Short take: the shorter option is taken because it was at least as windy as yesterday.
In the plan for today I prepared two options: the 6 hour one involved more walking over the high moors and a descent to and ascent from Dartmeet (where the Eastern and Western branches of the River Dart, well, meet), which is supposed to be very beautiful and also has an excellent tea-room. The 3.5 hour option took us along the Two Moors Way more directly to Widecombe.
The weather forecast was for strong wind and showers, worsening in the afternoon... so the shorter option it was.
Breakfast was excellent, and our hostess friendly, humourous, and informative, so there was no real hurry to leave. We wandered off around 10AM and stopped after 3 minutes to look at the Holne church, with its 14thC carved wooden rood screen. I found most interesting the intricately carved wooden knots with a pronounced Celtic feel that one rarely sees in any but the oldest churches.
Then we walked along lanes and footpaths to the beautiful River Dart, one of the, as I explained to the others, holy places in the pantheon of English fishing. I remember as a kid reading in angling magazines and books about fly-fishing for trout on the Dart... and looking today at the deep pools, fast-moving races, little waterfalls over rock ledges, and boulders with swirls behind which trout love to hide was definitely a Proustian moment.
Then it was up and onto the moors where the waiting winds assaulted us. It is colder today than yesterday, and we were all glad that our big moor crossing was behind us. Down again into a hamlet with the un-Dartmoorian name of Ponsonby, then up over another arm of the moor and down into the totally aptly named Widecombe in the Moor, surrounded by high moorland with many ancient granite tors.
A short and light lunch in the village pub, then we went off to our B&B, which is in a 15thC farmhouse that was probably built before Colombus sailed the ocean blue. We'll play a few games this afternoon then have dinner in the Rugglestone Inn down the road, which was recently included in a list of the 10 most unspoiled pubs in England.
We are all fine (although Oliver is finding that increasing age, overwork, undersleep, and a lack of exercise are not the best preparation for a long hike :-), in good spirits, and looking forward to the next few days (um, with the possible exception of the 9.5 hour hike on Sunday :-).
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