South West holiday - the Moor

Up around 8am today, breakfast, and then off for the first walk of the day, up Bellever Tor which is just outside the hostel.

South West holiday - the Guide

Drove to Dartmoor - a harder task than it looked!  It was a drizzly morning in Dorset, but as I got into Devon everything went very grey and saturated and 'orrible.  I was driving through quite a thick fog bank at one point, and getting rather worried!  However as I got towards Exeter it ended up as just a bit spitty and even a little blue sky.
Getting onto Dartmoor is a mini challenge in itself.  Once you turn off the big roads suddenly it's all steep climbs and sudden turns, much like the Peak District, and then you pop out the top onto an expanse of moor like entering another world.  There are vast spaces, Tors everywhere you look, moor ponies (shaggier and rougher than their New Forest counterparts) and the heights were hidden in clouds.  As was Princetown, where I was meeting my walking guide Simon Dell.

South West holiday - The Sea

Today the cheap holiday was briefly derailed so I could go buy a new raincoat, the old one having finally succumbed after years of hard service and The Kinderscout Incident, after which it has never been the same.  I like the new one though, and it's a little bit smarter so it will do for work as well.

That done, I let the sat nav drive me to Burley by any number of tiny back roads.  Some lovely scenery though, and it gave the day time to turn from a misty cool morning into a day of cloud breaks, sudden sunbursts and, dare I say it, warmth.  I stripped right back down to my Tshirt.

South West holiday - The Forest

Sunday today, and it has been raining quietly but insistently all day.  Had a slow breakfast and chat with Grandad, who was doing Bible study before the morning church service.  He was full of rejoicing over the subject, as he usually is.  I was mainly full of tea and chocolate croissants.

Around 9.30, slightly later than planned, I headed off to Lyndhurst.  It seemed sensible to try that far side of the New Forest today, partly in case the rain was less there (it wasn't) and also to see if the visitor centre was open (it was).

South West holiday - The Boat

This blog is fast turning into a travel journal! I think it's because I'm doing so much paid work that the 'Fun Things I've Made' aspect of this blog isn't really needed at the moment.   I'm sure it'll pop back up soon.

At the end of the summer, in the first week of September, I took myself off on a much needed holiday. I'm trying to buy a house at the moment, so I knew it had to be as cheap as possible.  I emptied the contents of my kitchen cupboard into a cool bag, and brought along a sandwich box.  No lunches out for me!  This was also the least planned holiday I'd done in a while.  I'd had no time to look up any activities, other than where I'd be sleeping.  Instead the idea was to turn up at a location, talk to people, get hold of a map, and figure it out as I went.  In some ways this took a lot of the pressure off.

I also knew that that I'd be travelling alone.  Given that I've been very out-of-sorts lately, I wasn't sure if I'd be in the right headspace for this,  so I decided to go visiting.  The week-long trip would connect me with friends and family I don't often get to spend time with (with the bonus of being able to sleep on their spare beds and couches, saving money on accommodation).  Although in the end it turned out that my favourite location was the one where I was completely alone after all...

My first stop was in West London, where I joined my friends Matt and Eloise on their narrow boat, the Tittlemouse, travelling from Hayes to Brentford...

To be beside the seaside - North Norfolk Coastal Path part 2

Holkham to Blakeney - 10.9 miles

After Holkham the next stop is Wells-next-the-Sea, which is a small town with more facilities.  It's a walk I've done before, along the beach, but this time we struck to the path properly and found ourselves wandering down wooded lanes, behind the tall dark pine trees that this stretch is known for.  On another breezy but still sunny day, the shade was nice, and we had company!  A relay race was taking place, beginning at Hunstanton and going all the way round to Great Yarmouth over the course of a day or two.  We kept moving over to let runners pass, each wielding their barcoded baton.  We emerged at the carpark for Wells Beach and followed the sea wall back into the town.  

John captains the clinkerbill boat, so called for the Viking-style rivets in its hull.