Spain 2020

We've returned to the Costa Blanca for a while to enjoy some warmer and drier weather, again to Guardamar del Sugara and the same apartment as previous years. The locals have suffered some appalling floods in September 2019 caused by a massive release of water from a dam into the Rio Segura and also some bad coastal storms in January this year. Our cycles had been safely stored by Paul who manages the apartments and so it will be great to explore around here again. This year we're trying to reduce our emissions and don't have a car and we're returning by train/bus and ferry in April visiting Cordoba, Madrid, Bilboa and Santander staying a few days in each. We have brought lots to keep us busy, Helen with knitting for the grandchildren and I have some blanks for wood carving and with the local gym, cycling and lots of books on our kindles, we're looking forward to some relaxing time. Bex, Tony, Sam and Esmee are joining us at the end of March and we've already organised cycle hire for them. 

Part of the beach looking towards Guardamar on our second day and welcoming temperatures of 22 C.

A sign that climate change is happening, even on the Mediterranean, is the record of rainfall in January and the coastal erosion in this years storms. We've been coming here for several years and have seen the destruction of some of the cottages in front of the beach and the walkways that leave from the beach to the forest reserve.

The power of nature demonstrated on the beach north of Guardamar.

May be you can just spot the Flamingos on the Salinas at La Marina one of our favourite beach spots?

A struggling Aleppo Pine in the La Marina reserve. The trees and shrubs help to stabilise the dunes. The walkway goes through the dune field with bird hides overlooking the Salinas.

Today we caught the bus into Alicante and decided to visit the older part of town following the La Ramble (Ramble Mendez Nunez) from the Marina and turning off to the Plaza de San Cristobal and into Santa Cruz to find the narrow streets notable Calle San Rafael. We went into the Parc de l' Ereta to get great views over the city with the castle rising behind us and at one point looking over the roof of the Ermita de San Rogue. We then descended to Calle Toledo and found La Taberna de Elena to get a fresh lemon drink and watch life pass by. This street was mentioned in a guide and it does have some special murals on the wall that go alongside a little message!

On the Calle Toledo, a message asking why there are only 24 hours in a day and 60 minutes in an hour and not more time to play and dream....quite agree.

At this time of year this a relaxing area with few tourists with mainly locals going about their daily business and different from the busy streets below.

Looking along from Calle San Rafael. Don't try this if you're hot  and don't enjoy steps. 

After this we descended further to the west to Plaza de la Santisma Faz where there are lots of pleasant looking restaurants and also further along the Calle Major (car free!!) and Calle San Francisco to find the Plaza de Calvo Sotelo. I then diverted to the train station to get some "Tarjetas Dorada", a senior train pass for Renfe for our journey across Spain in April. We then stopped for lunch nearby (there are so many good eating places in the older part of the city), and went onto the beach at the east side of the Marina to enjoy the late afternoon sun (about 21 C) before heading back along the Marina front to see all the expensive boats waiting for exercise. It was interesting to see another aspect of the city and I still think we have lots more to explore on further visits.

Made another visit to Torrevieja today, this time by bus from Guardamar to see more of the centre of the city. In fact the bus station is only about 10 minutes walk from the harbour and sea front. The bus station itself is a little dated and Helen tells me the toilets were in a bad state. We walked to the "Blue Fountain" and then up to the post office for some stamps before heading to the central "Plaza de la Constitucion" were we looked around the church and sat in the pleasant square for a while, now in warm sunshine after the misty start to the day, before heading to the marina and lunch.

"Plaza de la Constitucion" in Torrevieja

Some musicians near our lunch stop at the marina. We had an accordion playing at the open air restaurant over lunch so a musical theme today.

Back in Guardamar  I did a morning walk nearby visiting the castle area (this was closed and gated) and then via the Sunday market to the riverside path leading out of town past the orange groves and vegetable plots. The other day when cycling to Las Marinas we noticed that at the point where we cycle across the river on a cause-way that water was just coming over the path. As we haven't had rain, this probably means there has been rain upstream. Anyway, although the river still looks low, the water level and flow is the highest we've seen at the time of year on any of our visits.

Olive grove viewed from the river towards Las Marinas

View of the flowing Rio Segura with the high rise apartments of Guardamar in the distance. There is still a lot of plastic debris in the reeds that has been deposited after the storms. 

A record temperature for us today at 27 C in Santa Pola. We cycled there via La Marina partly on the road and then near the reserve adjacent to the Las Salinas. We did see the flamingos in the distance. A digger was busy taking salt from the huge pile as we passed by the works to get to the start of the beach to the marina.

Looking inland at the salt heaps being excavated near Santa Pola.

The start of the Santa Pola beach from the south with the harbour in the distance. The cycle ride across the Las Salinas was easy with  little wind this time.

We then cycled to the northern end of town before returning nearer the centre for "menu del dia" (15 Euros including drinks, postre and coffee), a great meal adjacent to the beach. They were busy cleaning the beach of debris from the winter storms. It became very hot in the sun and for us like a good summers day at home. After a two hour meal we set-off for our return journey, in all about 45 km.

Fishing nets drying at the harbour, a beautiful summers day and ideal cycling on the many cycleways in the town.

We also did a similar length cycle ride to the Hondon Reserve near Catral. We followed a route we'd been before in what could be mistaken for summer sunshine at home. The path had been cleared alongside the drainage channels and made pleasant cycling all of the way to the first bird hide. On route as the footpath/cycleway crosses the Catral road, I noticed the remains of debris from the September flood.

This gives some idea of the height of the flood water. Even though we'd read about efforts to clean the plastic away from the Rio Segura, I guess in other areas there is still much to do.

We also saw the effects of the flood on the vegetation in the reserve, a clay deposit on a large area of vegetation; time will tell if this recovers over the next summer.

Looking over the lagoons from the hide towards the mountains, the area that was flooded is clearly visible. 

At the hide we saw some flamingos in the distance, possible two Marsh Harriers and some smaller birds I wasn't able to identify. Later, near the visitors centre we saw Black-Winged Stilts, Coots and many Glossy Ibis.

You do need binoculars to spot the Glossy Ibis in the distance.

After the reserve, we went on for lunch at the Bombay Restaurant in Catral and then cycled back around Dolores and through San Fulgencio back to the apartment. It is always quite challenging with a slight head-wind on the cycleway from San Fulgencia to the main road although it was less than we expected.

Tried a short walk today to Monte de las Rabonas in-land from Guardamar and just south of the Eden development. It was hot walking with a temperature of about 26 C but a wind developed later. Once across the  main N332 I found the track on the left that went fairly gently uphill to a flat area and then another track that climbed steeply to the top of the hill and long distant views to the coast and inland towards the mountains behind Callosa del Segura.

The view inland from the summit; you can just spot the Callosa range in the distance.

View towards the coast with the castle on the right of the photo, Guardamar beyond this, and the sports stadium below to the left.

This made a pleasant walk, returning by the canal and the yellow flowers of a Mimosa tree (Silver Wattle?) before the traffic of the Guardamar. I also did a similar walk but followed the Canal de Riegas de Levante, an irrigation channel from the Rio Segura. This goes south of the Eden Urbanisation and the path goes right to the end close to where the canal joins the river. I then went across some scrubland on a track that eventually met the Rojales road. I was sad to see several areas where people had dumped rubbish.

A bridge over the irrigation channel (canal) that allows access to the north side of the canal and a route to Guardamar. The path on the south side is not continuous as it ends near an industrial estate. 

Another bridge over the canal near the sluice gates that can be used to control the water flow in the canal.

We decided to try and find the caves at Rojales, "Cuevas del Rodeo de Rojales" and cycled there for coffee and then up a steep hill above the town. There are directions to the caves in town but we seemed to lose them and ended up at the college, "Colegio public Poeta Miguel Hernandez" at a car parking area at the side of the college marked as a car park for the caves. From there we got great views to the "Three Crosses" on a hill above the town that is an important locations for the Easter celebrations in Rojales. I think there are steps down to the caves from road at the rear of the college. We continued cycling down a little and found some markers for the caves down some narrower lanes. As expected, they were closed (seem to be open this time of the year on the first Sunday of the month).

The Three Crosses in Rojales taken from the college. The Callosa mountains are in the background.

The cave area in Rojales. One of the doors to the cave is shown. This location is N38.0856, W0.72352

Interesting graffiti near the caves.

From Rojales we cycled onto San Fulgencio and then for lunch in Dolores before heading back towards Guardamar on the road and a cycle path adjacent to a very long irrigation channel.

Well it is only ten days ago that we did the ride to Rojales and since then things have changed in Spain and the world with the onslaught of the Covid19 virus (Coronavirus) thought to have originated in China and now Europe is fast becoming the epicentre. The Spanish Socialist Government ordered a lock-down in all of Spain on 16 th March but in our area this effectively started on Saturday 14 th. It was a surprise as we hadn't heard until Saturday morning when I noticed a note on the internet about the beaches and parks in Guardamar were closed. We had some shopping to do so went out to see that the park was indeed closed and all the bars and shops apart from the chemist and food stores were also closed, so no morning coffee. We then decided to return for lunch and get some shopping from the local supermarket, MasyMas, that is just around the corner. There was plenty of supplies and not many people but more than we'd expect to see in normal times. Anyway, it is now the 21 st, the first day of spring, and we are on our 8 th day of lock-down. Basically we are only allowed from our apartment to get food and medical supplies. Even then, we have to go singly and keep a 2 metre separation to reduce the risk of contaminating others. We are following the advice to wash hands for 20 seconds and not touch our face with hands, particularly eyes, mouth and nose. We are fine so far and have only been out once since the beginning to get more food. It is a difficult time for everyone and we can only hope the government in the UK takes heed of what is happening in European countries.

Our days have gone quickly so far as we have lots of hobbies including reading, knitting, wood carving, keeping in contact with friends and family on the internet, cooking and various exercises including Tia Chi via a video link to our "Three Rivers" group in Dartington/Totnes not to mention keeping up with the news in Spain and the UK.  It looks as if we will cancel our trip across Spain that we have just organised and booked. This is because of the bad situation in Madrid and difficulty with bus travel and ferries, so maybe next year. We have an  air flight booked for the middle of April but I think that will be delayed for further weeks as the recovery will take longer than most politicians think but at the moment no one knows. Also tonight (22 nd March) the government announced that the lock-down here has been extended 15 days, that is until the 14 th April, the day we planned to leave! They haven't ordered a lock-down in UK yet and from what we saw on the TV tonight, a lot of people are still out walking in groups, general shopping and not heeding Johnson's vague advice. Also people who can afford it are going to their second homes in villages to sit out the storm to come and even taking RVs to northern Scotland. There is still much food shortage in many supermarkets that we haven't experience here in Spain. Only time will tell of course.

Now on Day 14 of our isolation and we are still keeping busy thanks to the internet and hobbies. Things haven't being going well here in Spain with many more deaths although there appears a slight hope that we have reached the peak of the contagion. Most of the reasons are common to other European countries, dispersal of people before the lock-down was in place, lack of protection for medical staff and the behaviour of some selfish people who are reluctant to self-isolate when asked to. In Spain's favour they did start the lock-down early and made it strict. The UK have been slow and also not strict enough on the measures for isolation. Many folk are treating it like a holiday and going to beaches and the country for walks etc. Today I spent the morning cancelling hotels for the trip to Santander and reclaiming money for our rail tickets from RENFE. This went well but we can only defer the ferry crossing and this seems to be the case with the hotels as well. We are keeping in touch with family through "WhatsApp" and telephone calls. Luckily, we can stay in the apartment as long as we need to and as we are still in the "Transition Period" in leaving the EU until the end of December there is no problem with a visa. Helen now has an Irish passport, so she is safe anyway. I went shopping once this week and they were strict with people entering. There was a manned gel station, disposable gloves and tissue wipes for the trolley. Everyone kept their 2 metre separation and the supermarket (MasyMas) seemed to be well stocked apart from sweets, I guess for the children.

Scene of our 8 pm hand clapping for the health workers. Sometimes the police go around the town with flashing lights and sirens. Tonight there was more music in a distant block.

Now on Day 21 of our lock-down in the apartment and still doing well. I've only been out of the block to empty the bins and today to get another 10 days supply of food. The supermarket was well stocked and not busy at all so that wasn't stressful and I felt quite safe. They have changed the clocks so we get light for another hour at night which makes a difference and also means we do the nightly "clap" for the essential workers in daylight. Helen is still busy knitting and I've still got a few pieces of wood to carve and doing lots of reading. We have our evening broadcast from BBC on the virus situation in the UK and it seems they are starting to take things seriously at last. The situation in Spain is still not clear as they have not yet reached the peak and seem to be having a noisy plateau but even that is encouraging as they have less ICU admissions in the hospitals. At the moment we have little idea of the future weeks as much is outside our control and we don't want to take unnecessary risks.

Finished all my wood carving, a mixture of Beech and Ash and also includes my first folding spoon (bottom in the middle) made from Beech wood. Also my first fork and some different knives and spatulas. 

Now on Day 40 of the lock-down and we're still sane and keeping busy. We've been exercising each day and have continued with Tia Chi. I do 30 minutes walk around and have managed jogging for 13 minutes with the idea of getting back to 20 minutes continuously running. It is difficult as we only have the apartment and a terrace but it is better than nothing. We are hoping we will be able to go out for a walk after 8 th May but that is not decided yet. Shopping remains easy enough with plenty on the shelves and it is never particularly busy. Helen is still knitting but also finding the exercise difficult especially after we had been doing quite a lot at the local gym before all of this kicked off. The UK Tories seem at last to be getting more organised in tackling the pandemic but have been woefully slow and we are finding it difficult to believe anything they now say. The Spanish government are ahead but the number of daily deaths seems to have steadied to about 400 (UK now 600-800 and variable) but they (like the UK) are not including the mortalities outside hospitals. Anyway, we are here for the entire month of May so a good opportunity to experience the warmer temperatures and weather. We have found April so far to be a wet month in comparison to February and March but wonder how typical this is. We are making the most of the time learning new things especially more Spanish and I'm researching more wood working topics and techniques ready for home and probably a long period of isolation in my workshop!!

Now 2nd May and Day 50 of our lock-down, but with a difference as this is the first day of stage 0 in Spain when we are allowed to take a walk! For us this means within a radius of 1 km for 1 hour between 10 and 12 pm. The temperatures have increased to late twenties and we have the sun shade down on the terrace. We did our walk through the park to the beach (but not allowed on the beach) and then around and back the same way. It was such a relief to be out and enjoying the sights in the park. It wasn't crowded and we didn't feel in danger. We also checked our cycles in the garage. Helen found the walking demanding so she will cycle tomorrow and I'll walk as two people aren't  allowed to  cycle together.

We noticed a few new flowers in the park; here is a group of "Soap Aloe" and also some "Aloe Vera" nearby but closer to the coast.

A Sisal (Agave sisalana) plant with a tall flower head developing.

Now the 17 th May and lockdown has been released further into phase 1, and from tomorrow, the whole Valencia Province will be in phase 1 so that will allow us more freedom to go north to La Marina as well as La Mata in the south. We cycled to La Mata beach for a coffee outside as most cafes that have outdoor space are serving and keeping to distancing (2 metres apart) and hygiene rules. It is now warmer with temperatures in the high twenties, so nice for walking in the morning. We can go out between 10 and 12 for one hour activity and can include a stop for a coffee so two hours in total!! Deaths in Spain have just gone below 100 for the first time since this pandemic started. UK is behind us but observing a looser lockdown so we suspect it will take longer to get the cases down.

Jacaranda Tree in blossom that I passed today on my river walk. They remind us of the tree in the garden in Rundu, Namibia. There are several in the area in blossom at the moment.

Now 25 th May and still in Phase 1 but still enjoying a morning cycle or walk, sometimes combined with a coffee or drink stop! but now we have to wear masks in public when we can't physically distance. This is my first walk along the beach a little north of the main town beach:

Well now in June (12 th today) and in Phase 2 but going to Phase 3 on Monday which means we can get away from our timetable of only going out between 10 and 12 in the mornings. We have stretched it a little with incorporating a coffee break on our cycle route and last week we have been able to go to the beach and swim, Wearing face-masks is compulsory when we can't maintain a two metre distance, so when in town and generally cycling. We have got used to the masks and wear them routinely at the moment and I don't think that will change for a good while yet. All our flights home in June have been cancelled and now we are looking at 2 July or 17 th July as possibilities so it all depends on UK and Spain reaching an agreement on transport corridors between countries. Generally we have been impressed with the regulations here, e.g. the cafes use their outside space with tables spread well apart, they offer sanitising fluids for hands, disinfect the tables and chairs and the waiters wear face masks all the time, so this is reassuring for us. Also the beaches have zones near the sea for walking with people sitting further back leaving sufficient space. This seemed to reach a limit last Sunday when we found the walking zone too crowded for our own comfort and left the beach.
We have been cycling everyday so far, to La Mata, La Marina, the Port and locally around the Fincas (near the irrigation channels inland) to the beach on the south side of Guardamar.

The beach at La Marina (10 th June) looking north to Guardamar. Can you spot Helen looking for shells in the distance?

It is now 17 June and we may leave on 2 nd July with Easy-Jet but not certain yet. Lots to do here with the beaches open and less restrictions. Since finishing my spoon and knife carving I have been making some mobiles with things we've collected from the beach, mainly shells, drift-wood and cane. I have just finished this one and have another on that I'll leave here.

Mobile made from things we collected from the beach. Many pleasant walks to collect odds and shells on the tide line.

and also made a sea horse from drift wood but will have to finish that at home where I have more tools. We are leaving tomorrow on Easy Jet flight 2nd July at 13.00 h and should be home by taxi from Bristol Airport. We're not looking forward to the flight.

It is now really hot here 32 C today and feels higher with the intense sun and no wind. The beach looked well ordered with mainly Spanish tourist. The deaths in Spain are now below 10 a day and in UK higher with over a hundred yesterday. We're not sure how things will develop but we can hardly stay here any longer, much as we like Spain. Anyway, here is a video to remind us of the days on the beach over the last couple of weeks:

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Now 9 th July and we have been home one week in isolation and both feeling fine so maybe we have escaped the virus this time. In fact the EasyJet flight felt safe with only about 20 of us onboard.  Alicante airport was not busy and we did manage a cup of coffee in one of the few spaced cafes. Bristol airport was also fine although we immediately noticed lots of people not wearing masks. We got a taxi home so here for teatime. Our cycles have gone into storage ready for our next trip in February next year, hopefully in a virus free Europe.

A reminder of all the walks along the seafront gathering bits to glue on the terrace. Now installed on our arbor at home.

Visits to Clapham and Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales

We had a few days in Lancaster visiting Em and joining Bex, Sam and Esmee to move Emily's canal boat and visit the dales.
Our first trip was to Clapham village we reached by taking the Northern Line train to Leeds from Morecambe stopping at Lancaster and varies stations along the route including Clapham and Skipton. The station at Clapham is about a twenty minute walk from village but on a pavement alongside a quiet road. We left the road to take "The Green Track" alongside Clapham Beck to reach the centre of the village and a café, the Clapham Café and Bunkhouse.. The bunkhouse is open all of the year and its position makes it a great base to see the area. 

We decided to do a walk towards Ingleborough Cave along the Ingleborough Estate Nature trail. The entrance fee to the estate is one pound and leads to a well-made gravel track through old beech woodland alongside the beck. It was a beautiful autumn day with a clear sky and low chance of rain.

Autumn colours alongside the track

Helen by an old Yew tree straddling the bank.

Waterfall from the artificial lake

The path gets closer to the beck with a view of a waterfall at the southern end of a lake. There are splendid views through the woodland with many large beech trees and mixture of yew, holly, oak and birch. The path soon reaches the cave that you can tour, but we didn't and continued north-east along the track to Trow Gill, a narrow ravine leading after a short climb to Clapham Bottoms (about 330 m altitude).

Large Hawthorn trees near the entrance to the cave with lots of red berries, a sign of a hard winter to come. I hade noticed lots of large Hawthorns with berries on my Dartmoor walk.

The track to Trow Gill

View over to the Ingleborough Hills (Little Ingleborough, 637 m). The footpath to the peaks goes through the gate and then gently ascends.

We followed the track over rough ground towards Gaping Gill but turned on another footpath to follow the east side of the valley and then uphill to the "Long Lane" back towards Clapham village.

Path from the valley to "Long Lane".

We had a late afternoon tea at "Grace Organics" a small horticultural group on the edge of Clapham, Emily had volunteered here so it was good to see around and see what was growing in the greenhouses.
The following day we went by train to Skipton in Yorkshire, a little further on the same train line. We had been to Skipton some years ago and remembered the market in the high street and difficulty parking. Anyway, on this visit we had no such problems. Again the train station is away from the centre but only a ten minute walk. There are plenty of places to get coffee and food in the centre and it was not too busy as there was no market.
The weather was not brilliant with overcast conditions and a threat of rain. Our first visit was to the castle which is at the top of the high street. This is probably the most intact castle that we'd visited and you felt a real sense of what it must have been like although I struggled understanding how a garrison of 300 could have lived there during the three year siege during the civil war. The castle was  a loyalist stronghold but eventually Cromwell got his way and the roof was removed. After it's restoration in 1659, a Yew tree was planted in the forecourt to celebrate. Three hundred and sixty years later it still stands proud and healthy, reaching to the sky between the forecourt walls.

The steep North Wall of the castle viewed from the moat on the riverside walk.

Near the entrance to Skipton Castle Woods.

After returning to town for lunch we made our way to Skipton Castle Woods. We followed well marked routes, firstly on the river valley route passing beneath the castle walls, and then on the upper path extension through the beech woods to descend to the stream. We then ascended  the east side of the valley past some old coppiced lime trees returning to "Round Dam" and on high ground to the  car park and into town again. We liked the willow sculptures (there is a horse sculpture on the high level route) and the old mixed woodland of beech, oak, ash, lime, chestnut sycamore, aspen to name a few. This woodland during earlier times would have been a hive of activity providing timber, charcoal and woodland products for households and the estate in general. There were also quarries for the masons.

A small woodland stream on it's way past the "Round Dam"

We returned to Lancaster and the following day hired cycles to do a circular ride north along the canal to the locks at the end near Tewitfield and by minor roads back to the centre stopping on route for lunch. The roads were not busy but I'm afraid we got drenched in the afternoon rain. The area is good for cycling with cycle tracks in the city and minor roads with less traffic going into the Yorkshire Dales. We look forward  to exploring more on future visits. 

A walk across Dartmoor, the Two Moors Way...Ivybridge to Morchard Road

The "Two Moors Way" (MW) is a long-distance footpath from Ivybridge just north of Plymouth to Lynmouth on the north coast of Devon. The total length is 164 km but I decided to walk it in two sections from Ivybridge to Morchard Road (90 km) and then later from Lynmouth to Morchard Road. Although Morchard Road (a small village) is over halfway, it is convenient both for accommodation ("The Devonshire Dumpling" pub) and bus and rail connection. It has a good rail connection to Exeter with trains about every hour. I used OL28 OS Explorer and 191 Landranger maps (and compass) and also the Devon County Council Guide. The later is useful for general logistics and description on the moors. In lowland areas the guide refers you to way-markers that are generally good but a map is useful and essential on the moor itself. I had a small mountain tent with essential equipment that I used for three nights and the last night I stayed in the "The Devonshire Dumpling" before joining the Climate March in Exeter on the last day.

I got the regular bus from Dartington to Ivybridge (on MW ) and walked uphill on a farm track to enter  Harford Moor. 

One of the first way-marker stones I noticed on Harford Moor at the beginning of the walk. A " MW" with an arrow.

On the moor the route firstly follows an old tramway for a few kilometres and this gave reasonable views with the occasional fog bank rolling in. I stopped for lunch at an old clay pit at the side of the track and then continued to Crossways where the route leaves the tramway.

Tramway and Belted Galloway cattle in the distance. Lots of cattle and sheep on the moor.

Two Moors Stone at Crossways where the MW heads over open moorland.

Although the guide directs you to follow the path uphill, there are now two distinct paths uphill. The one to follow is the most northerly towards a marker stone on the brow of the hill. The other goes towards the clay workings. I found that because of the cattle and sheep on the moor, the footpaths are difficult to follow and a map and compass are the best options together with any land marks such a cairns, streams or burial mounds. On this occasion I used land marks and compass bearings to cross the hill and descend by a direct route to a clapper bridge over the river Avon.

The clapper bridge over the river Avon

Here I met a couple of hikers making their way off the moor to Buckfastliegh on the Abbott's Way. In fact these were the only long distance walkers I met on the route. I filtered some water and took another break here. Because of the numerous animals on the moor, I filtered and also added chlorine tablets to my water and always chose running water supplies.

The next bit of the path was tricky because although the MW skirts along the north side of the river to Huntingdon Cross, the path seems to get into bogs so I took to higher ground to regain the bankside path a little later on drier ground. The crossing of  Western Wella Brock as been made easy with a clapper bridge (dated 2018). 

Hickaton Hill; enclosed hut group shortly after Huntington Cross

After another hill I started the descent to the river Mardie and Chalk Ford. Before the descent I chose a spot to camp to give views to the coast, made dinner and had a good nights sleep waking to a heavy dew on the tent. It is never pleasant to pack a wet tent but the sun was slow to rise and I was soon on my way to a footbridge (and water refill) to skirt around Scorriton Down to Scorriton and then up a very steep cobbled lane to Holne. The tearoom doesn't open in the autumn or winter but there is a volunteer village shop open at 11 pm that enabled me to get supplies. From then on it was a great walk down to the Dart valley and along the river Dart in the hot sunshine.

Alongside the river Dart before the climb to Aish Tor.

From here it was a moderate climb to Leigh Tor and onto Dr Blackall's Drive, a wider path skirting the peaks and giving great view of the Dart valley in the sunshine. The path eventually gets to a road crossing at Bel Tor Corner although I found the way-markers confusing at the end, in fact I ignored the last one and kept NE to the road. The path then goes across open moor again but there are many tracks so I headed N to NE keeping the cottages to my right to meet the road to Ponsworthy. Before the main part of the village the MW follows a path with the stream to the right (more water supply) and on to the road to Widecombe. I had already visited Widecombe and didn't need supplies so I stayed on the main MW to gain higher ground across Hamel Down. I didn't see a sign marking the MW off road after Dockwell but made my best guess heading north and then north east onto the Down. I think the actual path is bordered by gorse bushes and is a gentle uphill until the last section onto the main Down close to Hamel Down Beacon. Even though it was a sunny afternoon, the moorland did look bleak with the burial mounds and cairns the only real landmarks. 

View from Hamel Down

Grimspound , apparently one of the best preserved Bronze Age settlements on Dartmoor. Also used as a sheep pen ??

I decided to camp on lower ground after Hockney Tor but before Chagford Common and made another dew laden start crossing to Chagford Common towards Fernworthy.  After climbing to the Common, the obvious northerly path is a footpath on the OS map but not marked as the MW route which was marked a little to the west. It is best to stick with the obvious path north that meets the MW route further on. My best advice is to head north through the Common until you can see the corner fence line. If you go off route the going can get tough with marsh and uneven ground.

View north over Chagford Common ...just tramp north!

The route then took to low ground but still with some steep Devon hills going through Teignworthy and Teigncombe. I took the deviation to Chagford for supplies and a real coffee and rejoined at Rushford bridge (only adding a couple of kilometres to the route). 

The next stage was along the river Teign through the grounds of Castle Drogo by "The Hunters Path" and then into Drewsteignton for lunch at the "Drewe Arms".

Hunters Path around Castle Drogo

The weather was still brilliant and it was an easy walk to the boundary of the park and then on a long stretch of single track road through small hamlets and villages to reach another farm road to Newbury. On route I passed a memorial stone to Joe Turner who was one of the founders of the MW.

Memorial stone to Joe Turner

Soon I reached an amazing holloway on route to Helmoors Down and an idyllic camping spot on common land in a clearing along the holloway. I was able to prepare dinner as the sun shone though from the west and breakfast in the sun in the morning.

My last night of camping as the sun dries my gear.

The last section from West Wotton farm to Morchard Road I didn't enjoy so much as it was mainly through farmland with the MW often going between electric fences and hedge boundaries with odd deviations around farm buildings that made you feel distinctly unwelcome. At one point I needed a compass to get through a dense herd of dairy cows so cramped in I couldn't see a field boundary. I also noticed in this section piles of Ash tree trunks that presumably had to be felled because of ash dieback.

After a night at Morchard Road, I almost caught the bus to Exeter but it didn't stop at the pub as expected so I got the train from the nearby station and joined family in Exeter on the school march on climate change.

Overall I was lucky with the good weather particularly on the higher moor and the gradients are very modest. In the valleys the route is well marked and easy to follow. I found the moor itself rather stark and although some people describe it as "wild" I'm afraid I take the opposite view and think of it as a denunded landscape spoiled by human activity.  It now certainly appears overgrazed with all the cattle, sheep and I wish the park management would ease the commercial pressures and allow some of the moor to go back to nature; it will take a long time!