Chagford – Murchington – Providence – Throwleigh – Shilley Pool – Shilstone Tor – Moortown – Gidleigh – Teigncombe – Leigh Bridge:
I finally took everyone’s advice and walked the green lanes to Throwleigh and beyond. I remember sliding down the smooth rocks at Shilley Pool years (decades!) ago. Highlights today were a curious roe deer, a gold crest (is that really its tongue?), a dipper, a good gatecatch (I’ve always been fond of a good gatecatch), a squirrel’s dining table, the prow of a viking ship and an assortment of lichens and branches. The beech tree is immense but it’s hard to capture that. Equally hard to capture the way the trees along Shilley Pool are stunted – no taller than the gorge – and the enthusiasm of the stream itself. I seem to be seeing faces in everything. When I took it, the last one was clearly a helmeted and bearded warrior looking to the right – but, now I’m back, less so – maybe the magic only works when you’re in the lanes.
