Day 29 - Honiton A rebellious town !

Not quite the three-peat we were hoping for with cooler northerly winds having invaded our shores (yes northerlies are cold in this part of the world !)

None the less with Monika entertaining with the family I escaped to nearby Colyton a former roman settlement and a 17C rebel stronghold during the civil war - as good a place as any to do another Devon walk.

A lovely start took me out along the Coly river (more a stream) again across open fields and narrow bridges ( a lovely landscape) with the now common farm smells wafting in the wind.

These walks with associated maps and directions have almost the feel of a treasure hunt with just enough info to keep you heading in the right general direction but also with a damned good chance of getting lost before you've reached your return destination.

Today's walk provided some interesting considerations 1) will that rickety bridge support my `cruise` achieved enlarged weight 2) If I need to use the sun as a compass how can I when there isn't any 3) Will search and rescue staff recognize my shoes if any of those farm bogs I'm crossing turn out to be quicksand ..... I know, i know ... been watching way too many movies !

Its hard to explain but even in a land of 60+ million people these walks are designed to provide a sense of one with the landscape and a place of solitude so important to recharge those spiritual batteries and consider those great imponderables .......will St.Kilda ever win another premiership .... will Monika keep working till she's 90 so i can keep doing this. ... In all seriousness walking in the UK, as much as i love cycling is a cathartic experience and so cleansing of the soul!

A few twists and turns, a narrow escape from a group of motor cross bikes charging up a bogged laneway so narrow i was forced to stand in the hedge and an accumulation of an extra 10kgs in bog mud had me back at the lovely church and town center of Colyton.

A beautiful 10 km walk although the fields show a fair bit of damage from the severe 2012 UK floods

Returned to Honiton just in time to beat a late afternoon drizzle and partake in a Sunday afternoon cooked dinner complete worth Yorkshire spuds prepared by Monika
and her family