Dartmoor in 'drought'

Saturday was sunny and even hot. We decided to visit Dartmoor. Jack had been there on a school excursion, so he was going to be our guide. It has been so warm and dry that we did not pack jumpers or raincoats or compasses and maps in case of sudden mists. I thought this was tempting fate, but in fact they were not needed.

We drove through Plymouth to get there. This involves negotiating the nastiest roundabout we have ever seen, Canberra included. Anyway, we got there okay. We overtook several cyclists on the way. Wayne, now an expert cyclist, noted how some were riding with their knees sticking out and needed to raise their seats. I noted how one bloke's shirt had ridden up, ensuring an inch-wide sunburn around his waist in the near future...

We parked in an unexpectedly wooded and shady area. Up on Bodmin it is all rocks and thorn bushes. But here we were close to a reservoir, and had to walk up to get to the moor. We started out through the trees. There was a pine plantation. When we reached the grassy moor I was struck by the number of ferns everywhere. There were soft grasses and tiny flowers. No thorn bushes! This bit of Dartmoor, at least, was very different from Bodmin - but they are reasonably close together so it was a mystery to me. There were patches of dried mud that showed that this is normally very boggy, but we had had two weeks without rain now. There was still a rushing stream on our left. This first picture shows us on a bridge over it. The next shows the path through the woods. The third shows the beginning of the moor. (You will notice we made good use of the little camera tripod here.)

The next picture shows a totally man-made stream. Jack was giving us his geography class spiel, here. This hilly stream fell down to a 'leat', I think the word was, all lined with the abundant local rock. You see Eleanor mucking about with a pipe into it. A few sheep wandered about. This is an English national park for you!

We had just crossed the water, when a herd of ponies galloped down towards us. It was a bit scary actually, but they veered off at the last moment. We walked up to a shady patch and stopped to have an apple. We sat on nice soft grass - like a cushion, yet not mossy and wet, no worries about grass stains on the trousers. Walking here is very civilised, we thought... no prickles, rocks, bull ants, sticks or snake worries! A beautiful foal wandered up to check out Jack's apple, but its mother quickly nudged it away from the dangerous teenager - very wise.

After our rest we trudged uphill towards a tor. This was the only really strenuous part of the day. It was very rocky, as you can see. Here is Jack clambering over one pile of rocks. Annie got a bit fed up and did not go right to the top. The rest of us did, and here is Wayne and Eleanor perched up high. There was a great view of the surrounding countryside and the reservoir.

The rest was all downhill. We walked through a pine plantation, and then a more lightly wooded area. Jack showed where there were bluebells last time. I was just glad that we had left the long grasses of the hedges and fields behind today - I am struggling with hayfever and will not be photographed without sunglasses for a while! Back to the car park. More civilisation - there was an icecream van there too. So, we topped off a pleasant walk with a creamy Devonshire icecream - yum!