Ruta's Ramblings

I woke this morning to stormy weather. Rain lashing, wind howling through the trees. I love this type of weather especially when, as today, I can snuggle up under the duvet for a lie-in. Of course it would be different if the roof was leaking or the kitchen was cold and damp but luckily our home is warm and snug. I took Romas into town to start his journey for the last major muster of the season at York. First stage, 3 trains to get him to Newbury. There he is meeting Mike, Kate B's brother, and they are driving up to Leicester. There they will stay the night with Vytas and Kate and then drive up to York tomorrow. 3 days of battles, camping and drinking and then home on Tuesday probably bearing a few more bruises and lots of battle tales.

After dropping Romas off I drove to Mortehoe to see if I could fit in a walk in between the showers. I ended up walking for 3 hours with hardly a drop of rain though Linas tells me there was plenty at home. I decided to take the long walk starting by going down towards Bull Point Lighthouse. The first half mile is quite boring along a narrow lane bordered by 12ft hedges that screen the campsites on either side. But suddenly the view opens out and you get the first sight of the sea.
I headed off the main path down a very steep hillside into the combe.

It is a different world down in the combe. An Exmoor woodland with a stream running alongside. The sun was making dappled patterns on the path and it was very warm being sheltered from the wind down in the valley. At times I had to duck to avoid the overhanging trees.

There were some stretches of slippery mud which required careful negotiation so that I didn't twist an ankle or slide into the brambles and singing nettles that were waiting to attack my bare legs.

Finally I made my way out into a grassy amphitheatre and the wind started picking up. A later shot of the combe with the stream totally hidden by the little trees.

And the best part was arriving at this little bay. The sun was glinting off the grey rocks and the wave tops. This was where I stopped to watch the waves and enjoy the beauty of the scene. The flapjack I ate might account for the grease marks on the camera lens after this point. Then it was up the steep cliff path to follow the cliff edge back round towards Morte Point.

There are so many lovely views from the cliff path. The wind was almost blowing me off my feet at times as I ambled my way around but that just made the walk more exhilarating.

I took the 'Never Ending Stairs' steadily so that I didn't strain my knee on the 92 steps. The next set of steps was only 56 steps so I fairly galloped up them, (not really).

I carried on round to Morte Point and had to go and see if there were any seals around. I saw a few heads bobbing in the water. The tide was in but 2 seals were positioned above the sunbathing rocks ready to take possession once the tide dropped. I'm so glad I made the effort to go out as I really enjoyed my walk .

Stop press- Some fisheries people caught a 12 " pirhana in the Torridge. They think it must have been a pet that was released due to its size as they certainly aren't native to these waters.