Lydford Gorge.

Back home after a one night trip to Lydford on Dartmoor. At just 60 miles away it only took us an hour and a half to get there from the farm (2 hours from home). It was a really nice campsite with views out over the moor. (Correction to last post, the fee was £20 per vehicle not per person as 'somebody' had told me. Peter actually negotiated the fee down to £14.) The field we were in was less than half full and people seemed to keep themselves to themselves. Each pitch had plenty of grass for outdoor living and I enjoyed doing my exercises in the fresh air. It was a real treat to plug in the electrics and have lights, radio and fridge at the flick of a switch.

In the afternoon we walked down to Lydford Gorge, first crossing over the road bridge which gave us a bird's eye view of the gorge below. Our National Trust cards haven't arrived yet and the man at the way in was a bit sniffy about letting us in with just a print out of our temporary membership and made out it was a big favour to let us in.

After coming down a well maintained stepped path we reached the river Lyn which flows through the bottom of the gorge. We decided to take the shorter 1 1/2 mile walk to Devil's Cauldron and do the 3 mile circuit today. Unfortunately overnight rain which continued into the morning put us off the walk today as the visitor information stresses that the path can be very slippery. We'll save that for another time.

It was a very pretty and gentle walk along the river spotting trout swimming in the crystal clear waters. By the time we had crossed to the other side approaching the Devil's Cauldron the path clung to the side of the gorge with a metal handrail along the rocks and a sturdy wire fence above the drop. Then we came to a tall metal gate with horizontal spikes to the side and above, very Jurassic Park, and a warning notice - no small children and babies in front slings only. From there the path clung even more precariously (at least to me) to the rocky wall with no fence over the drop. I will admit to tackling this sideways with two hands on the handrail. This brought us to a metal platform giving a great view of the Devil's Cauldron, a circular pool fed by a small but fierce waterfall. 

Below - standing on the metal platform looking back towards the gate and the unfenced, short section of path.

From there we continued upstream under the road bridge..... 

….. along the river,  

…….. 'til we got to Tucker's Pool. The path took us down to the water's edge and ended there. I was so tempted to take off my boots and socks to wade across the cold water to get a better view but didn't fancy trying to dry my feet before putting my boots back on.  

To give an idea of the height of the gorge, in the photo below there are some people by the river in the centre of the picture. 

 Lydford village.

After walking around Lydford Castle we stopped at the 16thC pub for a drink before walking back to the campsite on the other side of the village. 

We returned to the Castle Inn later on for a meal. As I'm more a dessert person I planned to have a starter followed by a dessert but my smoked trout with potato salad and home made bread filled me right up. Peter had the beef and ale pie which he said was delicious. It was a proper pie with pastry top, bottom and side rather than, as the landlord said 'beef stew with a pastry lid' that you often get. When we returned to the camp-site I was very surprised at how quiet it all was. All our previous camping has been at Sealed Knott musters where the tents, caravans and campers were packed closely together with people chatting and singing and much merriment form the beer tent.

Imagine our disappointment to wake up to rain and the view of Dartmoor obscured by clouds. A whole month of hot dry weather and it has to rain when we go away. After a breakfast of porridge made on the camper's cooker we set off to see if we could spot a parking space that would give us access to the moor. The campsite manager had already warned us that the two pubs with car parks by the moor did not let walkers park there. The only spot we found only gave access to a military camp and had two trucks full of soldiers parked in it so we gave Dartmoor a miss for this visit. I did find it very hard to be so close to the moorland wilderness but not able to get out and walk. Next time we'll have a bigger map and have the Sat-Nav set up though most of the camp sites warn not to use Sat-Nav, like Dingles the Sat-Nav doesn't get you there. Peter is not as adventurous as I am (he'll say foolhardy) and likes things to be planned in advance.

Bye-bye Dartmoor until next time.