#PrincetownRailway etc

A few weeks back I mentioned a planned and then aborted Dartmoor cycle ride with my 2 brothers. I was down in Exeter to see my family again so the Dartmoor High Moorland Link was back on the cards.

Before I describe the cycling I want to quickly record a couple of thoughts from my visit. As usual I stayed with my daughter and son in law and two little granddaughters. It is such an important part of my life. The standouts for me. I showed Ayla how to play "clock patience". She is quick on the uptake. It wasn't long before we were all having a go. Annabelle got down to 2 cards left before the 4 kings appeared. They have promised to message me if anyone gets out. As with children it is about finding the right game or toy at the right time in their development. On this occasion it was spot on. Such a simple game but real fun! 

The other thing with the girls - they are now reading really well and enjoying the narrative as the motivation to read. I had to go into Exeter and bought them each the next in series. It is such a privilege. My daughter was and is an avid reader and of course it rubs off.

As I mentioned I went into Exeter centre for some shopping. I know Exeter well although I am not a shopper normally - ha! Admittedly it was a Wednesday in February but after acknowledging that - Exeter seemed unusually quiet - with a surprising number of closed down shops. Even Exeter - a city that has prospered and been able to draw on a wide catchment population to sustain its shopping centre seems to be struggling - perhaps not as much as many town centres - but there are certainly signs of downturn - I think decline. Why? Conjecture on my part - but I suspect it is the two well documented main reasons. The impact of online shopping has to be the first. The other is probably the huge reduction of people working in the city centre. Offices, banks and  shops no longer have anything like the numbers of people employed as in the past. This was a pre covid trend but Covid has certainly brought rapid change in working practices. All those people are no longer milling around. It felt rather sad.

To the cycling. The weather was a concern although there seemed to be a weather window between Storm Dudley and the highly charged Storm Eunice to come in the next day. However at the best of times Dartmoor is of course very exposed and changeable so caution is sensible. 

We set out - the plan to leave a car at Buckfastleigh and then drive the 27 miles across the moor to Tavistock for the start of the High Moor link and cycle back to Buckfastleigh. The drive across was thought provoking. The sky was heavy and the route sharply undulating! We had opportunity to consider what we were taking on and whether it was the right day/conditions to do it. Mike clearly thought it wasn't - Rob seemed to have a foot in both camps - and I will admit as usual I suffer a bit from "summit fever" (if you know what I mean). In the end I accepted the sensible plan was to abort - so we settled on staying on the beautiful moorland top but to find a less challenging circular route for a few hours cycling. 

The solution (via Google and Komoot) was to do a circular route from Princetown - on an old railway track. The route is referred to as "Granite and Gears", The problem however was we had hybrid/touring bikes and the granite chippings / grass / boulder track really needed a mountain bike. Progress was therefore slow as we picked our way across but it didn't really matter. Being on the moor in virtual isolation (we saw just the odd hiker) was compensation enough. The moor is raw beauty and it is easy to find a sense of remoteness and of natures elements. Driving rain came in and then hail but we had the right gear. It was special to be out there. I attach a few mob photos :

The forbidding Dartmoor Prison at Princetown

Moorland scenes. A wonderful place to be to feel the elements.

The old granite railway track

 

After 2 or 3 hours we get back to Princetown.   

Princetown is a village in the Dartmoor national park in the English county of Devon. It is the principal settlement of the civil parish of Dartmoor Forest. The village has its origins in 1785, when Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, Secretary to the Prince of Wales, leased a large area of moorland from the Duchy of Cornwall estate, hoping to convert it into good farmland. He encouraged people to live in the area and suggested that a prison be built there. He called the settlement Princetown after the Prince of Wales.

The austere and foreboding Dartmoor Prison, built during the Napoleonic Wars, is the most iconic and famous part of Princetown; the jail is still an important part of the country’s prison service, though today visitors can visit the prison museum and learn more about it.

It’s thought that Sherlock Holmes scribe Arthur Conan Doyle penned his most famous work, The Hound of the Baskervilles, during a stay at the Old Duchy Hotel, now the Dartmoor National Park Visitor Centre in the heart of Princetown. You can go to the centre and retrace Conan Doyle’s steps on a walk to Grimspound.

Eventually we get back to Buckfastleigh - a lovely little town (village) on the edge of the moor. We find our way to a proper pub (no fancy stuff) in the centre called The Globe. A wood fire and a couple of pints of Jail Ale brewed by Dartmoor Brewery at Princetown. (what more do you need!)

While we are enjoying our beer I get a very thoughtful and timely message from my daughter flagging up the weather warnings for Storm Eunice. My plan was to come back to the Isle of Wight the next day. However the forecast was a shocker and it was clear there was going to major disruption to the cross Solent ferries. To try and avoid that I decided to try and go back on the day. Eventually I was able to book a slot before the storm was due to hit but it was a midnight crossing from Southampton! The crossing was smooth but the ferry was delayed. I eventually get to bed at 2am so a long day but worth the effort. 

The next day the storm hits and I was glad I had made the effort to get back because the car ferries were stopped for several hours and that caused massive logistical problems with huge delays. It is very unusual for the car ferries to stop so it confirmed it was a proper storm. Later it was revealed the strongest gust ever recorded in England had just been measured at the Needles at 122 mph. I have been up on Tennyson Down in a gale. A 122 mph gust is extraordinary. I reckon a gust like that could literally knock you over. No wonder the ferries were cancelled! The ups and downs of living on the Isle of Wight. Happy days.