Dewestone on Dartmoor - 2nd training walk

Cousin Tamsin and her fiancée, Jamie, took us to a hidden gem of a walk - The Dewestone - which hugs the outskirts of Dartmoor.

Imagine a place so green, thick with soft moss and rushing streams, and one you are certain you are about to bump into a unicorn or fairy at any moment.

Simply breathtaking.  I am sure Tamsin got quite sick of waiting for me as I took yet ANOTHER photo.

The Dewestone traack takes you over the streams and then winds up round mossy rocks to the top of a gorge. Did I mention it was beautiful?  It is hard to imagine that this area had been a quarry in the early 1900s and a large producer of limestone.  There are still the footings of these buildings, slowly being covered with moss and ivy, at the bottom of the gorge.

It was the first uphill training walk for our upcoming Camino trek in April/May. I am pretty nervous about the first day - its the longest and the hardest - straight up the Pyrenees. But I guess ther is only one way to tackle it huh?

Keep on training - a little... every day.

Dartmoor Otters

So there is something I am just a little bit crazy about - apart from squirrels... and its otters.  Cuteness overload!!!

I took the kids to the Dartmoor Otter Sanctuary - thinking it was going to be a really dismal day - but was so pleased to see that the sun shone and it wasn't particularly cold either. 

We were super lucky to have a personal tour by the head keeper as he did his rounds in feeding the otters.

I was pretty amazed to hear that they can live up to 28 years in captivity ( they have a 26 year old at the moment) but because of pollution and predators ( mainly human) in the wild, they will only live up to 5 years.

Otters are still in the endangered list - so we didn't mind having to pay up for the privilege to get up close to them today.. knowing that the money is going directly to a good cause.

A male otters territory can be up to 5 km up and down the river - and I grinned to hear that he can have up to three females in his territory - so a chick in every port... 

Below is a picture of one of the larger otters they had. The American otter is about 4 feet high - huge!! However the sea otter can be up to 6 feet high.. far out!

It was heartening to hear that the sanctuary works with the other Otter places around the moors with a breading program, and that the pups of the British Otters are destined for release into the wild. about 15 odd years ago when I was last in Cornwall on my bike, I went to the Tamar Otter Sanctuary - which ws pretty similar to this one.  I was glad to hear that it was still going strong.

Below is a picture of Paprika - a british otter and much smaller than his American cousin. he weights around 15 kg.

We were unrushed as we wandered around; and the keeper even opened up one of the burrows so that we could see inside.

I love finding these little gems and even more thankful to be blessed with sunshine as we walk around.

Buckfast Abbey

Though there has been an Abbey on this site since 1018, the monastic buildings were stripped in the reformation ( 1500s) and the place left in ruins till the late 1800s.  Its a Benedictine monastery, which - though I'm not an expert on the differences between the orders, I believe they are a very community based one, and I understand that one of the main rules as a Benedictine monk, is the one about self sufficiency.

The huge church is a testament to the hard working monks of the time ( early 1900s) who rebuilt and reconstructed the building to an incredible state. We couldn't go into alot of the other buildings, but I believe that the church is built onto part of a gothic mansion which was built out of the ruins from the original Abbey.. all a bit confusing - but thats the way of building and rebuilding over the centuries.

I do love the stained glass you find in the churches - oh and the frescos on the ceilings.. Below is a picture of the fresco on the highest ceiling of the church.