I decided to travel down to Devon to see my parents over the Easter weekend, having not seen them since Christmas. As an added bonus, sister #2 was also there. Having been to the Theatre on Friday, I didn’t travel down until Saturday morning, which was probably a good thing, as it meant that I avoided the worst of the traffic as the entire nation drove to the west to spend the weekend in Devon or Cornwall!
After lunch, we decided that a walk would be in order, partly in a kind of pre-emptive against the Easter-egg-orgy anticipated for the morning, but mostly because it was such a beautiful day.
We headed off. Down the road, then down an impressively steep path. Steep paths, both up and down, were to be a feature of the walk.
After the (first) steep path, we had a wander through the woods, and across the fields. Our aim was a local church, about 2 miles from my 
parents house as the crow flies, and about 3 as the person walks – the church was in a rather lovely little graveyard, I particularly liked one early 18th Century tombstone, which had cherubs at the top, and a rather friendly looking skull at the bottom. There were also several Ridds buried there, although I didn’t spot any Doones…
parents house as the crow flies, and about 3 as the person walks – the church was in a rather lovely little graveyard, I particularly liked one early 18th Century tombstone, which had cherubs at the top, and a rather friendly looking skull at the bottom. There were also several Ridds buried there, although I didn’t spot any Doones… Sadly the bells were sitting at the back of the church – they gave the appearance pf having been there for some time, so didn’t appear to just be there as part of a restoration or rehanging project.
After wandering around the church a little, we started on the walk home. This included much steepness.
If you look closely at this picture, you can just see a church tower, (between the branches of the tree, to the left of the main trunk) The photo was taken from my parent’s house, and the tower is the one we walked to – as you can see, there is a bit of a valley in between.
The walk back took us along some proper Devon lanes – deep, narrow lanes, bordered by banks topped with hedges. There were lots of wild violets and primroses flowering in the hedge bottoms, together with celandines , and wood sorrel. And lots of gorse.
We then had to go through several fields, going down a steep hill, across a stream and up an equally steep hill on the other side. The first field was labelled as containing a bull, and this turned out to be true. Happily it also contained many cows, so the Bull had no interest in us.
The field on the other side of the stream (from our perspective, the uphill field) was full of sheep. Less intimidating than bulls. Even happy contented bulls. (Of course, this may be a cunning plan on the part of the sheep. They may all be sneaky ninja stealth sheep, just biding their time. I which case we were very very lucky, because we got out of there alive.
And wandered along some more lanes (and past an alleged iron age barrow, indistinguishable from a natural bump in the field, I have to confess!) and home.
The whole walk was about 6 miles, mostly conducted at an amble.
And then we had hot-cross buns.
After wandering around the church a little, we started on the walk home. This included much steepness.
If you look closely at this picture, you can just see a church tower, (between the branches of the tree, to the left of the main trunk) The photo was taken from my parent’s house, and the tower is the one we walked to – as you can see, there is a bit of a valley in between.
The walk back took us along some proper Devon lanes – deep, narrow lanes, bordered by banks topped with hedges. There were lots of wild violets and primroses flowering in the hedge bottoms, together with celandines , and wood sorrel. And lots of gorse.
We then had to go through several fields, going down a steep hill, across a stream and up an equally steep hill on the other side. The first field was labelled as containing a bull, and this turned out to be true. Happily it also contained many cows, so the Bull had no interest in us.
The field on the other side of the stream (from our perspective, the uphill field) was full of sheep. Less intimidating than bulls. Even happy contented bulls. (Of course, this may be a cunning plan on the part of the sheep. They may all be sneaky ninja stealth sheep, just biding their time. I which case we were very very lucky, because we got out of there alive.
And wandered along some more lanes (and past an alleged iron age barrow, indistinguishable from a natural bump in the field, I have to confess!) and home.
The whole walk was about 6 miles, mostly conducted at an amble.
And then we had hot-cross buns.
3 comments:
Oh, I'm glad you weren't eaten by the ninja stealth sheep! And what a lovely walk...
Now that was a lovely way to spend a day - the photos are fabulous.
Thank you! I too was glad not to be eaten.
It was a beautiful day, and it's a lovely part of the world for walking in. Of coruse, the following day we did nothing much but si around and eat chocolate...
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