A day on the moor

Dartmoor, stuff of legend

On the 21st of May 2014 we were off again through the country lanes.  This time we headed for Devon, more specifically for Dartmoor National Park.  Now a national park in England has people living there on farms and even in towns.  Finding large tracts of relatively uninhabited land is not realistic, everybody has walking rights in these parks and on these farms though.

Country lanes

A forest in Dartmoor

Farmland as seen from a rocky hilltop (called a tor)

We stopped near one of the granite hilltops on the moor.  Hiking across the moor is a popular pastime; there are unmarked hiking trails from tor to tor. We didn't see any hikers, but encountered groups of aspiring, young mountaineers undergoing training.  On this day both these activities sounded like very pleasant outings. Where was the forbidding landscape mentioned in the novel by Nevil Shute or the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie? Our friends assured us that the area was prone to bad weather and did not look inviting when it was foggy or rained. It also gets very cold out on the moor.

Pieter and Kevin on the rocks.

The four of us.

We travelled on to a popular picnic spot next to the river Dart. On our way we encountered a number of sheep.

Kevin decided a bit of paddling was in order, so of course we joined him. The water was really cold but quite refreshing in the midday heat.

There used to be an old rock bridge here but it has either fallen or been dismantled.

Even the bridge in use at this stage is already quite old.

On our way to Princetown we saw some Dartmoor hill ponies.  One can see that they, like the sheep, have adapted for the cold because they all have heavy coats of wool.

Princetown is the home of Dartmoor Prison, completed in 1809.  Its high granite walls are impossible to miss, but getting a picture proved difficult.  There is just nowhere to stop near the prison.

The prison gates

Princetown

Once again we enjoyed the English sense of humour.

A quick look at Portland

Portland, home of stone

If one follows the Fleet and the chesil beach to the south they lead to Portland, the place where so much stone for buildings like St Paul's Cathedral comes from.  Portland is actually an island connected to the mainland by a barrier beach.

There we were on the Fleet and we could not help wondering where it would lead us.

The chesil beach seemed never-ending.

It took us all the way to Portland.  The scenery at the tip of the island is beautiful.

There are holiday homes on the rocky shore.

One can walk to the lighthouse and visitor's centre after having a cup of tea.

Pieter and Kevin on the rocks.

The variety of stone from the quarries is just amazing.

An impressive church building

Ammonites on the Jurassic Coast

Ammonites on the Jurassic Coast

One of the most exciting moments of our visit to Dorset was when we picked up our first Ammonites.  I could not really understand why Kevin was breaking off pieces of what looked like mud, bits of shale really, on the coast at the Moonfleet Hotel.  It has to be said we had experienced so much that was new and not really part of our everyday reality that we could be excused for not being immediately clued up.  He showed us fossil remains right there and then.  

We had seen strange rock used like bricks or stone in walls of houses and public places, but had never realised that these might not be artificial.  Can you imagine such wealth?  One is allowed to pick up and keep these fossils which explains why lots of people flock to places like Lyme Regis, nicknamed the "Pearl of Dorset".  

Soon after spending time on the Fleet, Madeleine and Kevin decided we would take the bus to Lyme Regis.  

 Here I am on the bus.  This trip was also quite an experience as the bus had to go through some narrow streets fringed by foliage as well.  It was a double decker so some branches did get broken off.

We took a photo of the pretty post office to remind ourselves that we had really been there.

Lyme Regis has many fossil shops and museums. In one of these we were reminded of the contribution of Mary Anning who made important finds in the Jurassic marine fossil beds at Lyme Regis.  She found a variety of dinosaur skeletons.

Having browsed in one of the fossil shops we went to the beach.  

Can you imagine how thrilling it was to see that even the lampposts are shaped like ammonites?

We walked along the beach front admiring the old houses.  The pink house has its plumbing on the outside from a time when indoor plumbing was such a novelty you had to brag about it!

This was by far the most impressive house we saw.  Notice it has ammonites on the outside wall.

We happily explored the coast still not expecting that we would soon be fossil hunting.

We passed these beach huts.  Notice the cliff behind them.  Cliff falls occur regularly - one needs to be careful - but what those falls yield are ever more fossils! Here there are rock formations spanning 185 million years.  The coast here is therefore part of a World Heritage site.

We started scouring the beach for our very own fossils.  There were large groups of tourists that were clearly part of guided tours doing the same.

Some of the fossils are clearly visible but are part of big rocks and not so easily carried away.  They contribute much to the sense of treasure just lying there waiting to be picked up.

All this searching left us yearning for a real seaside treat - ice cream.

The moment had to be recorded for posterity, but setting up the camera on the shingles proved slightly challenging.

There wasn't too much ice cream left, but the photo was successfully taken.  What a grand memory.

Hills in Dorset, England

A couple of hills in Dorset

Dorset is just full of places of historic importance like Eggarton Hill.  On the hill is a hillfort that predates the invasion of the Romans.  Somehow this one was never taken over by them.  The hill commands such a magnificent landscape - one can the countryside all the way around - that it is clear why it was a strategically good choice for a fort.

Pieter and Kevin on Eggarton Hill

Thank goodness one can drive up here.

A patchwork landscape from Eggarton hill

Except for Eggarton hill we also visited the Hardy Monument which was built in honour of Thomas Hardy who once fought at the Battle Trafalgar under Lord Nelson - not the novelist.

Here too one can see for miles around.

Moonfleet Manor Hotel, smugglers and chesil

Moonfleet Hotel and the chesil bank

Holidaying in England is an adventure full of discovering old friends and half-remembered places and events. Imagine our excitement when we stopped at Moonfleet Hotel in West Dorset, a reminder of stories of smugglers and boats on shingles like they were told by J. Meade Falkner.  The hotel looks a bit rundown from the outside and we proceeded quickly to the beach.

We were right on the Fleet, a shallow tidal lagoon which runs for many kilometres along the coast.

The Fleet is a sanctuary for swans and many other birds.  The Chesil Bank which shapes the lagoon can be seen in the background.  Beyond that lies the English Channel.

The shingles (pebbles) in West Dorset are still relatively small.  The size of the shingles varies from pea-sized at the north-west end of the Fleet to the size of oranges at the south-east end by Portland. Smugglers judged where they were along the coast by the size of those shingles.  In the dead of night this must have been helpful.

Boats are dragged across the Chesil Beach, sometimes little tractors are used.

We travelled all the way down to Portland.

Our picnic near Portland shows some of the bigger pebbles.  

Country lanes

We experienced so much of the English countryside in May 2014, but the country lanes proved to be quite exciting - thank goodness for an excellent driver - and very beautiful.

Would you believe this is meant for two-way traffic?  If you stick you hand out you can often touch the foliage!

At a stage we got out to get a better picture.  Here we have a stand-off: Audi faces Audi.  It is easy to see which one should reverse, but this person was a bit unwilling. Sometimes drivers are elderly and Kevin, always gracious, would then reverse long distances through the lanes until the other car could pass.





On the 18th of May 2014 we went to a country estate in Dorset with an old mill, open for just that day, along such  lanes.

We were lucky enough to have lots of sunshine in which to explore the rest of the garden.

It was a really enjoyable outing.