Dartmoor reflections

Northmore's Cross

I will miss Dartmoor when we move. I can't believe how much the rugged, wild landscapes have got under my skin. The Curate and I have retreated there when times were tough. We could stand and stare at the outstretched country below us and remind ourselves that whatever was troubling us was only a moment in time and time passes. And so it did - and we learnt so much during this second half of The Curate's curacy.

We have discovered so many different faces to Dartmoor. We have seen the changes with each season and experienced the seemingly endless rain that we have all had this year. What was new for us, was to see how it affected those who lived and worked on Dartmoor and how it was such a threat to their livelihoods. The Curate has been drawn into farming families at times of funerals and he has had glimpses of the farming life that has been passed down from one generation of the family to the next. Quad bikes have replaced ponies and paperwork has halted bartering. TB testing dominates life for weeks at a time but the essence of life in a remote moorland farm, remains the same.

Riding round Fox Tor Mires

Riding across Dartmoor has given us yet another view of this wild place. I never thought that I would be able to ride as much as I have done and I have met people who have shown me parts of  Dartmoor that I would never have found on my own in the short time we have had here. Earlier this week we rode beside the Fox Tor Mires - this is an exposed area of treacherous boggy moorland that you do not cross. It said that it could be as deep as twenty foot in places. There you will find a granite cross which is said to be the tomb of a wealthy Saxon Lord, Childe the Hunter. The Mires are said to have been the inspiration for The Hound Of The Baskervilles by Sir Arther Conan Doyle.   We were making our way up Hand Hill to see one of the smallest crosses on Dartmoor - Northmore's Cross. It is just 11 cm tall and is placed on a triangular granite rock in 1982 by Mr Northmore  who had farmed the area for years. He was marking his appreciation of having lived and worked in the area.

Dartmoor has certainly become a very important part of my journey alongside The Curate. The landscapes, the wild skies and the people, have all made creases in my life that will not be ironed out. It has taught me that my heart is in the countryside and I now need to explore this as we begin our new life in Dorset next month.

Ending the year at the beginning

litter tray training failed at first

 
I had forgotten the chaos an eight week old puppy can bring to the household. The Collie's daughter - Tess - has been with us for 5 days now and we are exhausted - the Lakeland and the Collie included. As 2012 comes to a close, The Curate and I are slowly packing up the house - ready for our move in just over a month and Tess is very much a part of our new life. 

The Collie is not too impressed with his daughter so far and keeps giving her little growls if she over-steps the mark. This then send her across the room emitting high pitched howls and you would think she had been ferociously attacked. We are learning that she is a drama queen! Tess is learning to give the Collie a wide berth! The old Lakeland seems to give a deep sigh and has no fight left in her - so Tess ends up in her bed sometimes with the Lakeland - sometimes on her own. 

Second Night

Third night

 
The six pups have all been re-homed now and a sister and two brothers have stayed in this area. Three of them will be meeting at the puppy socialisation classes and in other places. The Curate took the service in the local church this Sunday and discovered that Bessie - a sister of Tess was also attending church in a basket! Her owner was sure that Bessie recognised The Curate's voice and was listening attentively every time he spoke! ( The Curate did puppy sit with me from very early on.) 



Tess cannot go out until she has had all her jabs but she has made her first trip to a very watery moor inside The Curate's jacket! She was very keen to join the other dogs and explore. She will just have to wait for the moment. 

So we end this challenging year by looking forward to pastures new (- which are a lot drier hopefully ! )

May it be a peaceful and very happy New Year.
(with very few noisy fireworks this year please)

 

Sunday Morning

Dare I say it but for me, there are better places to be than in church on a Sunday morning. Today I am watching the sun try to rise up from behind the tors on the moor. The Collie, the Lakeland and myself have arrived to see the night time shroud of cloud become edged with the early sun light. It has the promise of a beautiful day. It is Sunday, and while the Curate goes off to open the church and prepare for the early communion service, I have brought both dogs to the edge of the moor, where human leisure pursuits mix with the rural life of the moor - cattle and golf, football and sheep, dog walking and birds of prey. They all mix at different times of the day on this particular spot. For now it is silent, too early for the chattering small birds that hide themselves in the gorse bushes, too early for the sheep to rouse themselves  from the middle of the road for just one car and too early for the ponies to be worried by the presence of two happy dogs. 

The Old Lakeland still enjoys wandering around - I lose her now and then as she ambles off in the opposite direction to me. In this early light, her flaxen wiry coat blends in with the long grasses so it is easy to lose her. She doesn't respond to my calls - she is either deaf or has very selective hearing.

The early glimpses of sunlight seem to be disappearing now and  a strange watery light has taken their place. Could this be rain coming? The view of the distant tor fades in and out of sight as the light changes - now you see it - now you don't. It is a great place to be still and reflective - to pray and to listen. So I don't complain about the early walks on Sunday.

Around me, the moor is coming to life. The ponies are standing up and moving themselves from the middle of the golf course. There is the early golfer who sees only the small white ball and the flag that he is aiming for. There is the runner who is unaware that she has just sent a herd of ponies running ahead of her. There is the dog walker with one of those ball throwing things that sends the dog off repeatedly to collect the rubber ball leaving him with no time to sniff and explore. Soon the Sunday morning footballers will be training where the sheep have laid for the night and the cyclists will be making their way up to the higher moor along with the walkers.  I am grateful for the stillness I have had and now another day can start.

After the storms......

We have had rain and more rain in the last week - and for most of it, I have been holed up indoors. With a glimmer of sunshine yesterday I rode out onto the moor with a couple of other riders from Tor Royal. It was so good to be out in the wide open spaces - no roads, no busyness of life - just open (rather boggy) moorland. We are so lucky to have this time living near the moor.

I feel like I am on top of the world when we ride up here. After the heavy rain, the ground is saturated and the horses have to pick their way through the peaty bogs. You are enshrouded in silence - just the breathing of the wind in your ears. The light is sharp and bright when the sun comes out from behind the scudding clouds. The distant villages are clearly defined on the horizon and then become hazy again as the sun slides away. The marbled skies are reflected as stripes of silver that criss-cross the moorland surface.

After the turbulence of last week, I hope for a period of calm and reflection for both the Curate and myself. We have certainly learned a lot about ourselves and what we feel is important to our lives. Perhaps we are slow learners and we should have worked this all out before the Curate applied for any jobs. We thought we had - so it came as a bit of a shock that when every box appeared to be ticked, we both knew we had got something wrong. We have learned that we can't fly solo, that we value our family (obvious really!) and living in a community, that we need open space on our doorstep and our desire for adventure comes with conditions.

At last a dip on Dartmoor.

15 and a half and still enjoying Dartmoor

What a wonderful way to spend our day off. At last the sun shone and we were able to picnic on Dartmoor. We had the river to ourselves and the dogs splashed in the river. I dipped in the river (not deep enough to swim) and The Curate paddled in the shallows (and slept!). We sat by the river and shared cheese pasties and dog biscuits.No sky larks, no sheep or ponies- just the burbling  of the river making its way towards the sea. We have missed spending time together on the moor this year because of the weather but this was a perfect afternoon.

And now it's all over

So that's it ! That was summer! Next week I am back at work and autumn is well and truly heading our way. It has been the wettest summer for a hundred years but the Curate and I have had a great time. What has made it so fantastic? The public celebrations set the tone, from the Royal Jubilee to the Olympics and now the Paralympics.  On a personal level, perhaps it is because The Curate knows he is at the end of his training and we can begin to look forward. Perhaps it is because I have made decisions regarding my work. Perhaps it is because both sons are back in the UK.  Perhaps it is because we have managed some stress free time away, we have caught up with family and managed to take two very well behaved dogs with us. Perhaps it is because I have taken full advantage of living near the moor and have been able to ride regularly. All in all - an excellent summer!

So now what? Job adverts and applications become The Curate's focal points while he carries on serving in his present parish. After a summer of officiating at weddings, he is fully wedding trained and he has become quite an expert on the practicalities of various wedding dress designs. He has managed to not drop the rings or step on the wedding dress. He has lost his sermon and had to go looking for it during the hymn singing and managed to conceal his panic. He has calmed excited bridesmaids and handed hankies to bridegrooms.

Perhaps the secret to the success of this summer has been to ignore the weather and totally immerse ourselves in all that has been going on. After all, skin is waterproof!

Fun loving, sweet natured female would like to meet........

I am sitting watching the water from our over flowing gutter splurge down the window and onto my long suffering geraniums that have yet to flower. We are now at the beginning of the Summer bank holiday.....ha! The Curate and I are fortunate to have had our holiday and now he is back at work. I am wrestling with restlessness as we wait for the Curate to be able to apply for his next job. I am in limbo....again. But at least I am not in a tent! (My heart goes out to all the happy campers who have arrived in the West Country today - I hope that they can find a dry pitch.)

There has been a few developments on our home front that have been distracting me and which may impact on our lives - if all goes to plan. The Collie has responded to a local advert and he is in the process of getting to know a very lively young lady collie. At the moment it is just walking and talking and meeting on the moor. He seems very taken with her. She is a little in awe of him at the moment but these things take time! I wonder if there will be the patter of tiny paws before Christmas?

 We are managing to get out onto the moor between showers and The Curate and I are still climbing tors and we record the trig points we have conquered by highlighting them on the map in our downstairs cloakroom. Our latest walk was up Sourton Tor (1447ft). We were able to dash up and down between the rain showers. The views were excellent and we had the fun of finding a letterbox.

We have not really got involved in Dartmoor letterboxing which involves finding hidden boxes (similar to Geocaching but without the technology) but it is always fun when we stumble across a box on one of our walks. There is usually a sealed box which contains a rubber stamp and a place to leave your own stamp. You then return the box to its hiding place and continue your walk whilst taking in the  views.
 

 And it doesn't rain all the time!

Stone circles

Merrivale Stone Row at sunset

The Curate and I still enjoy exploring Dartmoor. The Collie loves the open spaces and we love the ever changing skies and scenery. But I am also fascinated by the remains of ancient stone structures that we come across. The stone hut circles are thought to belong to the Bronze age and we often come across these circular groups of stones that once formed the base of a Bronze Age hut. They had a conical roof supported by one central pole and the floors were covered in slabs of stone. They are usually in groups and you can begin to imagine the village life that went on in the area.

Recently I rode out to one of the the stone rows that can be found on Dartmoor. Nobody seem quite certain what these were constructed for. You are left to imagine why these long rows of standing stones were placed with considerable effort and skill in the open moorland. This one seemed to run from east to west and may have been aligned with the rising and setting sun.

Another favourite walk for us is to the standing stones at Merrivale. Different times of the day and the changing light seem to change the feel of this ancient site. Dartmoor has a way of getting under my skin. It stimulates the imagination and arouses the senses and makes you stop and stare at its sheer magnificence.

Should we have to leave this area, I know that there are other places that have similar intriguing history that would need to be explored..........
 

My First Cuckoo

The call of the cuckoo echoed across the valley this morning as we walked the dogs on a different part of the countryside near to our house. I would never have found this area on my own as it is just off the edge of our moor map - but I was shown it by a teaching colleague when we spent a very happy day with children from my school. The Curate and I returned again this morning to have the whole area to ourselves - except for the wildlife. 

There is something beautiful about the sound of a cuckoo that makes you stop and listen, willing it to call again. Personally, I think that is the only beautiful thing about a cuckoo- as it is such a self centred bird.  When it has decided to intrude on another bird's nest, it pushes the other eggs out so it can lay its own egg. Even knowing this, hearing the first call of the year, is still special.

We walked down to the rivers through the flowering hawthorns. We were just in time to see a heron take off and lazily flap its way up stream. Being there so early and completely alone, was a very magical experience. 

This is yet another stunning spot that we are able to enjoy and I am very grateful to my colleague for introducing it to me.

It will be very difficult to move away from such beautiful surroundings......if that's what The Curate is asked to do.

Home from abroad.

We are thrilled to have eldest son and Oz home for a while- they have brought the sunshine with them. England looks amazing at the moment with all the wild flowers. This is surely the best month of the year and we tell Oz it is always like this!

Forget-me-nots

We have been in this parish for over a year now and The Curate is learning about protocol, parishes and politics - a challenge at the best of times. I am writing reports and planning our escape for a summer holiday so Blogging is on the back burner at the moment. We have had some great walks on the moor - searching for the most recently discovered stone cross -  and the foals are so adorable ( and prolific) at the moment.

The view from the King wall, Dartmoor

Top Tor for Tom and Ten Tors on the moor

The buzzard stops to survey the surroundings

A skylark taking to the skies

The Curate and I have climbed to our favourite spot on the moor to clear our heads of parish business and think about our family. The cloudless blue skies and warm sunshine are so welcome and we stop and relax and count our blessings. Suddenly a shadow sweeps across us and we look up to see a buzzard swooping and soaring above us, calling to an unseen mate. We are high up and can see for miles and miles  - but the buzzard sees so much more. We stop and watch it for a while before continuing our walk. We keep the dogs close as it is the breeding seasons for ground-nesting sky larks. Despite our care, the skylarks suddenly rise up out of the rough ground, their song piercing and shrill in the moorland silence. 'Look at me!' they are singing in an effort to distract us from their nesting spots.

What a weekend - beginning with a great trip to the North Coast on Friday followed by two more days of glorious weather ( I hope this is not our summer). It was the annual Ten Tors challenge for young people - in teams of six, they are set the challenge of walking 35,45 or 55 miles and climbing ten tors on the way and camping over night. Both my sons completed all three challenges while they were at school and, as a result developed an understanding and love of the moor which I hope will stay with them. This year 2400 young people set off at 7.00 am on Saturday morning - unusually they have had clear blue skies for both days. Considering we have had torrential rain for most of April, the weather was a fantastic bonus for them.

We used to race up to watch our sons start and finish their challenges - and take a birthday cake for our eldest son whose birthday was often celebrated on the same weekend as the Challenge.  This year my son is in Dubai celebrating energetically. He tells us he has been parachuting and rock climbing today. He is on his way back to the UK and we hope to see him after next weekend.

windswept at the top

The Collie, Curate and I celebrated Tom's birthday by walking to the top of Top Tor after church - along with the everyone else in Devon (or so it seemed ). Sunday is always busy on the moor and attracts large numbers of visitors. As we sat at the top we remembered all the happy birthdays we have celebrated together. We have been fortunate to be able to travel and live abroad as a family. Our sons are now forging their own routes in the world but they are usually good at keeping in touch with us. The Curate and I have our own route to travel at the moment. I just wish I was as patient as The Curate.