The Misty Moores

Another week at work comes to an end so we packed our bags and headed of for our next adventure. This time we were lucky enough to be invited to stay in a small 2 room chalet perched on the hill side overlooking the blue waters of the Cornish coast.

Many of the chalets are previous fishing or holiday huts that were built before planning controls were ever put in place. Some are no more than glorified sheds, while others have had their rustic charm obliterated into miniature houses with all their mod cons.

Luckily, where we stayed retained its character with no electricity (and no TV) but instead a room full of board games that have obviously kept many generations amused for hours. We were also lucky, that despite summer not really arriving, we had one of the best sunny days of the year.

On Saturday evening I sneaked out and went to the local pub to have a Fosters and watch the Wallabies beat Wales. It is strange, but being away from home seems to make you more patriotic and proud to be Australian …. especially when we win.

On Sunday we made our way home via Dartmoor and in true English weather, the sunshine left us and was replaced with a thick misty soup. There is an old saying in the moores that the weather generally goes like this:

Fust it rain'd then it blaw'd
The it 'ail'd then it snaw'd
Then it com'd a shower o' rain
Then it vreez'd an blaw'd agean.

Many moor folk will tell you that the piskies (a local pixie) summon thick mists in order to confuse any unwary travellers. It certainly didn’t please the kids when we decided to go for a walk!

Dartmoor has been described as the 'last wilderness' but like the rest of England has had over 12000 years of modification by humans. Despite this, with the eerie mist enveloping the rolling barren hills and the wild ponies and sheep making strange noises in the distance, it was a great way to see this remarkable landscape.