May 21st - May 26th
May 21st Joanne Bell, on a sunnier day  My painting of the view from Fremington Quay  With Nick Harvey, looking across at the Fullabrook Wind Farm Site hills |
Bideford
to Barnstaple Back to Bideford by double-decker bus (No2). Joanne Bell (North DevonFriends of the Earth) gallantly braved the rain and joined me on the bus. Joane was once also a member of the North Devon Green Party but resigned because of their policy of supporting wind farms. She is very concerned about the numbers of birds killed by wind turbines. She walked with me along the Tarka Trail from Bideford as far as the Yelland Power Station, where she turned off towards her home. This was a busy day for meeting people! After days of walking on my own, who should come long next but a great friend of mine (we have known one another since 1970), Lyn Billington and her daughter Gayle, on bicycles. They cycled with me some of the way. Lyn and I were both once members of the Aldershot Farnham and District Ahtletic Club, and she was a World Veteran`s Marathon Champion. It rained so much I couldn`t take photos of her, Gayle, Joanne or the early part of the walk, but I will go back when the walk is finished to take some then. At Fremington Quay, I was able to take break in the warm at the Cafe there, having a cup of tea with Jane Faust (Two Moors Way Campaign). We then met Alex Tutton from the Roundswell and Sticklepath News, and Nick Harvey, our local North Devon MP, who came to give me his support. Read more about this here.. The rain stopped just in time for us to take some photos, and I then walked the rest of the way in glorious sunshine, to Barnstaple then along the other side of the estuary to my home in Bradiford. |
May 22nd |
Unforeseen circumstances meant
that I couldn`t after all get to Bratton
Fleming as planned, but I will visit it after the end of the
walk. This is a painting of the little bridge at Luscott Barton.
Today I have been walking vicariously too, and uploading the website
non-stop, with hundreds of photos to download and rename and resize. Link to the site fighting turbines on the hills between Braunton and Ifracombe, www.cawt.org.uk |
May 23rd |
A
painting by Reg Gale (Art Trek
artist) of the lake at Little Comfort
farm, just below Fullabrook Down. I met the CAWT group - and Reg Gale -
at a reception up on the hills not far from the place where I am
photographed on the Home Page. Today the Salar 15 th Anniversary Exhibition opens at Salar Gallery in Hatherleigh. Celebrating Tarka Country. Paintings, photography, poems & 3-D on rivers, estuaries, grassland, wildlife, including work from Ken Hildrew, Jen Bryant and Peach & Bill Shaw. Exhibition runs from May 23 - July 4. I have three paintings in the Exhibition as well, and I will be visiting the Gallery later on during the walk. www.salargallery.co.uk. |
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Deep in the Search AreaOff to South Molton on the 11.05 bus (no 346). At South Molton I called in at Widgery Studios to see Stella Levy, this year`s Art Trek organiser. Stella is a photographer, and she has given me one of her images for the Artists Against Wind Farms website. As well as giving me a cup of tea, and plenty of encouragement, she gave me a big stack of Art Trek leaflets to distribute on the way. Yet again, I was glad that so many wind farm campaigners were helping me to do a "Cameron" by chauffeuring my belongings forward. In this case it was Valerie Wray from the Two Moors Way Campaign who arrived to pick up my belongings ( and the leaflets) before I started walking. I had met Valerie and her husband John in March when I helped them collect signatures for a petition against the turbines at Batsworthy Cross. They had very kindly offered to put me up while I was in the area. It wasn`t a bad day, I thought, as I started walking through South Molton, quite a relief because I didn`t yet feel on top form after Monday`s sore throat and slight cold. No sooner had I thought this than it quite typically began to rain. Up went the brolly, and I walked on up the hill beyond the town. I had decided to take a small road that branched off on the right, and once I was on it, and away from the busier main road, I was back in that quieter Devon that I have been walking through most of the time - the area of search and the area of darkness, the area of unspoilt countryside. Despite the rain, I could tell it was beautiful countryside. It was subtly different from the countryside I had been in up until then: perhaps more fertile, with richer soil in the valleys. There were horse chestnuts in bloom. We were higher up too than in West Devon, closer to Exmoor. The road wound down over a small bridge, and up a wooded hill towards Bishops Nympton. I stopped once or twice to take photographs, but it was difficult with the rain, I couldn`t hold the umbrella and use the camera at the same time. At the top of the hill I was in the open, and then - of course - the rain became seriously heavy. and I became quite wet. I plodded steadily on: I wasn`t in last week`s form and my legs felt heavy, but as the rain eased once more it was a pleasure to look around at the rolling countryside. I still have a vivid mental picture of a cow with her calf in a field near a small bridge, the hedge white with cow parsley, the trees weighed down with May blossom. The little road beyond wound upwards towards Bishops Nympton church on the skyline, and I was reminded of the Shire in the Lord of the Rings. This charming countryside could have been Hobbit land, and I felt as if the threatening turbines were like those lumbering orc machines that came out from Mordor. Bishps Nympton looked to be a lived-in village. There were people around, for the first time since South Molton. It didn`t take long to walk through the village, then I took the road towards Rose Ash that went up Quince Hill. With such lovely names it had to be lovely countryside, and it was. The rain eased quite a bit, so that I could properly enjoy it. The flowers on the banks were subtly different too from those of last week: purple vetch, mauve clover flowers, and buttercups in profusion, some fields looking golden from a distance. Somewhere going up Quince Hill I saw a hen beside the road. She was sitting quite still, looking rather odd, then I realised her feathers were fluffed out because she had a brood of chicks. One came out, and looked at me. I took a photo, and hope it will have come out OK (I can`t read my flash card yet). At the top of the hill, I called Valerie. She said she would walk to meet me. I told her to make sure she brought her umbrella: it was raining heavily again. We met at Rose Ash itself, and walked together in the downpour to their house, where they made me comfortable and dry and fed me magnificently. We had melon, a marvellous dish of white fish with prawns and new potatoes, vegetables and garlic bread, and a delicious fruit salad. John had said once that he painted a little... in a modest way. His paintings were amazing... I photographed them, and will put them online as soon as I can. Link to page about this walk |
May 25th My painting - a pastel sketch  John Wray loading up  Everyone at work in the hall  The children had a good time  In the right corner - Npower representatives eating carrot cake  The big picture |
Batsworthy Cross .... The Big Art Challenge at Rose Ash Village HallFor once the weather was beautiful - perfect walking weather - but I didn`t have time to walk at all. The whole day was taken up with the event. We went early up to the Hall, making several trips. The event was based loosely on the "Big Draw" Event that Rolf Harris did at Parliament Square. John had built a large stand that divided into four sections so that it could be carried by car and then erected in the hall. The front was divided into 36 carefully measure squares, to correspond with a squared up version of my painting of Batsworthy Cross. It is complicated to explain in a hurry - the photos will be better. They had sent an image of the painting to a printers and produced several copies in various sizes for reference. Each person who came to paint would be given a square to work, and when it was finished it would be stapled to the board in the correct position until they were all completed. There was a curtain in front ot the giant artwork to conceal until it was ready for display. Valerie had also baked cakes. There would be tea and coffee and juice, and some bubbly for the moment when the curtain was to be drawn. Everything was beautifully organised and prepared, and when the set up was complete we went back to the house for some lunch and a short break before returning for the afternoon. It was great fun. There were people of all ages, from elderly to young mothers with small children. Many of them said at first that they couldn`t paint, but they took amazing care with their squares. Even those who chose a square of blue sky (because it looked easy) spent ages doing it, discovering touches of other colours in the blue that they hadn`t expected to be there, and looking for ways to reproduce the texture of the original pastel despite the fact they were using liquid poster colour, a very different medium. Caroline and Neil Harvey did the raffle, Valerie and a lady called Dorothy were mainly doing the teas, while John and I doled out the paper and paints. Time flew, and there was a real buzz of enthusiasm in the Hall. One thing no one had expected was that the Wind Energy Company Npower would come to support us! Simon Holt (from Reading I believe) turned up with another man, and they stayed for quite some time, having tea and apparently very much enjoying Valerie`s carrot cake. They even bought some raffle tickets as well, perhaps hoping to win one of the best prizes, some energy saving light bulbs. I was hoping they would come over to speak to me (in my Country Guardian polo shirt, with its Clean and Green symbol) but they didn`t. It was quite a mystery why they came along, but rumour has it that they left sporting a "NO to Wind Turbines at Batsworthy Cross" sticker on the back of their car. Finally, at 7.30, the Press (from Tiverton) arrived, the bubbly was poured out, and Ashley Gray and I pulled the curtain to reveal the masterpiece. It looked fantastic - as the original was my painting I can be allowed to say I like the new version better. We will be bringing it to the Plough as part of the Artists Against Wind Turbines Exhibition in the Meeting Room so you will be able to decide for yourself. It had been a fantastic day, and everyone helped with the packing up so that it didn`t take half as long as it had taken to set it all up. I found another artist for the website, Jill Cronk, who brought round some paintings for me to photograph, and by 9.30 pm we were sitting down in Valerie and John`s dining room having another wonderful meal, lasagne this time, with chocolate cake for desert. www.twomoorscampaign.co.uk |
May 26th I couldn`t take many photos because of the rain, but I was impressed with the number of posters everywhere  A tree fell across the road shortly after I passed by, nearly dragging down an electricity cable. It was very wet and windy!  Witheridge Church  Resting my ankle on Jane`s sofa |
Catastrophe!It was raining again. The plan for the day was to walk to Witheridge, then be brought back to John and Valerie`s again for one last night. I had been looking forward to this day, especially because for the first time I would be on the actual Two Moors Way. I set off at about eleven. If it was raining before I left, it was raining even more heavily once I was nearing Batsworthy Cross. And it was very windy too. I was high up in the open, with the wind roaring in my ears when my mobile rang. It made me think of Father Ted, who used to call his friend at all the wrong moments, so that he (the friend) would miss a turn, and drive off a cliff, or something similar. I managed to get my mobile out of my pocket to say hello. It was Henry Lewis, from London. "Hello," he said "Where are you?" I told him and asked if he could hear the wind roaring. He said he could. He said all this bad weather only enhanced my walk, demonstrating my determination to continue despite all difficulties. That was an interesting thought. He also said that the show was coming on really well, and the actors were brilliant. "It`s great what you are doing" he said, "You must keep it up after this is over.... go on to other places." "That`s a good idea" I said, thinking of Scotland, and Wales, and all the other places that are threatened, like the Essex Marshes. He said goodbye, and I walked on, cheered up despite the rain. I could see myself walking on like this for years. Then I fell over and twisted my ankle and wondered if I could make it another few yards. And just to help matters, when I tried my mobile it said "No network coverage." Suddenly the fact that there was never any traffic on these tiny little roads didn`t seem quite such a good thing after all. In fact it was, because having to hobble along it gradually became easier, and in the end I did make it to Witheridge, despite rain, ankle and a lucky escape from a tree that fell over the road. The Angel of Witheridge is a pub that welcomes walkers - it has a sign saying this in the doorway, which was very reassuring, as following my fall, I was not only wet but muddy as well. Several years before I had an Exhibition in the Angel, with twenty paintings that stayed there for about ten days. It was put on by Beaford Arts as part of the Beaford Arts Touring Scheme, and I got to know the village well, and to like it very much. Witheridge is what I would call a real village, with thriving shops and pubs and community life, and it is set in some beautiful countryside. The painting on the left is of Witheridge Church from the Two Moors Way that passes through the village - I did it for the Exhibition. I also got to know Ella Gheiss who runs the Pub, with her parents, so it was nice to see her again, and have a cup of tea there. Jane Faust from the Two Moors Way Campaign (who had come to Fremington Quay) came to pick me up. She had wanted to show me some other parts of Creacombe and the neighbourhood, but once again the rain was too heavy,. so we went back to her place for tea and toast. By then my ankle had swollen badly, and I spent some time with it in a bucket of cold water, which seemed to help. She took me back, and was invited to stay to supper as well by Valerie. We had soup, and something else that was delicious (I will remember later what it was) and debated the next day`s walk. By then my ankle was so swollen I could barely stand on it, so it didn`t look good. Would I have to abandon the walk.......? Back |
