Saturday
16th January Light NW Sunny intervals 8C
Dipper
from the bedroom window, now is that a way to get a year tick? A
kingfisher lands in a nearby bush and a grey wagtail lands on the
rock vacated by the dipper.
All this is before a substantial
army-style breakfast from an ex-Army soldier.
Thanking
Paul for a great Bed and Breakfast (Kingfisher cottage, Tavistock), I
head into the town to find a cycle repair shop. I need new brake
blocks as the downhill screeching heard over Dartmoor wasn't from me.
Martin
at Tavistock Cycles has such items and a long chat with another
Martin, a customer in the shop with his wife, is about a mutual
passion, Aston Villa. Along the lines of “I was there when . . . “,
the customer Martin recalls the 1971 Villa versus Bournemouth match.
“What a classic diving header!” I had a claxon at that match, an
old plunger type that can be heard on youtube. I dropped it, lost
forever when Andy Lochhead got the second to win the game for the
Villa in front of 48,000 fans.
A
phone call to the shop tells me that I have left my binoculars at the
bed and breakfast. Senior moment.
Standing
on the bridge with binoculars got, I watch and video a pair of
dippers downstream.
The
road towards my next destination is tough, especially at the spot
where I cross the Tamar river and enter Cornwall. The hill is
interminable and the push is exhausting.
Reaching
Siblyback Lake at around 3:00pm I cycle around to the north end where
the bird I am after is a long way from the shore, a red-headed smew.
My
evening and night is spent in the bird hide here accompanied by a
tawny owl. The owl was outside!
The
Green Year list now stands at 117, fifteen ahead of where I was
at this time last year.
23.16
miles 2356 feet elevation up 1926 feet elevation down
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