Windy With Sunny Spells.

This morning saw all 3 of us down at the slipway for some gig rowing. Linas was there to have a taster session. Although he did well with the actual rowing he doesn't want to join the gig club because he found rowing a bit boring. He had quite a bit of experience of rowing and sailing when he was in the Sea cadets and prefers sailing. Never mind. There were a lot of people there for taster sessions including a friend who is a TA at school. She really enjoyed her row and I think she may well join the club. There were lot of branches & tree trunks floating in the river after all the stormy weather we have been having and the slipway had to be cleared of debris before the gigs could be launched. Every now and then a large tree trunk would float past showing how quickly the river was running. Barnstaple is a small town and part of my conversation with a lady who works up at the local 6th form college was about how our boys are getting on. It seems that the combination of unusual names, height and individuality (I wonder where they got that from?) makes them quite memorable. Another lady told us about her trip just this week to Iceland to celebrate her 50th birthday in the land where the sun doesn't set. I finally got a turn to row and initially was unnerved by not having a trainer sitting behind me telling me what to do. The first instruction from the cox, called down the length of the gig was to turn the blade of my oar the other way round. Oops. I think it is going to take me a little longer to get the hang of rowing but a few times I stayed in time with everyone else and the gig felt like it was flying along. Also although my back was beginning to ache with all the standing around once I started rowing it eased off or at least I didn't notice it and I haven't felt any further ill effects. Here the day has been windy with longer and longer sunny spells though the temperature has stayed 11-15C. I did get Linas to mow the lawns that weren't too wet and I was able to weed and tidy the whole of the path in the scree garden. That was after I bottled this year's elderflower champagne hoping that it will do better than last year's and baked a chocolate cake. Linas made another batch of flapjacks as he has worked his way through the last lot. Peter cooked roast lamb for supper and also fixed my PC which had lost the Internet connection. Something to do with the Home Hub and addresses?

Early Start.

At 7.15 I wondered what I was doing leaving the house on a Saturday morning in the pitch dark when I could have been tucked up in bed. But instead I was off for my 2nd pilot gig rowing taster session. It was still dark when we got to the boat shed and dawn had just begun as we got the gig into the water after walking it along the main road. At least we were spared the embarrassment of dragging a gig on a very squeaky set of wheels, that was the lot of the group behind us.
This time I had asked to sit on the odd numbered side to see if it made any difference to my back. Whether it was that or only being out for half an hour (or not having mown all the grass the day before), but it does not seem to have affected my back and so I shall ask to go out on 'social' ie gentle rows.

Here a wellie boot is being emptied of water. A variety of footwear is worn as there is no escaping having to wade into the river as you get in or out of the gig. Wellies are great but only if you don't walk too deep into the river. Peter wears wetsocks under sports sandals and I had on a pair of wetboots.

I quite enjoyed today's row even though I had difficulty putting the blade of the oar in at the correct angle and not too deep. Keeping time wasn't too hard though I was sitting behind someone who though a club member wasn't doing too well either. I'm surprised the gig didn't go round in circles the way we were rowing on our side. The taster session was for half an hour as so many people would like to give gig rowing a go so while Peter had a second session (they need 4 proper rowers to keep the gig moving while us beginners splash our oars around), I walked back to the car, dried my feet and put my warm Ugg boots on.

The 2 gigs can be seen as little red splodges on the right just under the New Bridge. We had rowed out past the bridge on our little session.

Once we had walked the gig back to the boat shed and settled it down on bits of wood it was a quick visit to the High Street and then home for a breakfast of home-made sausages, 3-cheese and pepper & laver made by Fred who had borrowed Peter's hand sausage maker.

After many phone conversations yesterday the telephone man came to fix our line. It's been an on-going problem for the last 15 years and until they replace all the overhead cables up on the road it will keep on re-occuring. At least we have the phone line without all the crackles and the Internet is up and running.

(Laver - seaweed.)

Here's an add-on to yesterday's post.

We saw quite a few Exmoor ponies on our walk yesterday. I keep on calling Ben, Persey and Doris, Exmoor ponies but actually they are Dartmoor ponies which is another of the 9 native breeds that we have in the UK.

The ponies on both moors run free across the extensive moorlands all year long but each belongs to a farmer. They are rounded up once a year when the foals are marked and the youngsters are taken off to market. Over the years the prices had dropped to very low levels with many ponies ending up as dog meat or being bought by people who couldn't afford to keep them but in recent years there has been a check on the numbers breeding on the moors and on the blood lines.

I wish I'd had my big camera so that I could zoom in on this sweet foal sleeping in the sun.

Unlike Dartmoor ponies which come in varied colours, Exmoor ponies are always brown with a mealy muzzle. They are good natured sturdy ponies and can be ridden by a small adult as well as making excellent driving ponies.