Vytas and Romas always run up all the steps.



Another refurbished path, presumably by last week's working party.





But then the clouds started rolling in again. I got round as far as the mown (lighter) area and then decided to call it a day as I was rather wet. I spotted a seal in the gully at that point. They have their pups in October so I wonder if she is going to have her pup on the little beach at the bottom of the cliff. I shall keep a look out for her whenever we walk out that way.
While sorting things out in the kitchen I was watching daytime tv and was watching Homes Under The Hammer (a sale and refurbishment property program), when I recognised the street the presenter was standing on. It was my mum's old street which is made up of identical terraced houses. The property being featured was a 1 bedroomed flat and although it was the mirror image of my mum's house all the original features such as the banisters, were identical. It was most odd to see the outside of the house with the fancy wood and stonework of the front porch as it was my job to clean our windows and the porch. I lived in our house for 10 years so the program brought back many memories.

Sunday Stroll.

It was sunny in the morning so we headed out to Morthoe for our usual walk. We did the medium walk which takes us along the track towards Bull Point Lighthouse. We stayed on the high ground so we had a great view down the combe toward Bennet's Mouth.
It wasn't quite as busy as last week but there were still plenty of people around. At the top of Rockham Bay a NT landrover was parked and a group of volunteers were having their lunch. Further on we could see where they had been refurbishing the path by putting more stones on top of the clay soil and restoring the steps. As we got near to Morte Point (after seeing 1 seal in the water), the weather changed and it became cold and windy. Our usual bench where we stop for coffee was in a very exposed position so we carried on walking round to try and find somewhere more sheltered.


We finally decided on a bench halfway up the hill with a view of Woolacombe but as we walked along our little track we could see an older couple heading towards our chosen bench so we carried on. This rock 'chair' was actually very comfortable and completely sheltered so it was a good place to enjoy our coffee.

As we walked back towards the village we could see the edge of the weather front that had moved in. Fortunately the rain held off until we were back in the car park. Another stroke of good luck was that we arrived back at the exact minute our 2 hour parking ticket ran out and for once there was a parking official there ready to slap a parking ticket on any over stayers. (I think the fine is about £45!)
The rain settled in for the rest of the day so I carried on sorting out my school stuff and Peter cooked a nice chicken dinner.