Friday
15th January fresh to strong NW sunny intervals, hail showers
The
road today will be hilly. The wind today will be obliquely in my
face. The weather forecast says showers. I set off.
No
birds in the hedgerows today, I pass the spot where two male cirl
buntings were the other day. The wind is keeping them down. The big
push begins and the day alternates between long up sections through
beautiful wood, down steep brake-screeching falls and flat river side
roads.
Between
Chudleigh and Bovey Tracy there is a road block, possibly due to
flooding. I have to go around the diversion.
Beyond
the latter the climb to get to the top of the Dartmoor plateau is
long and tortuous. Today is turning into one of the hardest days for
months. Hail showers add to the fun!
The
top though is beautiful in full sunshine now with the grey and white
curtain of the receding hail departing to the south. The two Tors to
the north have brown bracken patches with green pathways and exposed
rocky outcrops to tempt the walker to climb.
Day
after day, alone on a hill , , , ,
Through
Widecombe, all this is taking a lot longer than expected, and up
again. The road sign stops saying Dartmeet and I turn for Postbridge.
The road become one long sheet of ice and snow and skating away on
the thin ice of new day becomes my task for the next few miles,
slowing me down even further.
Reaching
Postbridge, the main road is clear of ice but narrowed by snow. Half
way to Two Bridges the views over Dartmoor are stunning, old yellow
grass stems poking through the snow, all stand out as the Sun sets.
A
very good friend, Lee Dark, has been texting me all day as to my
progress and now meets me in the fading light for a brief chat. We
are both worried about the state of the road as darkness falls and
the temperature drops below freezing.
In
the dark, past Dartmoor prison, I plummet off the moorland and down
to Tavistock. The owner of tonight's bed & breakfast, Kingfisher
Cottage at Tavistock, phones me as I am screeching down the last hill
drop; I must change the front brake block! He was worried about me,
as it is now near half past six. Two minutes later we are chatting as
the kettle boils.
The
Green Year list still stands at 115. The average mileage for
January is now approaching 31 miles per day. Today's elevation is
more than the height of Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain. Ouch!
41.09
miles 4423 feet elevation up 4134 feet elevation down
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