LEJOG day 9: Bridestowe to Spreyton
I spent a good part of this afternoon really very cross with a range of individuals, committees, people and animals. But we'll get to that in a moment.
Yesterday I had a much-needed and thoroughly appreciated day off, which I spent in Okehampton while the hostess did my laundry for me. I had a poke around the supermarkets on a hunt for travel wash to assist in the sink-laundry, with no joy; then I paid £4 for admission to the Museum of Dartmoor life because I was too embarrassed to back out when I realised it wasn't free. Like all small museums, there were some alarmingly unlifelike wax models frozen in the act of carrying out various Olde Worlde tasks, and some borderline informative videos, but also a reasonable display and it passed the time. Not sure I'll be hanging onto the card to allow me to return any time in the next year for free, though. It did give me a discount to look around the ruins of Okehampton Castle, which was good as otherwise it would have been even more expensive than Launceston- and if you recall, I refused to look around there. Ruined castles in Wales don't have the cheek to charge for a look around.
After I'd made my way back to the B&B I had a phonecall from Maren and Arne, who I sadly just missed arriving in Okehampton so we didn't quite make it to have a cup of coffee - although they wished me well and advised me to avoid the Granite Way, which is all tarmac.
I ignored this advice (sorry!) because although tarmac is hard on the feet, I had a lot of miles to cover and you can race along tarmac very easily- plus there's no looking for the next waymarker when it's just a straight cycle path for 7 miles. I whizzed (...sort of) back to Okehampton, bought myself some lunch in Waitrose and set off on the Tarka trail.
Now, the whole point of planning parts of this walk along the green-diamond trails is that they're easy to follow, generally. They have waymarkers, written instructions, and because lots of people walk along them the paths are clear. The whole point.
This is where we come to my afternoon of anger. The Tarka Trail severely let me down. Essentially what happened was I found the Okehampton end of the Trail, followed it quite happily into a valley and then was unceremoniously dumped onto the edge of Dartmoor at the bottom of a stack of contour lines and didn't see another waymarker for quite literally miles. On top of which, what otter in its right mind would go as far from a body of water as this trail did I do not know. The real last straw was just after my lunch in Belstone (where I had a pasty and chips in a pub, callously ignoring the contents of my backpack), when in order to find the darn trail again I had to walk along with my GPS out. I then scrambled along over the granite for what felt like far too long, still without a single indication that I was on the right track, and finally totally gave up in a huff when I realised there was a perfectly serviceable road going to the same place just up the slope.
So, I was cross with the following:
Henry Williamson- without whom no one would ever have thought of this trail, and quite apart from that because the book, which I am trying to re-read, is interminably dull and lacking in verbs;
Tarka - just in case any of the Trail I did walk actually was his adventures
The committee who designed the Trail - because they seem responsible in some way
Devon County Council- because they've otherwise been so good at marking footpaths and completely dropped the ball on this one
Once I got off the Trail, it was all roads and well-marked footpaths, and my hosts endeared themselves to me by offering, immediately on my arrival, the bath in their own bathroom, and to do any laundry for me. Wonderful people!
If you find you have a desire to donate some money to charity, how about:
The Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity (SANDS)
Bliss
The Natural History Museum
Any of these cost-effective, underfunded charities improving health in less fortunate parts of the world
Distance walked: 17.61 miles
Time taken: 6h20
Percentage completed: 12.1%
Boot cost per mile: £0.45
Lunch: lamb and mint pasty and a giant pile of chips; I completely ignored the two lettuce leaves and wedge tomato by the side, though
Last (two) nights' B&B: The Knole Farm, Bridestowe: lovely cosy room, good breakfast, and she did my laundry for me
Someone's house in some village I walked through, I don't even remember which one but I think the one with five pubs
Okehampton Castle - don't know why these have come up in a funny order but I'm on my phone so I'm not trying to fix it
Windows
A view of Dartmoor
A view, not of Dartmoor
I don't believe any otter ever came all the way up here
Yesterday I had a much-needed and thoroughly appreciated day off, which I spent in Okehampton while the hostess did my laundry for me. I had a poke around the supermarkets on a hunt for travel wash to assist in the sink-laundry, with no joy; then I paid £4 for admission to the Museum of Dartmoor life because I was too embarrassed to back out when I realised it wasn't free. Like all small museums, there were some alarmingly unlifelike wax models frozen in the act of carrying out various Olde Worlde tasks, and some borderline informative videos, but also a reasonable display and it passed the time. Not sure I'll be hanging onto the card to allow me to return any time in the next year for free, though. It did give me a discount to look around the ruins of Okehampton Castle, which was good as otherwise it would have been even more expensive than Launceston- and if you recall, I refused to look around there. Ruined castles in Wales don't have the cheek to charge for a look around.
After I'd made my way back to the B&B I had a phonecall from Maren and Arne, who I sadly just missed arriving in Okehampton so we didn't quite make it to have a cup of coffee - although they wished me well and advised me to avoid the Granite Way, which is all tarmac.
I ignored this advice (sorry!) because although tarmac is hard on the feet, I had a lot of miles to cover and you can race along tarmac very easily- plus there's no looking for the next waymarker when it's just a straight cycle path for 7 miles. I whizzed (...sort of) back to Okehampton, bought myself some lunch in Waitrose and set off on the Tarka trail.
Now, the whole point of planning parts of this walk along the green-diamond trails is that they're easy to follow, generally. They have waymarkers, written instructions, and because lots of people walk along them the paths are clear. The whole point.
This is where we come to my afternoon of anger. The Tarka Trail severely let me down. Essentially what happened was I found the Okehampton end of the Trail, followed it quite happily into a valley and then was unceremoniously dumped onto the edge of Dartmoor at the bottom of a stack of contour lines and didn't see another waymarker for quite literally miles. On top of which, what otter in its right mind would go as far from a body of water as this trail did I do not know. The real last straw was just after my lunch in Belstone (where I had a pasty and chips in a pub, callously ignoring the contents of my backpack), when in order to find the darn trail again I had to walk along with my GPS out. I then scrambled along over the granite for what felt like far too long, still without a single indication that I was on the right track, and finally totally gave up in a huff when I realised there was a perfectly serviceable road going to the same place just up the slope.
So, I was cross with the following:
Henry Williamson- without whom no one would ever have thought of this trail, and quite apart from that because the book, which I am trying to re-read, is interminably dull and lacking in verbs;
Tarka - just in case any of the Trail I did walk actually was his adventures
The committee who designed the Trail - because they seem responsible in some way
Devon County Council- because they've otherwise been so good at marking footpaths and completely dropped the ball on this one
Once I got off the Trail, it was all roads and well-marked footpaths, and my hosts endeared themselves to me by offering, immediately on my arrival, the bath in their own bathroom, and to do any laundry for me. Wonderful people!
If you find you have a desire to donate some money to charity, how about:
The Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity (SANDS)
Bliss
The Natural History Museum
Any of these cost-effective, underfunded charities improving health in less fortunate parts of the world
Distance walked: 17.61 miles
Time taken: 6h20
Percentage completed: 12.1%
Boot cost per mile: £0.45
Lunch: lamb and mint pasty and a giant pile of chips; I completely ignored the two lettuce leaves and wedge tomato by the side, though
Last (two) nights' B&B: The Knole Farm, Bridestowe: lovely cosy room, good breakfast, and she did my laundry for me
Is 'windows' becoming a bit of a theme?
ReplyDeleteHow good that you finally made your way. Hope you are okay. Oposite oft your B&B at the round bench before the lovely church we had our lunch. Sendung greetings ftom Crediton. Arne and Maren
ReplyDeleteThank you for the info on the Tarka trail. I'm pretty sure I saw Arne and Maren in Launceston on MOnday when I was waiting for my bus. About to embark on leg 3 from Launceston wit two friends, Laura and Suchi and right into Sunday's rain storm! Keep in touch!
ReplyDelete