Rambles 2016
July
We had a 7 mile walk on Dartmoor, starting from Grimspound, up along Hameldown, down to Challacombe, Bennett's Cross, Birch Tor and back. There were five of us so were able to go in one car from Crediton. The weather was perfect and the scenery stunning so altogether we had a lovely day.
August
Only four hearty souls went walking in thick fog for the first 1.5 hours and then continuous drizzle for the rest of the walk. We started the walk from Belstone as I felt confident to walk from there in fog. It was 7.2 miles long and quite rough walking, so we were all glad to get back to the car but there were no complaints and we enjoyed ourselves. Thank you Heather, Abi and Chris for braving the weather.
September
Seven of us walked 8 miles from below Dunstone Down to Corndon Tor, down to Dartmeet, along the Dart, north on the 2 Moors Way and then back to the cars. The weather was glorious and the views stunning.
October
There were six of us out enjoying the beautiful weather and stunning views on Dartmoor. We walked 8 miles from Hound Tor to Greator Rocks, Smallacombe Rocks for coffee(where I managed to leave my waterproof jacket) and on to Bell Tor for lunch via Holwell Tor, crossing Becka Brook on the beautiful new granite clapper bridge. After lunch we walked to Chinkwell and Honeybag Tors, scrambling down from there for the homeward stretch via Jay's Grave.
Today I went back to Smallacombe in search of my jacket but no luck so went on to the Visitors' Centre at Haytor and -ureka!- some kind soul had handed it in! I was delighted so made a generous donation to the Centre.
December
Five of us walked 6 miles on the Moors, starting at Sourton village, skirting Sourton Tor and returning via the King's wall with a bit on the Granite Way. The weather was alright and the views lovely although we did not linger long over coffee and lunch stops because of a chilly wind. We found a few interesting blobs of clear jelly on the moor and were puzzled by what they could be. We also had a wander round Sourton Churchyard which is delightful and will be particularly so in a few weeks when smothered in snowdrops.
Group member Jo Forrest remembered reading something about the "jelly" recently - it is called 'star jelly' among other things and nobody has much idea what on earth it is! You can read up some of the theories online - it's quite interesting.