Gurt Lush!

Absolutely wonderful day on Dartmoor with Colourful Mai! I was so excited when I saw the remains of snow I had to leap out of the car to take a photo!  When we got to the start of the walk at Bennettts Cross which marked an old parish boundary, what should there be but a snowman plus what seemed to be a snowrabbit! Well reading the guide book we discovered the area we were walking through had been a large rabbit warren around 1750 and the pub we were to eat at was called The warren Inn! Before starting the walk I put on the extra wooly tights I had put in the car as it was a mite fresh– another car came to park but as I had taken the last obvious space, and maybe because I was standing there sans trousers, they quickly drove off! 
The walk was through an area once extensively used for tin mining, and we passed the remains of  old water mill s – there were eight in the Victorian mining heyday, as well as deep pits and “girts” – massive mining gulleys. The trees were laden with lichen and again our book told us the area was a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the unusual lichens growing in the old diggings. 
We sort of lost the track a few times, so what with this and me taking photographs the walk took 2 hours not the hour and a quarter specified! But as the route was up past Birch Tor, it was not hard to find our way again! By this point I was sweltering in my 6 upper layers and 3 lower ones – so off with the jacket and two other layers unbuttoned and unzipped, the hat had been dispensed with quite a while ago! As we approached the point where it was down to Warren farm, we could see a Bronze Age double stone row. I so wanted to see it up close and thought I could see a path which meant we would pass the entrances down several girts rather than having to actually cross them! Which was “gurt lush” - an old saying from Bristol meaning something is very good! Gurt as in good was the only knowledge we had had of this word before discovering it also meant a mining gulley! Well I virtually ran like a Dartmoor pony along the path in my excitement! I do love these bronze Age remains! 
Finally across and up a little bit to Birch Tor and a splendid view, including the warren Inn where food awaited! Leek and Potato Soup with a roll and treacle tart and Clotted cream to finish, in front of a roaring fire!
Time when I got home for Tilly and Polly to have a run in the conservatory then bed for them and the Allotment ladies! What a gurt lush day! Loads of extras but even more here! I have not mastered the art of simplicity in number of photos to take!