We’re back and I have to confess that we had a splendid time last weekend in Devon helping to celebrate our friend Dave Walton’s 60th birthday. The accommodation was superb, the company very sociable and, as I might have mentioned last time, we continued our training for the British Eating and Drinking Team for the 2012 Olympics.
On the Saturday, as I mentioned, we all trekked up Sharp Tor and waddled our way across Ugborough Moor, a modest distance of about three miles each way. We were very fortunate in that the weather stayed fine and sunny all day but, after torrential rain on Friday night, the moor was a quagmire and a howling wind was driving the next storm in from the northwest. So, as we trudged across the moorland, we sank to our ankles in the peaty bog all the while being blown backwards as we struggled against the headwind. Whatever footpaths there were had become cascading rivers so we spent much of our time navigating up the incline in a zigzag fashion hopping from one bit of gorse to another. About half way up the Tor our path did intersect with a gravel path which, in comparison to the animal trails we were following, was a veritable walkers’ motorway and the rest of the climb was conducted using cruise control and auto-pilot. We all felt as if we had burned sufficient calories to justify the extraordinarily excellent meal at a Chinese/Japanese/Indian restaurant in the nearby little town of Kingsbridge which was outstanding in both quality and quantity.
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