Moors, Torrs and Wells

May 21 Day 14

Today we ventured down to Dartmoor National Park. It is located south in the county of Devon near Cornwall. The moors of Dartmoor are a unique geological feature. The land here has been thrust up to a high plain with rocky outcroppings and boggy, peaty soil spreckled with mires that could swallow a horse. The bare hills are called torrs, and the view from up here is amazing. Even though it is barren up in the moors, there is a beauty of its own, with the rocky crags and the bracken blooming a golden yellow. Moor ponies wander and graze freely up there and share their pasture with the cows. Standing atop one of the torrs and gazing about the countryside brings thoughts of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "THe Hound of the Baskervilles", which was set in the moors of Dartmoor. If it were dark and foggy it would have added to the feeling.

Scenes atop the moor

The golden bracken framing a moor town

Coming off of the moor is no easy matter. The roads into the moor are very narrow and are bordered on both sides by a high hedge. THe road is wide enough for one car, with an occasional wide spot for one and a half cars that you are supposed to use when two cars pass each other. One side of the car is scraping the hedge while the other side is barely missing the mirror of the oncoming vehicle. It would have been fun driving these lanes carved into the hedges if we had the whole road to ourselves, but alas no. We drove across some other narrow roads today, this time in towns. Some of the towns never have changed since the pre automobile age, and in the center of the towns there is only room for one car, so you have to wait for your turn. There is traffic lights in some towns regulating this, but in other towns, you're on your own. THe trouble we encountered was that we passed through these towns just as school was letting out and traffic was horrendous. The cars would be backed up a quarter of a mile waiting to take their turns on the narrow streets of the town. Yes, the towns are old and quaint, but no so much when you're driving through them.

Surrounded by hedge rows

We finished up our day by going to Wells Cathedral. Wells is the smallest city to house such a large cathedral. THis really is an impressive cathedral It rivals Canterbury Cathedral and Notre Dame. We went to an Evensong service and again were treated to beautiful music by the choir echoing in the cathedral. IT is a cultural delight to attend these services and hear the choirs sing in these cathedrals, but I really look forward to finding an LDS chapel and attending our services this Sunday.The western front of Wells Cathedral

This figure on the western front of the cathedral makes a perfect place for a bird's nest

Inside the cathedral with its famed scissors arch

This was our last day at Penney Cottage in Wiltshire and tomorrow we will be traveling north to Lancashire. I'm not sure if the place we are staying will have high speed internet, so I may have to go back to my dial-up modem for awhile and posting pictures may be slow, but I'll keep posting, so stay tuned.