Calamari

A still humid morning greeted me with dewless grass, a true countryman’s sign that rain was coming our way.
Sure enough a short sharp shower pattered on the canopy of my awning as I sipped my lemon and ginger (with added Exmoor honey) infusion. I decided that this morning was the time to retrace one of the routes that Barney my border collie (rip) use to make regularly 15+ years ago.
Where I used to enter the woodlands there’s now a gate adorned with signs and a tangle of barbed wire, basically the new “owners ” of this public right of way want keep it for themselves.? Anyway the little wooden gate adjacent provided minimal effort to get through and I soon found myself walking on a spongy carpet of pine needles under the high coniferous canopy. Birdsong here was minimal as is life in general with little or no light able to penetrate through the massive canopy above.
My only challenge was the relatively new deer fencing that had been installed, a sure sign that the deer population has increased almost as rapidly as vehicles on our roads since I was a child. As I approached the main road brambles and sticky willy were the challenging barriers.
Once over the main road and another wooden gate scaled I had a relatively easy passage through and along the tracks made by the timber trade. A song thrush in fine operatic harmony performed perfectly allowing me to record and send the music to Lorraine via an app on my iPhone.
Evidence of deer was everywhere with hoofmarks and nibbled saplings quite visible.
I was headed for the weir across the river Torridge where a leat (now mainly derelict) fed the Rolle Canal, yesteryear’s transport. Again brambles interspersed with a tangle of wild barley and “sticky willy” were my challenges. The river looks in fine form. I’m tempted to get my fishing rods out tomorrow. I could See some deer Grazing halfway along the massive meadow And I tried to stalk them to get a photograph, one spotted me and froze, I decided that video mode was the most appropriate way to capture a running deer and quite successful it was too. Unlike my efforts to escape from the woods, once again deer fences and earthworks by RHS Rosemoor being the issue.
I actually had to walk through the south side of the gardens themselves to find the service road and back to tarmac before the last mile back to the campsite. 
Lorraine had asked the previous night if I would like to have Logan and I had jumped at the offer; he’s such great company and fun too. After showering and breakfast Lorraine delivered Logan and we had some brief mindfulness over a cup of Ginger tea, before she dashed off to visit her mother and then some household chores. I popped in to say hi to auntie before heading off for a chat with some fellow Christians regarding a possible future development, a very interesting and successful conversation was held over tea and cake:)
Returning home the campsite owners wife was hunched over with her head in her hands and so I stopped to see If she was okay, she opened up her difficulties to me immediately and said that she felt better for sharing them.
Lorraine turned up to collect Logan but was quite early and so I offered a light lunch of fillet steaks and mushrooms followed by local strawberries and crème fraiche. It didn’t stay long on the plates or dishes. We chatted for quite a while, before Logan and Lorraine headed of to collect her ducklings from school.
That was very much my day apart from some fascinating spiritual reading and preparing myself a supper of calamari on a bed of mixed salad, olives, cornishons, tomatoes and celery.
Delicious.
Antelope posing in the extra:)