and a better view from Carthamartha

we returned to Bishop's rock this morning (with permission) to get a better picture of this strangely quiet and isolated part of the Tamar valley

tamar flow

lovely colours in the Tamar as it flows over a salmon (?) weir above Endsleigh

bird at prey...when it stops raining

After seven weeks of incessant rain the sun has finally come out. It was a lovely misty morning. All the local buzzards immediately headed for their favourite perches on the top of telegraph poles where they can watch rabbits from a far. Unusually, this buzzard did not object to being photographed; too busy sun bathing.

down at Inny foot

if you are an avid reader of Spot's blog you may remember a picture of him standing by a tree in the middle of the Inny (see link). Here is the same tree, 10 feet under water. There appears to be a bulge in the water level here presumably because it is where the Tamar (in spate in the background) and the Inny meet. The water level rises dramatically under these conditions.

Below is a tangled wood photo. It turns out that this pond is by a very ancient road down to the ford at this point. In the mist we can hear the faint sound of footsteps of people long gone, tramping towards the future.

bishop's rock, Carthamartha

we were very lucky today because we met Mr Nigel Jonas on our walk. He owns the woodland that leads to Bishop's rock, a rocky crag overlooking the Tamar valley below Carthamartha (and also known as Carthamartha rocks on older maps). He showed us the splendid view from the top of the rocks. Unfortunately, even after all this time, the photographer forgot to reset his camera for the bright light. So this is a somewhat doctored picture of a buzzard wheeling in the valley below. This link will give a better idea of the view (link). It seems to be a very ancient landscape with numerous iron age hill forts, and a bronze age trackway leading down to one of the easiest fords across the Tamar although in this weather, to use an old joke, England would be cut off.