I had a visitor to my tent last night. I heard a rustling
and on turning over saw, in the gloom, my foodbag disappearing under the
flysheet. A bloody fox. I shone a light outside but couldn't see anything. When
I woke, I ascertained there is a Londis store in the village so made a mental
list of food items to buy. However, when I emerged from the tent, I found my
bag about twenty feet away, a tear on the side and my three remaining M&S
chocolate chip shortbreads gone but everything else was untouched.
We started the day with a visit to Fox Tor Café just down
the road. I had an excellent black coffee.
The weather forecast was good and we had a warm and sunny
day. We took the bridleway east from Princetown to cross the bridge over the
River Swincombe, then right alongside the river for a short distance before
cutting across country towards Ter Hill. Much of it, maybe 1.5 miles was over
rough clumped grass which didn't make for easy walking. We all complained and Howard said maybe the
next Dartmoor meet would be on better paths. Still, at least it wasn't raining
and we passed by one of the two ancient crosses marked on the map just to the
north of Ter Hill.
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| Near Princetown |
Once we reached the Sand Way path, things improved and as we
approached Michelcombe, where we are camped, the descent on the wide grassy
path was a treat with amazing views beyond the eastern edge of Dartmoor.
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| The descent to Michelcombe |
We have spent the evening in the Tradesman's
Arms in Scoriton.
That's not the first time you've had a thieving fox in the night, is it? I seem to recall a previous incident when you were in (under?) your tarp. Our worst food thief to date has been a hedgehog!
ReplyDeleteYou have a good memory! You're right and the earlier occasion was Dartmoor as well.
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