Joanne Bell - a
Green campaigner
From the walk diary
"Sunday morning at 9.45 I walked down to Barnstaple and caught the Number 2 Bus to Bideford. It was raining quite heavily but at least it wasn`t too windy, which meant I could use my umbrella.
Joanne Bell who is a friend of mine and a member of the North Devon Friends of the Earth ( one of the very few FOE groups that oppose wind turbines) had said she would walk some of the way. She caught the bus near her home at Yelland, dressed for the cold, in thick trousers, a jacket and a hat. She was surprised to see me in my shorts, but I explained that I usually get hot walking, even in cold wet weather. When we had walked a few miles she began to get quite hot herself.
We got off the bus at East the Water, just before Bideford bridge, and took the Tarka Trail with our brollies up. Joanne was good company as we walked along - she knows this estuary area well, and has been involved in many protests to protect it.. Normally I stop to take photographs as I walk, and like to take photos too of those who help or accompany me, but this morning it was far too wet. I wished I could photograph the yellow daisy like flowers that lined the track (it used to be the railway line) but will have to describe them instead.
Although it wasn`t especially visible from the trail, we passed the entrance to Tapely Park, where Hector Christie lives. He wants to put 15 giant turbines on his hill. Joanne and I went to a meeting at his place earlier in the year and discussed this with him, but we do not seem to have changed his mind yet. I wished he would speak to some of the people who live near turbines and suffer from noise, because if he was able to get his turbines built, it might make life hard for him and his family, as well as the people who live on his estate. At Instow we passed a group of people gathered to offer drinks to some runners, but we never saw the race itself. We rather wished we could have grabbed some drinks for ourselves!
Once past Instow we were soon in open country again, although, despite the weather, I saw more people out and about than in any of my more rural walks. This was a part of the Tarka Trail that I had never walked before, and I was surprised by how interesting it was. I had imagined it would be flat and dull, but the marshy areas were quite beautiful. For the first time in the walk, the air was full of the scent of May blossom - this made wonder why I had seen very little even two days earlier when walking in the Meddon/Buck`s Cross area.. Perhaps it is warmer in the estuary, because it is close to sea-level. We saw a pretty picnic area with a thatched shelter, but it wasn`t the weather for stopping. Joanne left me at Yelland, taking a track back to her home. I was really sorry about the weather - I`d hoped she could have shown me more of the wildlife, but it wasn`t a day for that.
This was my busy day for meeting people. Not long afterwards, one of my oldest (by which I mean having known the longest) friends, Lyn Billington, and her daughter Gayle, came cycling up behind me. They have recently moved to Fremington but many years ago, for a short time, Lyn and I were both members of Aldershot, Farnham and District Athletic Club. I lived in Wiltshire then. She used to come down to stay for the weekend, and we would run over the downs together. She became a marathon runner, and won the World Veteran``s Marathon Championship. It was very strange to be walking along, while she went slowly on her bike beside me. Once I thought nothing of running 15 miles over the hills - now it seems quite a long way just to walk that far. Just as Joanne had done, they invited me back for coffee, but I had to press on, as I had more people to met, and quite a way to go."
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