Wednesday May 17th


Saying goodbye to Marie, walking to Crimp

and puppies



sue
Sue, mother of the puppies

paris
Paris (short for Parisienne)
puppies
Marie brought the puppies in from the barn so that I could photograph them. They are gun-dogs, bred for sale, and there are two still unsold.
puppy

A puppy.
puppies
The puppies, with a turbine visible through the window


turbines
At twelve, I said goodbye to Marie, who had been so kind. I had also learnt a lot about her fight to stop the turbines, and will write more about this when I have a moment.
turbines
I stopped at the gate near Stowford Cross to look at the turbines again.
turbines
In this photo you can see telegraph poles in the hedge on the left below the turbines. The dominate so much that you lose your sense of scale.


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Walk from Forrest Moor to Eastcott (near Crimp site)




stowford cross
The sign at Stowford Cross
turbines
As I walked on, I looked back occasionally.
The following photos may be out of order, but correct locations will be added later.
bluebells
Bluebell woods in the valleys.

road
Tis was another delightful walk, despite gathering clouds, up and down hills and into wooded valleys
road
woods
More woods, very atmospheric.
Again, as you can see, there was no traffic at all on the road.
The area of search and the area of darkest nights are the same areas - the areas of roads where you can still walk safely, areas of unspoilt country, where nature can still breathe unmolested.
To industrialise these areas is environmental vandalism.
cross
cornwall
The Cornish border. Although this walk is about Devon, I took a small detour across the border to visit the site known as Crimp. If turbines are built here they will so close to the border that they will affect Devon as well. The Forrest Moor turbines are visible from the Crimp area.
Eastcott
Tis is the sign saying Eastcott. Yet again, I went from one kind host to another. Pete and Sue Wright put me and they gave me a wonderful welcome, first hot soup and rolls, then a long soak in a hot radox bath, with a glass of whisky!
Marie this time chauffered the camera etc onwards, and it was great to see her again so soon.
My plan of walking to the coast had to be abandoned because there was a torrential downpour, but  after six it brightened, and Pete took me down to Welcombe by car. We think we saw the site of George West`s painting - maybe he can tell me if we were right.
The photos below are of the clliffs near Welcombe Beach (left) and a further costal view from above the cliffs (right)
Back at Sue`s we had a chicken casserole (it would be good to have the recipe, it had apple in it, and I had two helpings) and lemon meringue pie.
welcombe
In the evening, some members of the group fighting the turbines came round. A lot of wine was drunk (too much by me!) and I learnt more about the turbine proposal.  If this proposal is passed it it possible the wind farm could be extended and become larger, on land that stretches as far as Meddon.
More information will be posted about all this when I finish the walk.
coast
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