Autumn ?

It has been quite autumnal today with strong winds blowing and sudden rain showers. Going out for a walk we needed fleeces as well as jackets. Today's walk was very different as we were high up on the moors over the iron rich red sandstone cliffs near Heddon's Mouth (Lorna Doone country). We are always drawn to Morte Point and have forgotten how wild and beautiful it is up on the moors. We plan to make a few more trips in that direction this summer as not only are there free car parks but there are fewer tourists. Our walk was on Trentishoe Down (hills are frequently known as 'downs' ) which we can see from the top of our drive. We didn't walk down to Heddon's Mouth and Hunters' Inn as we planned to have lunch at the Station Inn at Blackmoor Gate.
Typical moorland scenery with the heather just starting to come into flower.

Looking back along the path the sky was blue but overhead grey clouds loomed.

Peter had taken the precaution of booking ahead so that we would have a table by the window as he knows if I can't be outside I at least, like to be able to see out. The Station Inn is well known for its Sunday carvery and today it lived up to its reputation. We were lucky to get the last (enormous) portions of beef otherwise it would have probably been the roast pork. They are known for their pork from their own Gloucester Old Spot pigs which can be seen outside. I let Peter have my Yorkshire pudding and then you help yourself to the vegetables - boiled & roast potatoes, carrots, cabbage and broccoli. I had no room for a dessert even without any breakfast and we don't need supper either. The beef was so tender you could 'cut' it with your fork and we thoroughly enjoyed it. At just under £9 each it was the same price as the roast dinner we had at Mortehoe and much, much better.

I don't feel too comfortable taking pictures with the public in so I snapped off one just to give a feel of the place.

On the way home, driving through the narrow lanes from East Down I had to reverse a long way to allow another car to pass. Nothing unusual in that but when the car went past us it had Lithuanian stickers in the windows. That was unusual.

I'm on schedule with my decorating. Today I painted the areas of the ceiling that had marks on. Mostly water stains though Mr Greenslade, the farmer who lived here before the people we bought the place from, told us that one set of stains were from a failed (or too successful), chemistry experiment carried out by their sons about 40 years ago. The stain cover paint is very thick and had to be applied with a brush because of the textured surface of the ceiling so that job took quite a while to do.

An Early Start.

It was a little darker than this but the camera compensated & I couldn't be bothered to use manual settings.

I started my day nice and early this morning, if you can call 2.30 morning. I'd woken up (as usual) but there were so many thoughts spinning around in my head, not stress but things like the day's art activities and the best way to organise the final week of the term, that I knew I wouldn't get back to sleep. Running a class of 30 kids so that we can all have fun requires lots of preparation. That way minor problems are foreseen and planned for and bigger problems can be dealt with in a calm way.

By 3.30 I decided to get up and was even contemplating a night walk. I opted to aim for sunrise instead but although the official sunrise was 5.00, by 4.45 when I set out it was already light. It was completely overcast so I didn't miss anything spectacular anyway. As I was going to head up onto the road I changed my long fluffy dressing gown for an anorak in case anyone drove past and thought I was an utter fruit cake but maybe the grey zebra pyjama bottoms would have given the game away. My only other items of day wear were my Ugg boots, sans socks, and Peter's gig club beanie. Usually on a walk I can hear cars or farm machinery in the distance but today it was only the sounds of nature. Speedy started off walking with me but got a little scared when the ponies came rushing over to say good morning. Their noses were all wet from the morning dew. I'm very much a morning person so I was in my element at that early hour.
I was gazed at by a field of heifers but when I quietly said hello on the return journey they all stampeded across the field. I was out for nearly an hour which was a great way to start the day. Then it was back to the normal routine of school and our fun art activities. For most of the activities I let the children decide which ones they will do but I try and have one activity each day that everyone does. Sometimes children are reluctant to start out of a fear they will 'fail' (art has no concept of failure) but if encouraged/forced to give something a try they then find they enjoy it. Today I had everyone drawing on small whiteboards as I described a complicated picture of Poseidon's head which involved fishes, seaweed, eels, crab claws, octopus legs etc. They drew an amazing variety of pictures and later those that wanted to repeated the activity using fine pens on cartridge paper and coloured in some or all of their drawings with coloured pencils. I also photocopied all their whiteboard pictures and some children went over them with watercolours. We have done so much work from that one illustration. Our Poseidon sculpture is also based on that illustration and was finished today. It is currently lying flat as twice I suggested hanging it on the wall and twice the wool/ribbon/feather/spangled beard has slid right off. I gave it a good dollop of pva which should be firmly dry by Monday.

Medusa on the other hand is finished and looks pretty good/scary. Today the children worked with a mum to add extra details to their individual snakes (plaster bandage over wire and newspaper) and I put the whole thing together after school. The face mask is life sized and the snakes are hooked into a polystyrene plant box that I Incorporated into the top of the mask. I even remembered to include a strong wire loop into the structure so that it is secure but just in case something fails over the weekend I have placed 2 cushions on the table below and moved Poseidon out of the way.

Some excellent news. I rang the hospital after work to check that they had the right address for me and was told that I have an appointment next Thursday. What a shame, I'll have to have a day off work as I prefer to take the train rather than look for a non-existent space in the hospital car park. Might possibly have some time to do a little shopping in Exeter. Life is so hard!

A Misty Morning.

This morning was one of those days where the sun was shining up in the hills and the valleys were shrouded in mist.

Everything to the south was hidden from view.

Zoom into this picture and you will see several of those enormous wind turbines marching across the sky line.

It hasn't been a bad day in school today even though I was on my own with the class for most of the day and my voice is still pretty croaky. I always feel so much more cheerful when the sun is shining. This evening when I got home I took a few photos and was sitting outside enjoying the evening sun. Peter arrived home and I walked down to the house to see 2 dogs, Fred the Dalmatian and the hound puppy, running out of our kitchen door. Bad dogs! Luckily no damage was done except to the cats' nerves but I'll have to start closing the bottom half of the front or kitchen door to keep out intruders. During the summer our front door is normally wide open day long.

Carpets Of Flowers.

Another day of sun and showers. Peter went out early to row with the gig club while I got on with my school planning. When he returned we headed out between the showers for a walk at Mortehoe. We set off down the Kinevar coombe and were rewarded with carpets of flowers everywhere we went. Mainly bluebells mixed with white Ransoms (wild garlic) and stitchwort.

We walked down to Bennet's Mouth. Somebody had made a camp there with a couple of tents, campfire and a sensible arrangement of branches with cooking utensils hanging from them. You are not supposed to camp on National Trust land but they weren't doing any harm.

Down on the beach there were cushions of pink sea thrift growing everywhere. Not so many people around today as the holidays are over and the weather was a bit unpredictable. We got caught in one shower but it didn't last long. Back home I finally got through the slab of clay that was lying under the soil in the veg plot. It was satisfying to rake that section level. I still have a some plants to move from the other side but it doesn't look like a bomb site any more. I also rearranged the steps which looks a bit better, and filled them with the clay dug out from under he soil in the plot.

Lee Bay.

It's the end of what has been a wonderful holiday. Beautiful weather for 2 weeks has meant that I could spend most of my time outside, pottering around in the garden, reading and going for walks, perfect! It has been very quiet without any of our usual visitors but on the other hand I haven't had to rush to get all the rooms ready and organise lots of cooking. Lots of things have been done in the garden and although the vegetable patch is still a work in progress the front yard has had a good tidy with the stones cleaned and hanging baskets organised. If the weather stays fine a little work each evening should keep the garden in good condition. It has been a very relaxed time and I'm finding it hard to think about getting back into the swing of work. We explored a new route for our walk today, going down into the coombe and then swinging inland and walking back across the countryside to Lee. (Blogger has gone slow so I can't post more pictures today.)
Looking down at Bennet's Mouth and the scene of yesterday's cliff rescue.
There were quite a few people when we got nearer to Lee so we swung round to the coast path and headed back to Bennet's Mouth to eat our lunch on the beach. It was so peaceful with the sound of the stream rushing over the stones and the waves swirling over the rocks. We stayed on the cliff path to Bull Point and then walked back along the track to where we had parked the car in a 'free' parking spot.
Back home I finished weeding the very last part of the path around the circular pond and then had some reading time in the evening sun. Now to organise for tomorrow morning and get my mind back into work mode.

Easter Greetings.

Happy Easter.

Today we celebrate new beginnings and new life for all.I recommend the 2- part series, The Life of Jesus, available on BBC iplayer. Filmed entirely on location it is a documentary which combines the views of biblical scholars and biblical archaeologists with dramatised scenes and bible readings. It was very interesting, while giving faith views it did not attempt to make judgements and I particularily liked the way the Scriptures were put in the context of how they would have appeared to 1st centuary readers.


Today the warm dry weather continued so of course we had to go out for a walk. This nearly didn't happen because when we got to Morthoe the car park and the overflow car parks were totally full up. On the off chance we drove up the road that leads to Bull Point because there is space for a few cars just before the end of the road and the parking restrictions do not start until 14th May. Luckily we found a space so we didn't even have to pay today. As there were so many people around we walked down into the coombe and enjoyed the sun, peace and flowers.

As we entered the meadow I spotted a slow worm in the grass. This is a legless lizard and perfectly harmless. When I was a child we used to catch and play with them but today I was content just to capture its image.
As we were parking we had been passed by a coast guard vehicle, sirens sounding, rushing up to the coast. When we came to Bennet's Mouth we could see them up on the cliff winching something up. Not knowing what had happened I didn't want to be intrusive and take any more pictures. It turned out that an off lead dog had run over the cliff. Dogs unlike people bounce rather than break and this one survived with only a few scratches and bumps. We found out all this when one of the coast guards who is a gig rower from Ilfracombe spotted Peter's gig club sweatshirt and greeted him like a long lost friend. (Remember this is the UK where people keep to themselves.) It turns out that he had been one of the gig crews that had rowed to Lundy when we were there last year so we were all in the pub at the same time. It's nice being one of the locals.




The dog was returned to its grateful owners (the rescue will be paid for by tax payers), the gear was packed away and the coast guards drove away.

We carried on along the coast path and found ourselves a quiet meadow above the cliffs where we stopped to have our picnic lunch. This was the view looking inland,

while looking out to sea to the north we could see the Welsh coast line,

and looking to the west we could see Lundy on the horizon. There was a sea mist around the base of Lundy but using binoculars we could see the old lighthouse and the church, happy memories.
Back home I did a little gardening but am getting nowhere fast digging up those trees so I have suggested to Peter that he talks to Paul and see what they can do with the digger or the tractor.

Washing Day.

According to the weather man the highest ever recorded April temperature in the UK was 29.5C. Well this was the temperature here at midday! The day started warm, at 9.30 it was 14C in the sitting room and 25C in the garden. My morning was spent washing things, I put washing in the machine, hand washed a feather duvet, scrubbed yet more stones and washed down a chest of drawers before giving it 3 coats of white paint. I got on with so many things because the weather man also mentioned the possibility of RAIN tomorrow. I was also determined not to miss out on a long walk so by 3.00 I jumped in the car and headed off to Morthoe. This time I went the long way towards Bull Point and then dropped down this steep path into the coombe that runs to Bennet's Mouth.
It was like entering an enchanted wood. It was deliciously warm, butterflies all over the place and everywhere flowers shining like little jewels in the lush green of the grass. The deep purple of the violets and the vibrant blue of the bluebells were lit up by the white stars of wild garlic. In the sun the celandines glowed like burnished gold and the softer yellow of the primroses was like rich clotted cream. There were other flowers sprinkled across the grass and every now and then I was showered with confetti like petals from trees above me as I walked beside the crystal clear stream.

In another week or so the whole undergrowth will be a wonderful carpet of flowers and whatever the weather I will be there to enjoy the spectacle.

Emerging from the wood the valley floor opens up to a meadow, again with the promise of a carpet of flowers. I'm so glad I decided to go that way today.

Having reached Bennet's Mouth I took the coast path, exercising both my legs and my lungs. It was as I was climbing up a slope that I heard explosive cracking sounds around me. I eventually realised that it was coming from the gorse bushes beside the path. Gorse flowers all year round and most of the bushes were covered in bright yellow flowers which in the heat give out the smell of coconuts but the bushes near me had finished flowering and were covered in brown seed pods instead. The noise must have been the pods bursting open in the heat.

I carried on round the coast and came to the high but damp valley that leads to Rockham Bay. Here I had to walk through a reed bed and the breeze was causing the dry old growth to whisper and rustle mysteriously.

Having only bought a 2 hour car park ticket I did not have enough time to go all the way round Morte Point but I stopped for coffee at a bench high up on the cliff and was rewarded with a cooling breeze and the sight of a fat seal swimming about and occasionally diving down to catch a fish.

The sheep and lambs are back out on the Point. Most of them were too hot to bother moving as I walked by and this group of lambs were cooling off in some shade.

Another lovely walk !

24C

Another beautiful day today. This morning it was 24C (76F) as I basked in the unexpected heat and attempted to scrub stones with a rapidly thinning wire brush. If only we had days like this in the summer! and it was still a balmy 14C this evening when I ended my day with a little more gardening. During the afternoon I met up with a friend at Mortehoe and we had an enjoyable walk and natter around the Point with the usual stop for coffee and some chocolate chunk cake that I had baked in the morning. No seals or adders today but we did stop and watch a small brown bird with a mechanical sounding song singing amazingly loudly from a nearby bush. Looking at my blurry photos I have been able to identify it as a Grasshopper Warbler, one of our summer visitors.

Turning out of our drive this afternoon I was surprised to be able to see this wind turbine. This morning the local news was full of the new wind turbine farm which is being built in North Devon. There used to be a single turbine outside of Ilfracombe but then it was dismantled. I'm not sure exactly why. This new farm at Fullabrook is going to stretch for 10 miles across the countryside because we have the strongest winds in the south-west. They will certainly make an impact on the landscape, I hope the power they generate is worth it. Luckily we can't see or hear them down in our valley. Each turbine is enormous, the one above is several miles away , with each of the blades being 45m long.

A Lovely Day.

The glorious weather continues and as I sat in the garden enjoying an al fresco breakfast I had not one jot of envy for those 'on holiday' in some exotic location. The sun was shining and the only sounds were those of bird song with the occasional undertone of buzzing bees. Not until my neighbour came down the hill with Jack on one of the ponies was there any human sound to break the symphony of natural sounds.

So once more we set off to Morte Point for a walk. The good weather and the start of the school holidays meant that there were an awful lot of people and their dogs out too but we do have to share our beautiful countryside with those not fortunate enough to live in such lovely surroundings and only able to visit as holiday makers. Walking back up this stretch we saw one family looking at something in the grass and being ever nosey we wandered over to see what had caught their attention. It was a small (8") adder, our only poisonous snake, sunning itself on the grass. Eventually it got fed up with the attention and made its way towards the undergrowth.

We ended our walk at this pub where we treated ourselves to their Sunday roast, a very good meal, all the vegetables freshly cooked, nothing frozen and tender roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes with plenty of gravy. We have often looked at the chalked up menu as we pass by and I thought it would be a nice treat. However I still enjoy a flask of coffee and a picnic just as much particularly if I am sitting looking at a beautiful view.

Back home I did more gardening, weeding and cutting back stuff interspersed with some sitting and reading. It was during one of my reading moments that I saw Jack, aged 7, come driving up on his child-sized yellow quad bike, clad in jeans but no top in deference to this unaccustomed good weather. He then left his quad bike on the road and climbed through to the field where he went up to one of the ponies and simply stood there hugging her around the neck. What a lovely childhood Jack is having. We had our usual little chat and then he went off and got a curry comb to brush off some of Coral's winter coat before she got fed up and wandered off. Meanwhile Peter was back at his barbecue again, cooking up some of his home-made sausages this time for a leisurely outdoor supper.

Jaws The Tragic Koi Carp.

This morning it was an organised rush to get the kids in early, registered, toileted and ready to walk to the local secondary school, just across the road, for a performance by the performance poet - Justin Coe. He was very good and the children enjoyed the whole event. There were almost a few tears at the Tale of Jaws the Tragic Koi Carp sung to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon and plenty of laughs at the references to bums and pants. Back at school we had a final run through of our dances for tomorrow's dance festival. The weather was amazingly mild, as good as any (British) summer's day and the children were all out playing without jumpers. It was too nice to stay at work so I left school fairly early and got home in time for another walk up the road. It is good to stretch my legs after a day in school and let my mind wander in the relative peace of the countryside.
All around new leaves are appearing and even a few early flowers.

Once I got to the road I turned the other way and walked down past Ashelford Corner. When I'm out I do find it hard to decide when to turn round and head for home so I usually stop at a gateway and stare at the view for a while before walking back.

No spectacular sunset tonight, just a haze drawing over the hills and a darkening of the skies.

Stepping Out.

Not so sunny today and very frosty first thing but despite only having a few hours' sleep I've had a good day at school. I was my usual grumbly self to start with (a bad habit of mine) as it looked like I had lost my hall time due to a visiting writer but luckily by the time I dragged my class outside to practice their dances without any music the hall was suddenly free and we were able to have a long practice which certainly helped towards next Wednesday's performance. Last thing in the afternoon it was the first of 3 tennis sessions and the lad teaching turned out to be a boy who went to the local village school with my boys. Once again it was light enough when I got home for my brisk walk up the hill to be extended to Bowden Corner before I turned for home. It's no great distance, 1 1/2 miles in total but it blows the cobwebs away and hopefully the hill is making me fitter.

When we are out walking on the cliffs, one of the things I enjoy (as well as the beautiful views and lack of people), is the varied nature of the actual path. No concrete strip to march along once you turn off the road but the bare earth and rocks themselves. Walking down the coombe (a coombe is a steep valley leading to the sea), the path is a choice of stoney soil or rabbit trimmed grass.
The bedrock is so close to the surface that it often provides a better walking surface than the soil which being clay can be very slippery when wet.

Here a scramble over rocks before walking between the gorse bushes.

And every now and again are some 'never ending stairs' which wind their way up the steep cliff sides. Each step is a different depth and height which is good? exercise though not so wonderful for the knees.

At the top of the cliffs the path is simply grass. I like this stretch because it really does look as if you are about to walk off the cliff though in reality there is a steep stepped gravel path heading downwards.

In many places you have to walk carefully over the vertically layered slate, not too comfortable to negotiate in sandals but my new walking boots are now nicely broken in and support my feet well. I'm quite looking forward to the 11 mile Nightwalk in 6 week's time.

A sunset last week. Tonight the sky was soft shades of pink and grey, not dramatic enough to photograph. Coming down the hill a big hare ran across the road in front of me and into the field.