It was a day to be inventive and flexible. I was scheduled to walk about 10 miles to Brayford, a small village on the edge of Exmoor National Park. I was going to take the bus back to my Airbnb - Brayford being too small to have sufficient rooms for visitors to stay I needed to use Barnstaple as a base. Turns out that at this time of the year the bus only runs on Tue and Thurs. I decided I’d order a taxi to bring me back. I stepped out the door, punched in the taxi request, and stopped in my tracks when the estimated cost of $61 appeared on my phone screen. Nope, that wasn’t going to happen. Because it would be double that as I needed to taxi back tomorrow morning to Brayford to continue my walk from there. This trip is already quite costly what with paying for a place to stay and three meals most days. What to do?
I had just been talking with my Airbnb host about the lovely country around the town and great paths, and he was telling me about his early morning run up nearby Codden Hill. I looked on the various hiking apps I’ve downloaded to my phone, and the route my friend Richard had kindly prepared for me to Brayford. I realized I could cobble together a few circular routes that would take me half way to Brayford, get the requisite miles for the day in, but loop me back to Barnstaple. Free of charge! It ended up being a great 11 mile walk, with lots of practice of using off line trail maps, gps indicators, old school signs at crossroads, and determining how my phone’s battery is holding up. I had my bright orange clothes on because there will be much small lane walking over the next weeks now that I’m not following an official trail marked route.
The day started before that with the almost unbearable cuteness of Ivan (Bedlington Whippet mix) who cuddled with me all night, and it just grew cuter with lambs and ewes in the fields. It was very hard to discern the path across their field, and they were quite patient with me. (By the way, the best name for a company for its industry EVER is here in Barnstaple. See photo below.) So many great things to see and experience today; when I sat on a bench to eat my ham & cheddar sandwich I reflected on how excited I am to see things, to hear things. I notice and am curious about one thing after another. That doesn’t seem to happen with such oomph or regularity at home. I realized that it’s not England, or Cornwall or Devon, as special as they are, but it’s me. How can I cultivate this excitement in ordinary things (because nothing is ordinary, really) when I’m spinning through my days at home? This is important. I don’t want to have to drop all my daily patterns, travel half way round the world so that I can fully experience all that is out there on offer to discover. There are gifts aplenty in my homes of Truckee and Berkeley. I think one difference is the large amount of time I am in nature right now. There is a lot going on outside the front-door.
Today I marveled at how we try to preserve something, some person, some value by writing it in stone and placing it prominently for all to see. But usually this fades. I did especially appreciate a couple memorials I noticed today, though; one woman built beautiful housing in honor of her loved ones, and a village a playground for future generations to enjoy to remember the local young men not returned from WWII. And there was a striking bench design to remember the young men lost in WWI. And, as is typical there were grand gestures of towers or granite carvings, with names and dates that are wasting away to be forgotten. If I’m ever wealthy or important enough I’d like a nature reserve or something to be remembered by.
I made it back into Barnstaple in time to take care of some necessary banking tasks, and to find a tiny café tucked inside the old Panniers Market (named for the baskets the sellers would hawk their goods out of). I sat and let my legs rest while enjoyed a flat white coffee (espresso with warm milk, just a tiny amount of foam) and chocolate Guinness cake, with a homemade sausage roll to take home for dinner.
