We have been lost in the clouds all day long. In town it was slightly damp with a gentle drizzle while at home it was distinctly wet. As I set off for work this lunchtime the driver of a car parked by the ponies' fields came and over and asked if it would be possible to have a look at the outside of our house before they made an appointment to view. Peter was at home so I sent them on down. Peter gave them a very quick tour of the downstairs so we shall see if they do make an appointment to come back. At school I worked with one of my last year's classes who are now Year 2. I got them to vote for their new school council members and we did a bit of PE. Then I collected my car from the garage where it was having the lock unjammed before heading back up into the clouds.
Now back to sunny Lundy - Part 1 of our longer (7 miles-ish) walk.
No day visitors so the main track was fairly empty. This is a continuation of the road up from the landing beach and is the only 'road' on the island.
We were soon into the wild part of the island and came across our Highland friends who were just dozing in the sunshine.
The soil gets thinner as you approach Quarter Wall. Here we walked through great masses of flowering heather and it was possible to smell the sweet scent of the heather which really did smell like heather honey. In the distance was Tibbetts the most isolated of all the properties you can stay in.
The main purpose of our walk was to find the remains of a neolithic settlement. It's not a lot to look at in the photos but there are the remains of circular dwellings and animal enclosures. To stand there and look at the same views that stone age people saw or to sit on a stone that was placed there up to 3,000 years ago for me is awe-inspiring. The drawback to living on Lundy would have been the limited fresh water. Being 400 feet up there are just a few rainwater ponds but the surrounding sea would have afforded a lot of protection from invaders.
Leaving the ruins behind we carried on to the very tip of the island passing wild goats and Soay sheep.
Finally we made it to where we got a good view of the North Light. Both the North and South lights are fully automated as are most (or all) of the UK's lighthouses.
We didn't go right down to the lighthouse which was a good thing in a way because as I took photos I could see a couple (of people) below who had settled on a concrete platform with their picnic and a radio blaring away!
Turning to my right I could see a much more expected Lundy sight, somebody climbing a rocky crag.
We then swung westwards again passing yet more Soay sheep before stopping by the Cheeses to eat our lunch.
2 comments:
Lovely photos Ruta. I have two questions:
1. Why are the sheep named Soay?
2. Are there no snakes on Lundy? I am thinking about a stroll you took some years ago and came upon the only poisonous --dead-- snake in England.
I can only imagine the life the prehistoric people lived on Lundy. As you wrote...the surrounding water was an excellent form of defense. However, although probably small in number, the prehistoric community must have been very careful with fresh water.
The brown Soay sheep were bred from feral sheep on the island of Soay, off Scotland.
There are no snakes at all on Lundy and no reptiles. Previous owners tried introducing all sorts of animals and birds including flamingos (which didn't survive). In recent years there was a rat problem, they were eating the eggs and chicks of the puffins and the Manx shearwaters but they have been eradicated by poison. I kept checking my bare legs for ticks because as well as sheep and goats there are also wild deer but I don't know if there are ticks on Lundy and I felt a bit foolish to ask. Never saw any anyway.
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