Saturday 9 August 2014

Short walk from Postbridge up to the East Dart waterfall.

Nice weather for a Dartmoor walk as we headed north-ish from Postbridge to trace the East Dart up to 'the' waterfall. Admittedly not on the scale of Niagara but very impressive when the river is in full spate: today was not one of the days.  We walked to a prostatic trickle, reaching it through some wonderful panoramas. Just under 5 miles and well worth doing - as we will again in the future.
Not the time of year for many flowers but the broom is just getting into its stride, with its bright, cheery yellow dotting the landscape.
A hoverfly on a knapweed flower. The scientific name for this one is Helophilus pendulus, meaning "dangling marsh-lover" (from Greek 'helo-, "marsh", -phil, "love", Latin pend-, "hang"). It is the commonest member of this species in the UK so no kudos for spotting it. How do you tell a hoverfly from a bee or a wasp? Easy peasy: hoverflies have the typically large eyes of flies and just the one pair of wings.
Open spaces - with no people in view. A little misleading as there were more walkers than we normally encounter when we are out and about.
This cloud formation looked like a sailing ship when I pressed the shutter but that's not the way it turned out. Use your imagination.
Grass waving in the wind - perhaps there's a hint of movement here?
Some early heather. Give it a few more weeks and this part of the  moor will be purple with it.
The oblong structure in the distance, on the slopes of Stannon Tor, is the ruin of a sheep fold,  sometimes known as the Scotch Sheepfold. It's also known as the Potato Farm or the Starch Factory. Why? Because at one time it was used as a factory to produce starch from potatoes. It's unlikely that the potatoes were grown locally as the harsh environment would not be suitable for decent crops. Yet another example of a failed enterprise on Dartmoor and yet another weird piece of trivia.
Sheep will sleep absolutely anywhere. Here they are as dozing (and dozy) gatekeepers.
The East Dart leading up to the waterfall.
The waterfall, looking rather more splendid than just the trickle I mentioned earlier. It's a great spot to head for and, for those who like their mining history, it's the start of a fascinating zone of old workings. Unfortunately we didn't visit them this time around.
A semi-regular reader asked me to include maps of our walks so here's one for this perambulation.
 

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