Welcoming in 2018
Jan. 1st, 2018 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylWoke up to a wet start to 2018, with our plans to go up to dartmoor looking doubtful thanks both to the weather and to one of the group going down with the bad cold that has been doing the rounds. After a quick review of the walking guides over breakfast, we decided to go up to Drewsteignton and Fingle Bridge, to walk the paths around the river up to Castle Drogo.
The river was extremely high with the recent rain and as we pulled up in the car park, we saw saw people getting kayaks off the roof of their van ready to try out the white water. Fortunately, the tiny hounds weren't tempted by the raging torrent but we soon saw another family who hadn't been quite so lucky: they'd started just before us and their springer had immediately taken to one of the pools and had jumped back just as quickly as he could manage. As we passed, the father said, "Probably best to keep them out of the water today. [The dog] just jumped in and you should of seen the look on his face when he realised what the water was like!"
The path was very muddy, with big streams of water running down the sides of valley and across it into the river proper. In a couple of places, we found teeming waterfalls, which, inevitably, proved too much of a temptation to A, and climbed up to pose in front of the torrent. After about an hour, we reached the second bridge and climbed up towards Castle Drogo, just visible on the crag above.
Walking the long way round, we reached the visitor's centre — admirably warm — and settled at a table in dog-friendly reception area. We refreshed ourselves with coffee, hot chocolate, and cheese scones, ready for the journey back. Despite the grubbiness of our dogs, we released that things could've been far worse: we a spaniel who was was so wet underneath that they were dripping thick, black mud on the floor! As we were getting ready to leave, a couple of kids came over to play to M&F — they introduced us to their Darcy, their 18 month-old black lab — and as we walked down, we found ourselves walking just in ahead of them.
In the afternoon, we returned to Exeter in time for A&I to fit in some climbing before the centre closed. We lead everything, moving from easy 4s to easy 6a+s, going for mileage rather than difficulty. On our return, A made supper — pea and lemon risotto — and we settled down to watch festive Bake Off, followed by Pitch Perfect 2 — which, somewhat contrary to my expectations, I very much enjoyed.
The river was extremely high with the recent rain and as we pulled up in the car park, we saw saw people getting kayaks off the roof of their van ready to try out the white water. Fortunately, the tiny hounds weren't tempted by the raging torrent but we soon saw another family who hadn't been quite so lucky: they'd started just before us and their springer had immediately taken to one of the pools and had jumped back just as quickly as he could manage. As we passed, the father said, "Probably best to keep them out of the water today. [The dog] just jumped in and you should of seen the look on his face when he realised what the water was like!"
The path was very muddy, with big streams of water running down the sides of valley and across it into the river proper. In a couple of places, we found teeming waterfalls, which, inevitably, proved too much of a temptation to A, and climbed up to pose in front of the torrent. After about an hour, we reached the second bridge and climbed up towards Castle Drogo, just visible on the crag above.
Walking the long way round, we reached the visitor's centre — admirably warm — and settled at a table in dog-friendly reception area. We refreshed ourselves with coffee, hot chocolate, and cheese scones, ready for the journey back. Despite the grubbiness of our dogs, we released that things could've been far worse: we a spaniel who was was so wet underneath that they were dripping thick, black mud on the floor! As we were getting ready to leave, a couple of kids came over to play to M&F — they introduced us to their Darcy, their 18 month-old black lab — and as we walked down, we found ourselves walking just in ahead of them.
In the afternoon, we returned to Exeter in time for A&I to fit in some climbing before the centre closed. We lead everything, moving from easy 4s to easy 6a+s, going for mileage rather than difficulty. On our return, A made supper — pea and lemon risotto — and we settled down to watch festive Bake Off, followed by Pitch Perfect 2 — which, somewhat contrary to my expectations, I very much enjoyed.
