Advertisement
Published: October 10th 2008
Edit Blog Post
It's been quite a long hiatus since we last made an entry on this blog so I'm here to do my best to retrospectively update everyone on our trips. I've started with the longest delay about about 6 months so bear with me.
We woke up good and early again this morning and set off for our first walkie of the day. We were headed for a trail called Little Dartmouth which was supposed to drop us out right at the top of Dartmouth Castle. Of course, before we could start on this short but interesting walk we had to figure out how to drive there. We had done very well with the navigating so far this trip, but today there was an added obstacle. A river ferry. We found the ferry dock alright, and knew we were meant to cross the river at this point, but beyond that we weren't sure what to do after we reached the other side. We could just make out what looked like the outline of the castle in the distance off to the left, but had no idea how to get there. We boarded the ferry, and the dogs didn't seem to mind
floating across the river. After about 15 minutes we were deposited safely on the other side. We drove around for about 20 minutes hoping to find a sign which would point us in the direction of Dartmouth Castle, but instead we just ended up back in the queue for the ferry boat in the other direction. We panicked. As fun as it was the first time, I'm not sure any of us fancied it for a second and third go. After I reversed out of the ferry queue we chose a road that seemed to be heading in the right direction and took a chance.
We arrived at the parking lot (small dirt clearing) for the walk about an hour behind schedule and very hungry. We assumed we'd just find lunch around the Castle, but now we were about an hour walk away and getting grumpy. It was chilly out but the sun was fighting its way through the clouds. We put on our brave faces and headed off after feeding the boys. Well, after feeding Ziggy and unsuccessfully trying to force a couple kibble down Wicket's throat.
The walk was beautiful. It followed a cliff most of
the way which looked down on the sea. The water was calm and blue and very impressive. We reached the castle with little trouble and were pleased to find a cafe. We were somewhat less pleased to find that there were no dogs allowed on castle grounds. So we settled for leaning out over the edge to see the front of the castle which was nestled into the side of a cliff. The weather had also taken a turn for the worse along with our luck. We decided that even though we were starving it was too cold to enjoy any food outside and that we'd just have to hoof it back to the car and eat there. It sounded like a perfectly reasonable decision until we realized that in order to get to the castle at the base of the river we must have come down several hills. Now it was time to climb back up them. The dogs raced up with Martin close behind. I, being the lithe athletic creature that I am, pulled up the rear. When I finally arrived at the top of the final hill (about 10 minutes after everyone else) I found that Ziggy
had been adopted by a group of local girls. They were playing with him and fawning over him. Wicket looked disgusted. Finally we decided we should be heading on, but not before one of the girls snapped a picture of Ziggy with her cell phone. So just in case you ever see a picture of a little black pig-dog on the internet, it could be Ziggy. He's famous.
We made it back to the car just as the sun came back out. We sat in the warm car, had our lunch, and gave the dogs some water. They seemed pleased for the chance to rest.
Next we headed out for Dartmoor. this was going to be our first, noncoastal walk of the trip. The moors are legendarily bleak places with very little life and harsh weather. Sounds great, right? We navigated the tiny roads up an enormous hill, dodging sheep along the way. The moors were everything they were promised to be. After getting a little lost at the beginning of the walk and worrying that maybe we had picked a dud walk, we came out onto a bald hill. The wind was whipping. The temperature must have
dropped about 10 degrees as we walked out onto the exposed moors. The dogs, of course, didn't care one bit. They were busy enjoying the abundant peat bogs that they'd discovered all around on the hill. The bogs were cleverly disguised as normal grass, which made it even more exciting when you stepped into one and sank about 6 inches. Ziggy developed a sixth sense for where they were hiding and leapt over them with ease. I've never seen a dog jump so far at full pelt. I was sure he was going to crash into something, but he never did. Wicket, on the other hand, fell in. So in keeping with his role as disaster dog for the trip, wicket was covered in a very potent and earthy peat smell for the remainder of the day.
Martin did an expert job at navigating us across the baron moors. Its difficult to know where you're going when the largest landmark in the area is a boulder. "Turn left at the large clump of grass and keep walking until you see three rocks stacked on one another, but if you find a very small tree you've gone too far." Very
helpful. Somehow we got out of there safely and before the sun went down.
We picked up a quick dinner on the way back from Dartmoor and arrived back at our Faulty Towers bed and breakfast for the second night. We washed Wicket in the shower even though rule number 493 stated that dogs were not to be washed in the showers, and dove straight into bed. Ziggy was finally showing signs of being worn out. His paws were feeling a little tired from all the walking so I gave him a little massage before he fell asleep.
To view the full set of photos from this day of our trip see our site on Flickr
Click here
Advertisement
Tot: 0.15s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 14; qc: 57; dbt: 0.084s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb