Woodbine Farm

10.9 miles, 5mph, 214m gain

I'm back in Devon along my favourite Culm valley water meadows!  This time via a new footpath segment from Hunkin Wood (marked Five Fords on the map) to Woodbine Farm. A path not well worn and turning into what was essentially a muddy stream: good at least that I was bare-foot, but probably not to be repeated in a hurry.

Bluebells on the way to Woodbine Farm

Little sign of the path as it crossed meadows

The path-cum-stream, foot-deep mud in places

Culmstock bridge, my furthest point

River Culm

My water meadows: the flora

and the fauna

Cool farm work

Me

 

More lump and beautiful Devon

The final touches on that bowl I found in a lump of firewood - the elegant punctures rule this bowl out for wine drinking, but turn it into a knitting yarn bowl. I cannot vouch for the two small holes in addition to the spiral - but that's how they are.

And now in mid Devon again, running barefoot through sticky mud in Hunkin Wood and my favourite Culm river meadows and enjoying the daffodils.

 

Turkey Tail

We are in Willand again and I have been set the task of collecting Turkey Tail fungus (TT) which, I am told, has desirable medical properties and is plentiful. So I added this task to my existing tendency to go for runs, barefoot. Having visited the pop-up cafe in Bridwell Park to buy cake from their Covid-19 takeaway service and finding that at present they welcome folk to exercise in their private grounds (hoping it will increase sales of cake), I added this place to my run-list and discovered the seemingly one and only instance of Turkey Tail in the whole of this part of Devon. 

nicely rotted timber, but no TT

remains of Culm Valley light railway

rotten wood, fungus, but I think it's not TT

An ideal habitat, but could not find TT

Beautiful, dead, inaccessible, no TT

Ha! Some bracket fungus, but not TT

A stag in Bridwell Park

My former swimming place, note the noose

Noose from other side (how did I get there?)

Could this be TT?  Apparently not

or this?

wrong shape

might be, but we erred on side of caution

certainly not

Ha! At last! We harvested this

Strange pyramid in Bridwell Park

This monument was strange, ugly and out of keeping IMHO. My research yielded only one hit which claims that some 250m east of the house stands a pyramid composed of stalagmites, which incorporates a trefoiled piscina. I reckon the piscina (a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church) had been removed and there was no sign of a church nearby either. Mysterious.  The marquee in the background was part of the "pop-up cafe" before Covid-19 came along.

The lake at Bridwell

More TT

Around Willand again

Having run to Bickleigh and back my remaining runs this Willand Trip To Visit Grandma were hardly significant but here are some pictures anyway... Both runs were taken in the early morning before the Other People arose.

Kentisbeare in the gloaming

Dawn over the Blackdown hills

My very own Uffculme water meadows

Double yellow "preliminary caution" after Up train

The railway photos were taken on a brief walk prior and preparatory to a large dinner. As I have intimated elsewhere I have a thing about railways and signalling. Sorry to those of you who do not share my infatuations.

Receding Down train

Autumn

Early morning Culm mist, Cullompton

Around Rural Willand 5

Mornings at Ali's mum's house are free time for me. Ali's mum does not surface until about 10 a.m. and Ali likes to stay in bed. I wake naturally when it gets light which is about 6 a.m. and whilst lying half-awake under the bed-clothes is nice for maybe half an hour, after that I am raring to go. Even after a longish run there is still free time so I started listening to Bruckner's 5th by Celibidache. Wow! sums it up. I mention this here because it reminded me of running. The beauty of the countryside flows past me much as does Bruckner's music. A bit like Grieg's Morgenstemning doing good justice to a real sun-rise or Rossini's Overture to Guillaume Tell  to a real storm although those examples are too specific whilst with Bruckner it is more generic.

I left the house at my usual 06:30 to find the earth shrouded in mist. But that was not going to stop me because, having once tasted the Culm water meadows, this my last run had to extend the experience. So I exited Willand via the Bradfield corridor turning left at Stenhill (just to ring the changes) - a mistake: this road is single track at best and full of potholes and random stones. Not only that but the local farmer appears to use it as a cattle trail and furthermore it passes a cattle slurry pit that oozes across the road.

I took the footpath down to the river: another mistake as it passes between the river and the Uffculme sewage treatment plant. But, having put that behind me and having wiped my feet on clean grass, the rest was bliss. The first stretch of river was a repeat of the previous run.

Culm water meadows east of Uffculme

This is what I mean by a path 

Even though the mist persisted, running on this stuff is pure heaven. The grass is soft and wet, the ground under is not smooth, and there are no fences to hem you in.

A bend in the river

Hunkin wood where I turned back towards Uffculme

Hunkin Wood aka Five Fords is on the edge of my map. Here I spied a large dog and its human baring my way forward but, in any case, I had kind of decided to turn back at this point, following the road back into Uffculme and thence home. Later on the dog passed me along this road, riding on the front passenger seat whilst its human drove. Did it have a seat-belt on? Pity I wasn't quick enough to snap a picture.

Uffculme village square

"Uffculme Straight", nearing home

Should I get to visit Willand again, my intention is to follow the river further, perhaps as far as Culmstock.

The path continues to Culmstock and beyond