Wet.

Woke this morning to mist and rain with the rain persisting for most of the day. It is also noticeably colder. One load of washing is now drying (hopefully) in the conservatory and there's no need to go out and water my plants. We still had some bananas left so I made another banana loaf, this time cutting the amount of butter right down. I should have realised last time that having the same weight of butter as flour was a transcribing mistake. Also this time I tried an upside-down cake variation and carefully arranged a layer of banana circles in the bottom of the cake tin. Not the best thing to do as the result was a mushy layer. I crisped the bottom now top of the cake under the grill which did the trick. The other notable event of the day was giving Patch a bath. He'd returned from the cattery not smelling very sweet which combined with both cats keeping very close to me for most of the time made a bath necessary. He wasn't too happy at being stood in a couple of inches of warm water in the bath but I was able to gently wash his legs and underside. It was only at the end when he tried to climb up over my shoulder that I ended up with a few scratches on the back of my arm as well as one on my knee. Nothing  too serious but Peter gets overly concerned about such things. I'd had to ask him to wipe the arm scratches with disinfectant and I got the usual warnings about dirty cat claws which I do know about and then dire talk of sepsis which is possible but not very probable especially if you keep a close watch.

Now back to our Dartmoor break, this time the walk along one side of Lydford Gorge, across the river and then back at a lower level along the river to our start point.

We walked through dappled sunshine amongst the mature trees. The path was wide and easy to walk on with well maintained bridges and steps. 

The bridges took us over small streams flowing down the side of the gorge to the river. With so many weeks of dry weather I'm guessing the streams were smaller than usual. 

Eventually we climbed down the 200+ steps to the White Lady Falls . Though we hadn't met many people as we walked along the path there were a number of people at the falls as there is another car park and entrance to the gorge at the road above.

The height of the White Lady Falls is impressive and a look at this youtube clip shows how it looks in our more usual wet conditions. Some children and adults were paddling in the shallow pools and this time I also joined them despite not having anything to dry my feet on afterwards apart from my socks. The water was so refreshing.

Crossing over the River Lyd our path  followed the river, sometimes only a few feet above the water while at other time 20-30 feet above. 

The character of the river also varied greatly. Sometimes the water had cut a deep channel through the rock and was rushing through furiously and at other times the it flowed peacefully through wide pools where trout hid.

In places the path has been cut into the rockface with a useful metal rail to keep hold of. (Below) After just a little overnight rain the rocks were still slippery at times and the wooden beams across the steps were hazardous even with walking boots. Several times we passed through open gates which are used to close off parts of the path when the going is dangerous.

We decided to treat ourselves with a meal at the Castle Inn again though the cooking facilities in the camper are very good with a gas oven and three rings. Peter had the beef and ale pie again and I had a roasted fig, Parma ham and blue cheese salad which was a generous starter. Then being totally indulgent I had raspberry Eton Mess for dessert. Not long after we had rolled back to the campsite it rained heavily. It was still raining when I saw a rainbow appearing over the moor. Nearly causing Peter to tumble out of the camper door as I slid it open I rushed out and took some photos of the rainbow. It was only when I looked at the photos on my screen that I realised it was in fact a double rainbow.

The rainbow is clearer if you click on the picture.