Sunday 20 March 2011

Saturday strolls...

Phew, well I (Sophie) am back in Ilfracombe for a few days (unfortunately Matt is still in Salisbury as he working, sad face!), and because the weather was so amazing yesterday, we (me, Dad and little sister Rosie) decided to go for a walk.


We eventually settled on going from home to Lee Bay (by bus) and walk along the coast to Woolacombe. We were so lucky with the weather, it was literally like summer only when we moved into the shade did we even remember that its still only spring.


This was taken from the top of the first of a great many peaks that we climbed in glorious sunshine!


Left: Herring gulls floating on the Atlantic ocean which we discovered that this part of the sea is technically defined as. Also a stray jackdaw that flew at just the right moment for the camera to catch it hehe!

Rosie and Dad on the way to one of the inclines, as you can tell it was warm enough not to need our jumpers, and in my case it turned out I was glad I decided to wear my shorts.

Dad caught me as we went over the top of the incline in the previous picture. But again an amazing view and also shows the next bit of the path that we heading for zig-zagging in the distance.

Right: another look back to realise that we started behind the furthest point in the picture! The most amazing slate rock formations.
Dad getting some lovely snaps with his super camera! as well another peak that we have traversed.

The lighthouse that we passed near Bull point, we didn't even know that there was a lighthouse around there.

The lighthouse a bit closer!

One of the signs that were at various points along the journey, Devon really does have its footpaths sussed, these are every 1/2 to 1 mile along the entire coastal path. 

Again another look back from abit further on, we had no real sense of how far we had gone until we looked back and realised again that we couldn't actually see where we had started anymore. 

 The view where you can just about still see the lighthouse at bullpoint a good mile along the coast to where it was before as we curved our way to the amazing Morte point!

This is a picture looking up at Morte point, I love the way the rocks are carved in this way and its amazing that this is shaped like this entirely because of the sea and the weather!
  
This is the view of Morte point looking out into the Atlantic technically this is probably one of the places where on one side of the point where the Atlantic meets and the Bristol channel starts. Even though it is not officially this meeting point (this apparently is much further in land as the distance between Wales and Devon is too wide here apparently) I like to think it is, as it makes sense with the way that the water meets the point in two directions.

This is a shot taken from Morte point with our destination visible in the distance, WOOLACOMBE BEACH!! HEHE!

This is what was a bit of a mystery bird, it really confused me because the behaviour was a bit like a Skylark but the colouring and the patterning was all wrong. Later on we looked it up and found out it was a Wheatear! These birds are migrant birds who come here to breed, and do similar but shorted flight displays to the skylark hence the confusion. They had these on Lundy but I never got a picture of one.


We also got a little snap of a female Wheatear too!

Another look back about half way between Woolacombe and Morte point. Only about 1/2 a mile from Woolacombe at this point.

Lastly as we were walking the last stretch we encoutered this little fellow, which turned out to be a Ruby Tiger Moth catapillar!
We then concluded our journey in Woolacombe where got something to eat on the beach while we waited for the bus to take us back to Ilfracombe and amazingly we had enough energy to walk back to the house. Me and Rosie decided after a short rest and a drink that we would use up the last of energy to play Just dance on the Wii hehe! Then we all had showers or baths and then made dinner of filled pasta in tomato sauce and watched 'Over the hedge.' 

That just about concludes our day on Saturday and now it is Sunday and we are chilling out today, although we amazed that our muscles are not punishing much. We are going to make a roast today for lunch. So looking forward to that, me and Rosie are just about to go on the wii to play Just Dance (it has become our thing and it helps us stay fit a the same time and healthy). We have already made plans for next weekend, the next leg of our exploring Devon's coastline is to try Woolacombe to Croyde, and we want to take Matt with us. It has not been easy for us just lately to be two places so far apart, I think it feels worse at the moment just because the end of long distance is in sight. It is only 8 and a half weeks until I finish Uni and 10 and a hlaf weeks until Matt leaves work and another week until he moves to Ilfracombe (with the very much appreciated help from Chris!). Then 5-6 weeks later than that we are off on our adventures. Yay! getting quite excited now!

Anyway better go now as Dad has just finished the roast dinner, yummy! byeee for now x x x x

Saturday 19 March 2011

foraging, digging, screwing, planting, pruning.

hello there
we started work on our big main raised bed its roughly 18 feet by 7 feet. thank to Chris and his foraging ability, to find things other cannot see, i have no idea where he get all the wood he has found, from building sites he passes to and from work but i do believe this is his super power.  the weather has been nice this week its a shame i have been working. other wise i would be digging an getting ready for the spring planning. i cant wait to get the allotment planted.
above is a picture of our latest plant bed the area was on a slope and where builders had "dumped" builder gravel so we put carpet down and piled our excess soil from our plot behind a small wall. 
the wall was beginning to fall away so i moved the soil so i could create a slightly slopped wide planting i have cleared half of the area today i hope to finish it tomorrow.

hear is our main crop raised bed its is a impressive 18 by 7 feet all of the wood used has been supplied by Chris special scavenging service it took us a evening after work to complete this I'm just waiting to recharge the screw driver to finish this then we can back fill all the soil piled in the middle.

hear is a  freshly pruned apple tree the white board behind is just there so i can photograph the tree 

hear is the cherry tree i think i will be re-pruning this tree as in the photo it looks like i should take a little more off but I'm not sure. any suggestions?
not sure what else to say so bye bye

this is my sunday work i have finished the bed now woo hoo just got to tidy up the rest of it