Bodmin Moor

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John very kindly cooked bacon and eggs for brekkie this morning. Yesterday morning we had laughed at all the Brits on the ferry tucking into their 'English breakfast' after having to put up with pastries for breakfast while in France. Here we were doing the same thing (no sausages though)!

We thought we'd venture out onto the moor today. From Minions - the highest village in Cornwall - there are walking tracks to the Hurlers and the Cheesewring. The Hurlers, believed to date from the Bronze Age, comprises a group of three standing-stone circles which local legend states are the forms of men turned to stone for playing the game of 'hurlers' on the Sabbath! It was pretty wet underfoot and it started raining but we decided to press on. Fortunately, we realised that there was a better path than we had been following, so the next 1500 metres or so was easier going (plus, it stopped raining). The Cheesewring is one of several natural piles of balancing rocks on top of Stowes Hill, believed to have been formed by glaciation and erosion.

This was our first experience of walking on a moor and it lived up to all our romantic expectations! It was quite misty and felt like a wild place, and yet livestock appeared out of nowhere, the distant whistles of a farmer calling his sheepdog drifted in on the wind, and stone fences and the remains of old mines dotted the landscape. We had the place mostly to ourselves apart from a few locals walking their dogs, including one older guy with five dogs who perfectly fit the picture of someone we would expect to meet on the moors and was our first experience of the Cornish accent - cool!

Back in North Hill, we had a bit of a look around the village, checked out the church and pub etc. It didn't take long!!

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Photos

St Torney's Church, North Hill, Cornwall
The exact date of the church is unknown but the first incumbent is recorded in 1260.

Monument to Henry Spoure, 1668, St Torney's Church, North Hill, Cornwall
One of the many monuments to the Spoure family from the 17th century

The main street of North Hill, Cornwall
Our street with our pub at the bottom of the hill.

Comments

[wendy Duff]

sausage!
Can't believe you are not eating the sausages either! We definitely give them a miss here in the US! They are like something you've probably not seen unless you eat at McDonalds or burger king! All good here in Burlington, Vermont...xxxxxx