Witheridge Church.
We started the walk here, in Witheridge. In 2006 I had to hobble the last two miles from Rose Ash to Witheridge after a badly sprained ankle. At that time, there were no proposed wind farm sites in the beautiful countryside around this village, but now there is one at Pilliven Farm, about a mile from the church. Link to walk from Rose Ash to Witheridge, and more about that site.
.The page about the walk from Rose Ash to Witheridge has many more photos of Witheridge, which is one of my most favourite Devon villages. A few years ago, I had an Exhibition in the Angel of Witheridge, a friendly pub just across the road from the church, and you can see photos of that too. This day, we did not stop long, but began our walk by taking this interesting little lane that led off the Square
You could call this the the suburbs of Witheridge, just down the lane and at the edge of a field. Henry found that his camera batteries had gone flat, and I waited here while he nipped back to the village shop for some new ones.
The Two Moors Way is a wonderful long distance footpath, that goes from Lynmouth in the North, through Exmoor all the way down to Dartmoor and the South coast. This photo was taken looking back at Exmoor, when we were still quite close to Witheridge.
The Two Moors Way - winding through rural Devon.
Photo on the right: Henry spotted this strange tree....really a mobile phone mast... if only wind turbines were this small and discreet (and actually fulfilled their purpose as well)
Henry tried to avoid a big cowpat and slipped on a smaller one
I lost my map around here, so it isn`t very easy to remember the names of all the places that we went through..This church on the left is in a small village called Washford Pyne
Here we were mobbed by hens on the Two Moors Way, not too far from Washford Pyne. We had to go through a farm, and all these hens came out to meet us... it was a strange experience.
Perhaps they thought we had food for them, but they seemed to want to come on the walk with us. Henry`s camera records videos, if he still has a copy and I knew how to do it, maybe I will be able to add the clucking.
Further on towards Black Dog we met more happy looking animals, frolicking in an old-fashioned and unspoilt rural landscape.
In these quiet places all the animals that you meet on your journey look at you with interest.
In case you are still following multimap, you are here
This horse was grazing in a field just beside the Two Moors Way, on the other side of the track from Orchard End Kennels, near Black Dog. Wherever I go on these walk, I seem to see white horses, but in this case, I would have to describe him (or was it a her? My memory fails me on this point) as a grey.
Approaching Morchard Bishop, with
Dartmoor ahead in the distance. ( link to
multimap - remember to click on aerial)
Getting closer to Morchard Bishop.
In the churchyard. The booklet about the Two Moors Way said that you could buy refreshments in the village, but everything was closed this Saturday afternoon...
The shop was shut... we had been so looking forward to buying ourselves something to eat and drink.
I meant to set this page up not long after the walk, but events got in the way, and the fact that I dropped my map does not help.
I am fairly sure we saw these horses shortly after Morchard Bishop. As I said earlier, I so often see white horses on my walks against wind farms that they seem symbolic. The first ever painting that I did on the subject was a white horse by Fullabrook Down.
After quite a way, we came out onto a small road, by a couple of houses. This cat in the photo below was sitting alone outside the bungalow and looked at us with interest.
We went slightly wrong as we neared the main road and the railway line, at a place called - I think - Slade.
For the first time on the walk we could hear the sound of traffic.
We crossed a bridge over the railway track. This is the Tarka Line between Barnstaple and Exeter. We were briefly back in the modern world of cars and traffic.
We crossed the road, and walked away from the noise, up a hill towards a village called Down St. Mary. (multimap)
Beyond the village, we stopped to look at this view, so peaceful and pastoral. The road led us towards a Winery and we had fantasies about getting a drink there. no such luck, it too was shut, but then wine is dehydrating anyway, we consoled ourselves.
Beyond the Winery, we took a new trail. Near the beginning we passed this interesting barn. I can`t remember the name of this section of footpath, but it was very well-marked and attractive.
This little bridge is in the wooded valley somewhere to the south east of Zeal Monachorum
I have just discovered that I can do a free link to the multimap page
and on the Aerial page you can see the woody valley that we walked through. In fact you can folow the whole walk, so I must add more links when I get some time.
When we reached this sign post, we were nearly back at North Tawton, only a mile or so to Nichols Nymet House, home of Paul and Muriel Goodman, who were putting us up for the weekend.
Looking towards Dartmoor, towards the turbine site.
A cottage
Finally we arrived back at Nichols Nymett House, the home of Paul and Muriel Goodman, seen here in this photo with their children Emma and Charles, and Paul`s mother Diana.
More coming here...
Sunday morning Herny caught the bus to Exeter and train to London, while I walked to North Tawton and caught the 315 Stagecoach bus back to Barnstaple.
A cat on the churchyard wall.
North Tawton Church
(multimap again)
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