"John made me Ready
Brek for
breakfast and after 9 I popped over to the
house to see Dad and Sandy. They had so much to do,
having been away
all last week, and having to go off again tomorrow to
Brighton for
another Book Festival There hadn`t even been time to cut
the grass, and
everything was getting overgrown. Dad also was a bit sad
about being
away in May, one of the most beautiful times of the year
at Coombe
Mill, but since he had written The Revenge of Gaia and
it had become a
best seller he was committed to a whole summer of book
signing.
There
had also been problems with the tractor, but he did
get it working
and mowed the orchard. Then
he and
Sandy decided suddenly to walk with me.
At first they hadn`t
been sure that they would have the time – they had come
home yesterday
to a
mountain of post and emails – but Dad said, "yes, lets
do it, we`ll
come
a little of the way with you."
This
was a hasty
photo
(which is why it is blurred) of them about to join me on
the first part of my walk to Ashwater.
Sunday was an easy day, partly because I wanted to spend
time with
John, and also because - if there was time - I hoped to
video record
my father giving his opinion about wind farms.
We set off at about
ten, walking up towards Cross
Green, a couple of miles away, with several steep hills
included.
Except for a moment catching his breath after the first
mile (uphill
quite a bit) Dad was amazing
I
hadn`t walked with him for a while, and might have
expected him
to be slowing down as he is nearly 87, but there was no
sign of that
this day, in fact we went at a good fast pace all the
way.
Last
week
he was presented with the Wollaston Medal
by the Geological
Society He
was
very
pleased and proud about that, especially as the
Citation mentioned Gaia. We talked quite a bit about the
hype
surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear accident and all
the
misinformation put out that exaggerated the number of
deaths following
the incident there. Chernobyl is now an important nature
reserve -
wildlife thrives there in the absence of humanity.
We are
all of the same opinion as far as wind farms are
concerned, and they
were very supportive about the walk. Sandy took
some photos of
Dad and I at the Cross Green signpost (which
unfortunately didn`t turn
out very well), then they said goodbye and went back
down
the hill to carry on with their
work, while I continued towards Ashwater. Once they had
gone I realised
that I was actually a little tired (from the day before)
but walked on
at a good pace
Every
time
there was
a gap in the hedge, I looked across towards
Broadwoodwidger. I
could see Brent Tor, and Dartmoor, as well. There
had been 3
turbines
proposed at Broadwoodwidger too at one time – according
to some records
I have seen - we are still trying
to find out details about that proposal. One of the
things wind
developers are fond of doing is choosing obscure names
for their
sites, such as Forrest Moor for Bradworthy, Fullabrook
Down for the
area north west of Branstaple, and Higher Darracott for
Great
Torrington. Not many people know where Higher Darracott
or Fullabrook
are, and because of this they sometimes never even
realise that a
wind farm is planned near where they live.
Ashwater
was about three miles further on. It became much warmer,
and I had to
take off my Polo shirt (I had a singlet beneath it. )
I`d forgotten
to bring water with me, and felt very thirsty. It was
what I call a
“white cloud day” – the light was bright but there were
no
shadows.
Ashwater is a proper little village, with a bridge over a small river in the valley, a church, and a village green. I had arranged to meet another person who had been involved in the fight against the local turbines at 12, and the church bells chimed the hour as I reached the top of the hill before the church..
Although
we have communicated a few times by email, I hadn`t
met him
before, so it it was good to do so. He took me
on a short
tour over to the site of the Swingdon turbine, north
west of
Ashwater. It has actually been approved, but not been
built. We saw a
water tower on the site that was 20 metres high, and
stood out in the
landscape even at that height.
He
said I should have been able to see the Bradworthy
turbines as I came
down into Ashwater, but it had been too hazy - the
visibility was
poor . I had thought I could see a faraway line of
hills to the
north – through the haze - that could be the
Fullabrook down area
but perhaps that had been imagination. He gave
me a lift back to
my father`s, there being no buses on this route. That
seemed
permissable, as it was only a matter of retracing my
steps.
Forward to a walk
with John
or back