This is the weekend that was - and a very good one it was too!
What a gem seven of us - six walkers and an inveterate supporter - found Chagford to be as we descended upon it last Friday lunch time. Chagford is a sleepy village boasting almost as many pubs as houses at the northern edge of Dartmoor and is an ideal centre for exploring the whole area. Incidentally, Chagford hosted the very first Wiltshire LDWA weekend away many years ago.
Despite the appalling weather as we travelled down the sun came out in the afternoon and the intrepid walkers, Anne, Chris, Dave Owen, John, Phil and Miriam, set off as planned in pursuit of a summit after lunch. OK, so it was no great ascent and no great summit but we all had to strip off to cope - well, partially at any rate. Highlight of the 10 mile walk undoubtedly has to be the tea shop in Moretonhampstead. Here the age old problem relating to the cream teas was solved. Does one put the cream or the jam on the scone first? Easy, do as you will and then just turn the scone upside down!
To say that the cream tea was the highlight of the walk belies what a magnificent stroll our walk was. We walked alongside streams and rivers, (the River Teign) wooded footpaths and trails and narrow Devon lanes. But all the lanes seemed to lead to Princeton. Strange. What did our leader think we had done wrong? We really didn't want to go to prison! En route we saw endless wild flowers, periwinkle, dog's mercury, celandine, campion, wild sorrel and so on. The variety and the profusion were marvellous and we even had time to stop and stare before descending the steep, knee testing trail of Natterdon Common back to base.
Our walk ended later than usual and we returned to Chagford in the lovely, soft evening light. As we approached the village the shadows lengthened, curled around us and as though with deliberate intent drew us directly into a pub …............ !
Saturday was planned as a moderate day so we could preserve our energy for the 'big one' the next day. Did something go wrong? A good day it might have been but restful? The objective was to have lunch at the Warren House Inn on the B3212. This is the third highest pub in England and boasts a fire which allegedly has burned for over 200 years. (NB: check the date of the foundation stone of the building and John's photograph of the burning embers). Our leader was focussed on reaching this oasis in good time. The route started well taking us along narrow lanes towards Gidleigh and then heading up to the moor but once on the moor footpaths were abandoned as we leapt from tussock to tussock failing to miss the bogs. Ugh! Tough this might have been at the best of times but in hail and gales? Not so good! However, our mission was accomplished and with our spirits well and truly raised we followed a more orthodox route home along a minor branch of the Two Moors Way. Although it took us four hours to walk seven miles before lunch not surprisingly we made better progress in the afternoon managing about 17 miles over the day as a whole.
In the evening we had an unexpected cultural infusion in the form of Laura Anderson, a soprano of international repute. She was singing 'Masses of Mozart' in the local church that evening. (Ah, so it isn't just the LDWA which indulges in alliteration!) Two of the party, Anne and John, went to hear her sing and were enraptured, talking of nothing else for the rest of the weekend. The others, while realising that they were missing a treat, felt they ought to build up their strength for the following day. Besides there was a late arrival in the form of Roger Swift who came to Chagford specifically to take part in the challenge walk on the Sunday and he just had to be entertained.
The Chagford Challenge is an annual LDWA event with the option of walking a 15, 21 or 30 mile route. Our leader, who shall be nameless because I couldn't work out who he was, decided we would walk the 21 mile route as a group. At least joining this challenge walk saved him the need to plan a third successive walk and 'the sheep' were quite happy to acquiesce suspecting that there would be no more bog hopping! Actually, the walk was an ideal objective for the weekend. It substantially followed the Two Moors Way and then tracks and trails we hadn't covered before. The walk was no easy option, even with relatively good weather, and after staggering up Bone Hill we were delighted to see a checkpoint. However, we soon walked off our lunch as we staggered up to Chinkwell Tor and on to Honeybag Tor. The sting in the tail was our ascent up Meldon Hill but shortly afterwards we were back in the Jubilee Hall where an excellent meal was served. Sadly we then all disbanded to return home to make preparations for our own challenge walk for as we as a group have a lot to live up to.
Only one last thing to say and that is 'thank you' to our leader/leaders for their efforts in organising the weekend.
Miriam Mitchell