To the moors and back

Not quite to the brink...

Am still slightly unsure what exactly classifies a moor -- the taxi driver stated that it was a big barren area and then later amended it as also having things like heather and stunted trees. Well, I did get to see both Dartmoor and Exmoor today, but was not sure what part of the landscape to look at, so didn't really see them as was speeding through country. Except that the part of Exmoor that was covered with snow was pretty clear... (AMB, Lover of the Obvious, Misser of the Less Obvious. Or Sublte.).

Today I went to Shebbear College for a visit. When one plans a visit to a locale, one should not assume that getting there will be easy if it is not directly next to a train station or to a town that has one. Shebbear is in the middle of the countryside in Devon (lovely drive with rolling hills, the tallest hedgerows you have ever seen, sheep and clouds). Had mistaken assumption that surely there would be a train that went to the closest reasonably-sized town on my road atlas, Bideford (which is pronounced 'bid-uh-ferd' if you are speaking with Cardiff people OR 'biddy-ferd' if you are speaking to Devon natives. 'Bye-d-ford' tells people you don't know what you are talking about and causes much amusement.), 7 or 8 miles away. Deregulation caused train station in Bideford to close, so the closest station is Umberleigh, a mere 15 miles away.

This mere 15 miles away does not translate into 15 minutes, or even 20... and there is no cab service in Umberleigh. There is really not much in Umberleigh (although in it's favor, it is cute and has a river. And a tack(horseriding, for my city friends)/antique shop. (?smile) Tea room/B&B is closed for the winter. And the pub is not open to shelter cold people waiting for late afternoon trains; but I digress.). Kind post office lady helped me find a cab (from the next village) and had a kind cab driver who agreed to come back and collect me two hours after my drop-off and return me safely to Umberleigh (this is the entire village; village hall is the red bldg to R, antique/tack shop immediately to L, pub/hotel to L of that and Tea Room/B&B and post office to far L.).

Sadly, since there was not much to hold me in Umberleigh for the night, have returned home. And was so proud of self to have packed for overnight in very small shoulder bag (I mean, only brought 2 books and no knitting!).

On an intriguing note, 'they' have turned the former train route into biking trails through Devon, so that sounds like a fun outing -- The Tarka Trail. And, if anyone needs a pheasant for any reason...

I suffer from a chronic addiction to looking out the train window until forced to turn away from brief bouts of nausea brought about by dizziness. However, saw some interesting things:
at least 42 pheasants (OMG!!!!!! Have no recollection of ever, ever, ever seeing a real live pheasant before and so was mildly overwhelmed. They are really very pretty sitting so perkily and brightly in the green grass.)
1 deer in woods
2 deer on a hill
13 llamas
27 snowflakes (i counted them!)
1 dead badger (still have yet to see a living one)
a massive hawk in a cage in someone's backyard
3 flocks of swans in people's fields
3 rabbits
3 rainbows
a stump that looked like a 4-foot tall squirrel
innumerable sheep and lambs (would like a pet lamb, please.)
a thatched-roof house that I need to live in, outside King's Nympton.

What is a nympton? And why would a King need one? smirk.

There are no raccoons in the UK. Who knew?