Lydford...

The local bus drivers are a rum bunch. Many of them look as though they have just escaped from Dartmoor prison or been on the run for some time! They rattle along on the high moor roads at alarming speeds. In the valleys they negotiate the buses through narrow, sunken lanes scarcely one car-width wide. When two vehicles meet one has to back until it is possible to pass. These Devon lanes were made for feet and hooves not for motors. The local elderly folk use these buses and I love watching them getting on and off with their shopping. The women often have little trolleys. Again it reminds me of how dependent we have become in New Zealand on cars and supermarkets; and how we need to support and advance local as well as central.

Yesterday I caught the #118 bus to Lydford, just north of Tavistock. This is only a few miles from Coryton where Nora was once a nanny to the Miller family and where I stayed with Mrs Miller and Nan - neither sadly still alive. Had the weather been better I would have walked towards Coryton, but it was a persistent thick drizzle and so I remained in Lydford - once an important Saxon town raided by Vikings, now a small, sleepy, village. 

Church of St Petrock

Looking towards castle ruins in distance

In the castle walls

Detail of a stained glass window

Coming down the road and I couldn't resist asking if I could take a photo!

The Castle Inn where I escaped the rain for a Devonshire tea