A Watery Dartmoor Adventure.

Wet and Windy Kestor

Any of you living in the UK will have noticed the rain and wind on Saturday (3rd). I watched the weather forecast, and since the 3rd was my spare time day I went anyway and dragged Pete into it as well. Nobody else seemed to want to come?? So it was off to Dartmoor, North East side and a little village called Teigncombe as a starting point.

Dartmoor is a place to test things, on a wet and windy day, we tested our navigation under duress. We tested our wet weather gear, our boots, and our willingness to be there when most other people stayed at home. The plan was a ten-mile circle taking in Kestor and its rock basin. The stone alignments and what-nots on shovel down. Then open moor to another settlement followed by a waterfall on the Teign river. Where we would execute a crossing over the rocks or ford or something to be decided when we got there. From there head north around the high ground to avoid some bogs and drop south to the Scorehill Circle, recross the river and head home after a satisfying day out. This plan went well until we got to the river.

Two days of rain had pushed up the river level beyond the roll your trousers up and carry your boots level. It went beyond the rope and loops I carried in case of a difficult water crossing or something going wrong. It was high and fast, bouncing over the rocks and drowning conversation let alone people trying to get across. Plan B then, the footbridge half a mile upstream. A stomp along the squelchy banks and slopes, hopping around, through and tip-toeing over pools and spreading river edges.

We were dismayed, but not surprised to find the footbridge struggling, more than was reasonable considering we had come all that way to cross it. The level area surrounding the far side was an expanding river Teign. A prod with a stick at arm’s length went in about two feet. The pull was strong even where the river was wide, and the draw under the Clapper bridge was immense.

Clapper Bridge to nowhere.

Now we needed a plan C. And any plan is better after food and coffee in the shade of scented pines with the sun dappling the ground, or, as in our case, hiding in a pine plantation from the wind and rain eating a picnic and clutching a cup to stop it blowing away. We decided to attack the circle from the other direction, cross the moor to Batsworthy Corner again and head north to the end of our walk, Scorhill Circle. Crossing the Teign further downstream across a series of Footbridges marked nicely on the map (I know). Wind buffeted, rained on, yet undeterred we found the bridges, and the disconnected Islands between them. We could see the circle half a mile away across the river, but once again water stopped our progress, we hunted the hummocks for a way to cross, watched the water pouring over the rocks, listened to it raising the roof in its hunt for lower ground. This time we admitted it was not happening today. A decision was made. Sadly, we turned towards the car to go find a pub (A nice pub called the Sandy Inn) and a pint of Dartmoor Jail Ale before heading back up the M5 and home.

Woody picnic places.

Not quite the day we had planned, but a great day out in some wild weather and a visit to some more of Dartmoor’s ancient landmarks. I am fascinated by the amount around on the moors here. Most are easy to find and it is great to trace the layers of humanity that have created our countryside. The pubs are pretty good places to visit too.

River Teign

Teign Waterfall.

Rock Basin, Kestor

An Alignment, poor picture.

Happy New Year everyone, I am leaving Facebook for a while and trying to concentrate on my blog and writing, so hopefully you my audience will benefit and enjoy.

Sometimes it is good to get out in the rain and splash in the puddles

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Rainfall III.

Rainy Windscreen.

A radical reworking of Rainfall, from NaPoWriMo. Travelling a long road requires concentration, and an idea of destination. Sometimes we get lost on the back-roads.

Rainfall.

Rain comes and goes but the story continues
with its troubles and turns a backdrop to miles we cross.
On the road ahead traffic slows to the speed of the nervous driver
and red lights flash warnings that scatter up into the windscreen.
We drive and the wind and rain push against the narrative,
working crosswise against the end and the last page.

There is no location, we could be anywhere on this road,
ahead or past. The wipe of the blades back and back, again
and again the thwap of their turn, stripes of colour repeating
a line of text over the sound of the engine.  

This wind drawn night with its closed curtain darkness
draws silence into the cab, we are lost to the world.
I listen for you breathing, for anything to prove
I am not alone in here.  

The CD player reaches the end and starts again, jumping back
through chapters when light spills into the space around us, 
two silhouettes caught looking, following the words and waiting
for the journey to be something, a place or a reason or a destination.

Rain. National Poetry Writing Month Day 20.

Passing Weather

Hilltop weather, you need to enjoy it all when you walk in the UK. We have a special affinity here with the forecast, and often visit the wet places of our country, mainly because they are also the most beautiful. You appreciate it more after a good downpour, and enjoy a beer and food to talk about how it was not as bad as the last time, maybe. Revisiting older work today, trying out an even more pared back version than the original, I think it still counts a part of my Thirty.

---

Rain

Tendrils of low cloudy fingers
caress the arching back of the hills.

The mist reaches out, stretching,
reaching for a lovers touch.

Under a tree rain water scatters
through the leaves, distilling sun light,

and softens the view to hide
the truth of the way back home.

Rainfall. National Poetry Writing Month Day 4

Rain on the windscreen.

It doesn’t matter what the weather is like, you travel. Crossing patterns of wind and rain thrown up to slow us. The hero, pushing on through the storm arrives where needed to make the story work, to save the day or the girl. We love to listen to audio books as we drive around, passes the time and keeps us awake and alert. Sometimes the conditions make it difficult, the weather doesn’t care, it was nothing personal anyway, just passing through.

---

Rainfall.

Rain comes and goes,
tail lights or headlights
shattered into pieces.
But the story continues
with all its troubles,
its confused passing
between present and past tense.
All while we drive,
and it rains. And wind pushes,
crossing against the narrative.
Trying to prevent it
leading us to the climax
at the end of the road.

And It Rained

Arriving at Glaslyn.

And It Rained

Here is the weather,
and here,
and here also.

It will continue to be wet
until the latter half of the century
when we expect it to be cold also,
maybe freezing, but definitely cold.

Just back from Wales, where the weather was windy and wet. Very windy, with added rain, sleet, hail and wet snow. An exhilarating trip to Mount Snowdon with Pete. Photos are limited, because the weather just made it impossible. You can’t see the wind but there was a lot of it.

Looking back down the Miners Track.

A Wet blogger.

Not quite the trip we had planned but then you can’t expect it to work every time. It’s never personal with nature, everybody gets rained on once in a while.

The view from here.