A Message for all Purpletraveller Followers and Friends......

I hope that all regular and not so regular readers of the PurpleTraveller blog have a great Christmas and a truly Peaceful New Year.......

I will start posting on the blog again from early January. 
Anne and I will hit the road and return to actual touring in Eva the Eriba from early April........

Scary Rocking and Rolling.....

Over the past nine days since my last post the wet weather has continued..... 
Luckily for us the area we are in has not suffered any flooding unlike some places in the north of the country......
We heard that one of the camping sites that we know well in the Lake District has suffered badly with flooding. We saw some images of the site following the floods and it was staggering to see the damage caused by the flood water.....frightening to see how easy a caravan can break up with the force of the water.......

What we have had though have been some strong winds.....
The pitch we are on is quite well protected from most normal winds but a few nights ago we had quite a major storm with some huge gusts of winds that caused Eva to do a lot of rocking and rolling.....
Tucked up in our beds it was a scary experience..... You could hear a gust coming before it hit us..... It sounded like a locomotive as it roared over the moor towards us and we held our breath as a few seconds later the gust would hit the caravan with a bang......
No damage was done to either us or Eva but it was an uncomfortable few hours.....

We still have the awning erected as it is a four season model and we do have it pretty firmly anchored to the ground. 
We have two sets of sprung storm straps across the entire roof, three porch tie down storm straps and also wall ties with bungee cords as well as all the normal pegged down fittings ......
So far we have not even had a peg pull out.....

The Awning Fully Anchored Down...

Where the sprung webbing storm straps go over the awning poles at each side as well as the centre ridge I have used  plumbers pipe insulation as a protective measure. 
The idea is that as the straps have springs at one end so that there is a bit of give in the wind, they will move within the tube and therefore avoid any abrasion damage being caused to the awning material....

Another use for Pipe Insulation....

One other tip that is worth remembering when using storm straps such as these is to put a couple of twists into the webbing before pulling it tight.... this stops the webbing vibrating in the wind and causing a noise like a machine gun in strong winds.......

When we were staying at the site in Verwood, a motorhome on a pitch near to us had his awning out and held down with some webbing straps, but because he hadn't put any twists in the webbing the noise the straps were making in even a light wind became very annoying and we were about fifty feet away from him... the noise inside the motorhome caused by those straps must have given him a few sleepless nights....

Today we had a wind and rain free day and the mild weather we are experiencing is pretty amazing for this time of year so we are enjoying it for as long as it lasts....

It's Been a While......

It's been a while since I last posted on this blog.... 
All is well but I have just allowed myself to become pretty lazy so it's now about time for me to update you on the reason why and where we are.....

We left Dorset in early November, changed counties and are now in Devon.....
We decided that we would take a winter seasonal pitch, so we will be here until just after Easter next year.....

The reason for choosing to take a seasonal pitch for the winter is because being static over the winter months seemed preferable to towing in bad weather and short days.... We also fancied the idea of getting out on Dartmoor in the nice crisp and cold weather for some serious walking......  

However.........
Since we have been here we have not had any crisp and cold weather, all we have had is rain!!
We have been here over a month and not a day has gone by when it hasn't rained...
In actual fact it has been rather depressing weather and that is one of the reasons that I haven't posted on the blog because not a lot has happened...just wind...rain...dark and dank...
Mind you from what I gather the rest of the country has also had very similar weather.....

Due to all of the continuous wet weather I have not been able to get out on the bike either.....
So a trip to a local bike shop produced a turbo trainer for use in the awning..

New Turbo Trainer in the Awning

When I was living in Bournemouth I had an all singing and dancing indoor bike trainer, but although I still have it stored away it was too big for caravan touring hence the turbo trainer....
At least I will be able to work on my fitness over the winter period.

About ten days ago Anne and I spent a few nights away from Eva and had a mini trip to St Austell in Cornwall.....

Welcome to St Austell...

 One of the rules of our winter seasonal pitch is that we have to be off site for three nights every twenty one days, so this gives us the opportunity for some small trips to various places....

The China Cafe Mural...

We stayed at a hotel in St Austell but both Anne and I didn't sleep very well..... The beds were comfortable enough but not as comfortable as our beds in Eva... Also, even with the window open and the heating turned off we found the room to be too warm which was one of the reasons for not sleeping well..... We have obviously become too used to being in the caravan....

Whilst we were walking around the town we saw the mural in the photo above... As we walked along the road towards it, it looked as if it was real and certainly got a double take from us both.......
Even in Cornwall the weather delivered us some rain with a few dry spells in between the downpours that we managed to take advantage of....

Today the weather started dry and sunny..... by 1045hrs the rain decided to give us it's daily visit and the weather forecast on the TV at the moment is confirming that it will continue wet into next week.....

Two Rusty Old Pumps and a Bicycle.....

One of my cycling buddies.... Jason Boynton-Lee... sent me this picture today....
He took it when out on one of his cycle rides yesterday.......

Knowing that I like images of things like old petrol pumps.... in fact anything man made that is being taken over or reclaimed by nature......  he thought that I would enjoy the image....

Well I did enjoy the image so I decided to share it.....
It is a similar shot to the one of three old pumps that I posted on this blog earlier in the year when I was cycling in the Hereford area.......

Jason said:-

"I decided that this autumnal pic needed a suitable title so I came up with:-
The futility of man's technology against the inevitable vengeance of nature.

Or for those with little imagination:-
Two rusty old pumps and a bicycle"

I like the shot and also Jason's sense of humour....

Stable Weather and 100 miles....

Yes...since we have been back at this location the stable weather has continued....

New pitch and continued good weather.

Good stable weather means more opportunities to get out on the bike and work on my fitness...

This past week I met up with Jon Joynes who rode with me on the 10in10 and Jason Boynton-Lee who I have known for a good few years and rode the ACCR with back in 2009.

(LtoR) Jon and Jason enjoying the after ride coffee and cake.

 Due to pressures of a job change Jon has not managed to get out on the bike much this year so it was decided that we would just do a short loop around some of the local Dorset countryside...
Sticking mainly to the local lanes we enjoyed an almost traffic free route......

Jason is currently the fittest of all my cycling mates due to this year really putting in the miles and the day of our ride was no different.... 
Before we did our loop Jason had already completed over thirty miles cycling over to our meet up point from Totton near Southampton....

After our ride together we all enjoyed coffee and cake in Wimborne Square....

Following our after ride indulgence Jason headed back home again aiming to complete the Magic 100 miles.....

Jason sent me a text later with an image of another chunk of cake that he had enjoyed on his return ride and confirmation that he had achieved his goal with 100.8 miles recorded on his bike computer....

Our faithful steeds.....

A Noticeable Change

One of the things that you pick up on when living outdoors over many months is the way the seasons change.....
Once August was done and dusted, obviously the nights started to draw in quickly but in the last two weeks they have really sped up.... The moment any sun starts to go down the temperature drops quite rapidly.

It's not just in the evenings either...in the morning gone is the light that a few months ago used to filter through our pop top and now the transition from night to daylight seems long and drawn out....even the sound of the dawn chorus has changed.

Now I am not saying that you don't notice these things when living under a normal roof but when living outdoors over a longish period these changes seem to affect you more...
We check the temperature a couple of times a day which is something that I hardly ever did at Purple Towers...I check it because it affects us in a closer way.... 

Because the weather also has a big effect on every thing we do, from taking the awning down....putting the awning up.....moving on to the next site....I find myself checking the hourly forecasts rather than just a daily one....

I suppose what I am trying to say is that we have become more aware of how changes in the natural world affect our daily life.....

Today we packed our awning and the rest of our kit away again as we our moving on tomorrow.
We are moving back to our last site for a further three weeks before heading to our winter season pitch in early November.....

Below is a picture of more fungi....
This little group has sprung up behind the hedge that we have been camping close to...note the large cluster growing out of the tree stump.....

The latest group of Fungi.....

After ride drinks.......

Well, if the latest forecasts are anything to go by, the good weather that we have been enjoying for just over a week is all set to change.....

It's a pity because I have been really enjoying getting out on the bike in the glorious weather and starting to improve my fitness levels......

Mind you.... after the rides each day I have been taking advantage of the sun and have been sitting out in front of my awning next to my bike loaded and primed with my after ride drinks.....

It's probably not helped to improve the fitness levels too much but it just had to be done.....

My after ride drinks.....

Great Riding Weather.....

Since we have been at this campsite the weather has been really good......
Dry....Sunny and warm and in short, great riding weather....
Back on some of the cycling loops that I know well I have been trying to get my fitness level back up to somewhere close to where it should be.......

The Tifosi with the Horton Tower in the Background

 I have been enjoying my riding very much although I must say that since I last rode in this area the condition of the roads has deteriorated a lot.... 
On the downhill sections I have been quite cautious as there seems to be lots of ruts and pot holes just waiting to throw off the unsuspecting cyclist....

Just outside of the village of Horton is the Horton Tower. 
This is also known as Sturts Tower having been built by Sir Humphrey Sturt who was born in 1725..
To some it is an interesting folly and to others it is a blot on the landscape....
To it's builder it was a seat from which he could watch the hunt when he became too old to ride to hounds himself......he also liked to use it to gaze up at the heavens and he liked to call it Horton Observatory....
It is a red brick Gothic style building and can be seen in the background on the hill in the above picture....

A road junction on my route and a nice seat on which to take a short break.

Further along on my route and I arrived at one of regular stops....
It is a road juction not far from the village of Witchampton..... 
A triangle of grass with a tree in the middle and a lovely seat all around the trunk of the tree.... You just have to stop and take advantage of the seat and take in your surroundings....

New Site.....

Yes..... Anne and I have moved to a new site.
We haven't moved far, just twelve miles from our last location.
We are now at Verwood on the edge of the New Forest which is a great place to be for getting out on my bike...

From this new site it is easy for me to ride out and link up with some of my old cycling loops, so weather permitting I will be able to have some rides on routes that I know well....

Talking about the weather.....at the moment we are enjoying some nice weather as can be seen in the photo below.....
The picture shows our new pitch moments after we had arrived on the camping site and before we had erected our awning. 
You can see my bike mounted on the front of the Eriba in it's normal travelling position....

Just arrived on site - Note my bike mounted on the front of the Eriba

Twice in a Week....

After a famine of riding with other riders as mentioned in my last post...I have now managed it twice in a week...
Yesterday I met up with John Donoghue (JD) one of the 10in10 team.... Actually JD is more than that as he has been with me on almost every major ride that I have completed...

It had been almost two and a half years since John and I had last met up....pressures of work..family and new projects getting in the way of a meet up and a ride so we had a lot to catch up with......

Our ride consisted of riding and talking...plenty of talking.. Every so often we would stop have a drink and a munchie and indulge in even more talking... It was a a really enjoyable day out...not a huge amount of miles cycled but plenty of  what social cycling is all about...

John introduced me to his latest love affair.... A Genesis Day-One hub gear bike which he has modified to suit his own riding requirements.... 
Being a hub gear machine it has a super tiny chain ring and it certainly transports him up the local hills in a nice steady fuss free manner....

John's modified Genesis Day-One and my Tifosi.....

A closer view of John's Genesis Day-One....

First Accompanied Ride of the Year......

Difficult to believe I know but last week I had my first ride of the year with another rider.....
There was a time when I would be out every week with another rider but obviously since Anne and I started our long term trip this has not been easy to do.....

One of the good things about spending some time back in Dorset is meeting up with friends for a drink and a natter and also the possibility of a ride out together.......
Last Sunday I met up with Peter Calcutt from the Backpackers Club for an easy day ride.....

We didn't plan anything too strenuous, just a nice steady ride taking in the town of Blandford and back to Wimborne again. 
This allowed us to have a nice chat as we rode along and catch up with each others lives......

When we arrived at Blandford we searched for a nice coffee shop and eventually found one called The Forum.... 
The problem was we couldn't seem to find anywhere outside to leave our bikes safely.... 
As we wandered around outside obviously looking like a couple of lost cycling souls, the cafe owner, who had obviously seen us, came out and invited us inside telling us that we could leave our bikes in the covered entrance where they would be safe and we could keep an eye on them.....

We had a couple of coffees and two large pieces of chocolate fridge cake.....absolutely delicious!!
I would certainly recommend The Forum....great friendly atmosphere....friendly owner and fantastic cakes and coffee.....

Almost an hour was spent in the coffee shop before we headed back.....
All in all a very enjoyable time spent out on our bikes and something that I have missed this year.....

Peter's Revolution Tourer with my Tifosi on Sunday's ride...

The rain seems to follow us......

Yes....it's true....!
The rain seems to follow us...
It certainly seems to have followed us up here to our latest site.....

This is our current pitch...

Our Latest Pitch..

 Since we have been here we have had more than our fair share of rain......
Following the very wet summer we have had I have to say that we have got quite used to it.
Not that I wouldn't prefer a nice prolonged dry spell in place of the rain.
The problem seems to be that for every sunny day we have, we end up suffering five days of rain......

As an indication of how damp conditions have been, here are some shots of some fungi that has appeared in the short time we have been here.
Each of these images was taken within fifteen feet of our awning..... the last specimen is the size of a large dinner plate.....

This is the size of a dinner plate....!!

Searching for a cross....

A few days ago we went on a walk around the Whitchurch Down area......
Anne was adamant that there was another cross there that was in direct alignment with the Windy Cross that I posted an image of in a recent post.
She told me that when she lived here years ago the cross could be seen from the crossroads on the down....

When we arrived at the crossroads we couldn't see it at all....
Crosses that have been standing for hundreds of years don't just disappear so we headed off in a westerly direction....
After walking for a short way I just caught sight of it just showing itself above some gorse bushes.......

The cross surrounded by gorse bushes

 Anne said that twenty odd years ago the cross was standing on it's own without any gorse around it at all....nowadays it is surrounded by the stuff hence the reason we could not see it from the crossroads......

A closer view of the cross

 We walked over to the cross and found a way in through the circle of bushes in order to get a couple of closer images.......
Anne couldn't believe that so much had grown up and around the cross since she lived here...
Nature just keeps on going....!!

Another view of the cross...

Moving on.....we have now moved on again...!
After 28 days on the edge of Dartmoor it was time to hit the road with Eva in tow.....

Every year the car needs a service and MOT and so do I .
I have to have various blood tests and scans etc in order to check that I am OK to keep on going for another 12 months, as I said just like the car....,
So..... we are back up in the Wimborne area to enable me to see the Doctor etc etc.....
We will stay up in this area for about a couple of months and then we are heading off to....? Well I will save telling you that in a later post......

Interesting People......

Since Anne and I have been travelling around in Eva we have met a lot of very interesting people........
One of the people I met recently on our current site was Neal Sanders who comes from near Cambridge...

Neal told me that each year he likes to do a cycle tour down here in the West Country....... 
Like all good cycle tourists Neal has a name for his bike...... In this case it is Ralph.......

Neal with Ralph

Ralph with a Rohloff....!

Ralph is a 26" wheel Thorn bike with a 14 speed Rohloff hub gear....
The bike has straight bars but Neal has added some trials bars which he told me helps him a lot on the steep climbs that can be found in this part of the world....
Neal loves his bike and the set up obviously works well for him, although it wouldn't be my ideal choice for cycle touring preferring as I do 700c wheels.....drop bars and Shimano derailleur gears..... 
Mind you my cycling buddy John Donoghue (JD) would like Ralph as he has a bit of a thing for hub gears, although I am not so sure that he would get on with the trials bars.....

Neal seemed to have his kit well sorted and seemed to have reduced his overall weight pretty well...... mind you he wasn't carrying a stove or cooking pot which I know wouldn't go down well with most of the cycle packers that I ride with, as one of the most important things for us when arriving on a campsite, after putting up the tent, is making that well earned cuppa.....

Neal told me that he just uses cafes etc for his meals and drinks, again this works well for him although I prefer to be a bit more self sufficient.

Neal's Tent and ALL his kit...

As I have said Neal's kit was well sorted and the only item that I could see where a weight reduction could be made was with his sleeping bag.... In the picture above it's the item in the red bag...the largest single item. Weight saved with the sleeping bag would then allow that all important stove and pot to be carried without any overall increase in weight carried......

Neal was a really nice guy....typical of the sort of fella you meet when out and about on the campsite......
Due to his schedule Neal only stayed at the site for the one night which was a great pity as although we talked for a couple of hours about all things bikes and bike touring I would have liked to have learned even more about him..... 

As I said.... we meet a lot of interesting people..... 

Dogs.......!

One of the things that has surprised us since we have been staying on the various camping sites this year, are the number of people who have dogs in their motorhome campervan or caravan.
Often it's not just one dog either...often it's two or three... 

Now having owned dogs myself in the past I can understand the desire to have one or two for their company and the selfless love they give....truly man's best friend.... but more than that..?

In practical terms keeping a dog in a campsite vehicle is fine in nice weather, but with the wet and windy weather that we have been having recently trying to dry them off after a walk and keeping them and your motorhome/caravan clean must be a bit of a problem I reckon.

However, if you are a dog fan I suppose those difficulties are outweighed by the perceived benefits of dog ownership even during the past month of August which in the UK was the wettest for a century......
It certainly didn't put off the two ladies in this motorhome who had five....yes five dogs..!!

Five dogs in a motorhome.....

 While I am on the subject of dogs....if you always thought that sheep were a bit scared of dogs think again.... well at least down here on Dartmoor....
Anne and I were out on one of our moorland walks recently and passed a small farmhouse that ran a kennel business.....
This is what we saw......

Hiya doggies...You can't touch me..!!

One of the Dartmoor sheep had wandered down to the fence of the kennel area and seemed to be deliberately annoying  the dogs.....
The sheep seemed to be saying to the dogs "Hiya doggies...You can't touch me" and of course the dogs couldn't touch the sheep as they were behind a fence......
That sheep sure had the upper hand and seemed to take delight in rubbing the dogs noses in that fact.....the dogs were going wild barking and running around while the sheep just stood there smiling at them....
Dartmoor sheep are a tough lot...!!

As Promised...The Teardrop..!

For all you Reliant Robin and Teardrop Camping Trailer fans out there, as promised I managed to get some 'hitched up' images before the miniature rig left the site....

The owner told me that he was now heading off to Devils Bridge in Wales with his tiny unit to spend a month there....
At 40mph I think that he was going to have quite a long drive..... but hey....I would rather be driving this tiny rig than the monster Wildcat 5th wheel trailer I posted details about the other day.......Lots more fun to drive and camp in I think.....

Don't you just love it.....!!

As a bit of extra interest concerning the Wildcat......
He left the site today with his 5th wheel towed by a breakdown tow truck and his 7.2litre truck on the back of another breakdown tow truck....
It transpires that when reversing the monster rig on to the pitch here at the site he blew his gearbox to smithereens. 
I had wondered where all the oil on the campsite road had come from....the site manager has been working hard trying to clean it all up..........

Out on the moor.....

If we get one good day of weather we seem to pay the price with two or three days of rubbish weather.....
The other day we had one of the good days so it was a day out on the moor for Anne and I.....

Years ago when Anne lived in this area she often used to walk up to Pew Tor. As this was one of the Tors that I hadn't visited it was to be our lunch stop for the days walk..

Dartmoor Pony..

 Being camped right on the edge of the moor means that we can head off on a walk without having to use the car to get somewhere first which is always a plus mark for a site in our view...
The route up to Pew Tor took us along some very pretty Devon lanes before opening up on to the moor proper.....
We saw quite a few of the delightful Dartmoor ponies on route.....

Anne taking in the view from Pew Tor

 When we got up to the tor the wind was blowing quite strongly... 
One of the good things about choosing a tor as a lunch stop is that you can always find a nice little spot out of the wind...just tuck yourself in amongst the rocks and you will have a 'room with a view'...... a perfect place out of the wind with a superb view for you lunch stop...

The view from our lunch stop on Pew Tor

 After we had finished our lunch we checked out the map...... Anne had told me that she remembered that there was a cross not too far from the tor..... she seemed to think that it was the other side of Feather Tor which we could see in the distance.... looking at the map we planned the rest of our walk creating a loop that would take in the cross before heading back toward the campsite by a different route from our outward leg......

The Beckamoor Cross

 The cross stands to the north west of Feather Tor.....
It is a granite cross known as either the Beckamoor Cross or more romatically the Windy Post and Windy Stone...
It stands next to the murmuring Grimstone and Sortridge leet.....
English Heritage notes that the cross is of medieval origin and date it to between 1400 and 1499. (Although that is disputed)
Nowadays the cross is showing the effects of time from having cattle and ponies rubbing up against it and giving it a somewhat drunken tilt.....

Apparently the purpose of this cross was to act as a marker on the Tavistock to Ashburton trans-moor track which was a medieval route connecting Buckfast and Tavistock  Abbeys....

Another view of the Beckamoor Cross

I have always had a fascination for standing stones and crosses and have spent lots of time over the years taking images of them.....
Normally I prefer to take B&W images of these interesting subjects and have shown a few on my photographic blog..... However for this blog I have shown the cross in colour....

Little & Large...

The weather has been slightly improved today...
Instead of continuous rain, today has been bright and sunny one minute followed by sudden very heavy showers.... But I will settle for heavy showers every now and again if it means we don't have any more of the non stop stuff....

I thought that you might be interested in details of the largest and smallest units on site at the moment....

First the largest....it arrived today!  A Wildcat 5th wheel trailer.....
Naturally I asked the owner if he minded me taking a picture to share with you all on my blog and he said no problem and invited me in to have a look around.....

I realize that my readers in the USA see a lot of these and if you travel to Spain you would see a number of them as well. 
However in the UK it is not often that you will come across a 5th wheel trailer on site.....

The Wildcat 5th Wheel Trailer

 I have to say that when looking around the Wildcat it dawned on me that it is not really camping by any stretch of the imagination.....
With two large slides on one side and a huge canopy on the other.....a large lounge and kitchen area..... a large fixed bed.... full size shower and a porcelain (not the usual plastic) toilet unit plus electric everything it is certainly 'beyond glamping'.

Kitchen area of the Widcat

In the picture above you can see the kitchen and the start of the lounge area at the camera end....
Even the kitchen cabinets rise up and down to various heights at the push of a button to suit the height of the occupants.......

The Wildcat main bedroom

The unit can sleep four people ...two in the main bedroom and the other two in fold down beds in the lounge.......

Would I want one.....?
Well the luxury would be very nice....but towing it...well that's another matter. 
I would need something a lot bigger than the CRV to tow it.....The owner has a truck with a 7.2litre engine......
It's bad enough towing Eva along narrow Devon country lanes... Towing the Wildcat up here to the site must have been a bit of a nightmare...well it certainly would have been for me.

Talking of nightmares...that's what it must be when you look at your fuel bill for towing the flipping thing........

Interestingly, the owner told me how much he had paid for it... He bought it secondhand and it cost half as much as Eva cost me.... A pretty good bargain I would say.....

However.... Great as it is I will stick with Eva the Eriba....

And now for the smallest unit on site..... I mentioned this unit in one of my previous posts.......

Currently the smallest unit on site,,,,

Yes it's the Sleeper Teardrop trailer towed by the little three wheeled Reliant Robin.....
Even the awning is bigger than the trailer.....
Small as it is the owner seems to have all the mod cons (like the Wildcat?) including television (checkout the aerial).

If I am around when the Reliant leaves the site with the teardrop on tow I will try and get a picture and share it with you......

Summer...?

It's now a week since we had a couple of nice sunny days...luckily while my Daughter and family were here, since then it's been rain....rain...rain and more rain...
Today our view from the awning:- Was.....

Yes...It's more rain...

Yes...It's more rain....

I must say that I am pretty fed up with this continuous bad weather,
We are now half way through our month long stay here and due to the weather I have not been on my bike yet.....

We are constantly glued to the weather app on our phones.... watching out for that break in the weather when we can get a walk in between the torrential rain....

Not much else to report at the moment..!!

Summer..? Typical British summer weather......

Two good days....

On Monday my daughter and her husband came to spend a couple of days with us...obviously my two grandsons came too....
Despite having terrible traffic congestion on the way down, they did at least bring nice bright sunny weather with them.....

One of the most entertaining things when staying on a campsite is watching new arrivals setting up their camp....
I offered to help them with putting up the awning but my daughter told me it was all under control so I settled back in my chair and watched the proceedings unfold...as I said always good entertainment...
Anne on the other hand did something far more useful than just watching them with their awning and made them all a cup of tea and got the cakes out.....

My daughter and her husband sorting out their awning....

If you checkout the picture of them above with their awning, look at the background on the right hand side and you can just see a tiny tear drop caravan with a small porch style awning.....
This is actually towed by a Reliant Robin three-wheeler. 
I don't think that I have ever seen a tear drop caravan quite so small......

Not long and the awning was up...(Reliant Robin in the background)

 Anyway it wasn't long before they had everything set up..... 
That evening we had a game of football with the boys followed by a board game in our awning.....it was midnight before we all got to bed......

The plan for the next day was a moorland walk taking in a couple of the many Tors that are scattered all over Dartmoor....
The weather was absolutely perfect for it....

The first stage from the campsite was a climb up to the car park that sits below Cox Tour....
As luck would have it, just as we arrived at the car park the Ice cream van that is regularly there arrived from Tavistock so it was ice creams all round.....

We then headed off up to the top of Cox Tor...Having done that we headed off in the direction of Great Staple Tor where we had lunch....but not before the boys had climbed to the top for a photo....
Scrambling to the top is one thing...getting back down again can often be a bit more of a problem as they found out.....

The Lads on the top of the Tor.....

Getting back down proved harder than scrambling up

On the way back we took in Middle Staple Tor and also Little Staple Tor.....
In all it was a great fun day and everyone enjoyed themselves.

I have to admit that I was so worn out I had to have a 45 minute lie down after my evening meal in order to prepare myself for another session of game playing in the awning.....

Today they had to leave us and return home and what a change in the weather again.....
We woke up to non stop rain so it was a good thing that they had had the foresight to pack away their awning last night.....

We all had breakfast in our awning and then they headed off back home at about midday....
It hasn't stopped raining all day........

Uphill everywhere......

Well, we have been here now for almost a week and I have to say that whatever you want to do, be it walk or cycle, it's uphill everywhere....
Mind you one of the great pleasures of going up, after the view, is the coming down....
I have just seen a cyclist coming down pork hill and he must have been touching fifty miles an hour so I can't wait to have a go too.....

Anne and I have managed to do a bit of walking again and the Dartmoor countryside is a mighty fine area in which to do it....
Anne grew up in this area and knows it well so who better than to be on the moors walking with......

I've added a couple of pictures below from a recent walk as well as a snapshot view of the start of pork hill as it passes our campsite...

My Daughter and family will be arriving tomorrow for a short stay with us and we are both looking forward to seeing them all....the weather forecast is looking quite good too......

Walking up towards Cox Tor

They build substantial walls in these parts...

The lower slope of Pork Hill as it passes our campsite...