{"id":1213,"date":"2018-03-19T00:01:28","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T13:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/julesforth.com\/walkingtheblackdog\/?p=1213"},"modified":"2018-03-20T05:57:18","modified_gmt":"2018-03-19T18:57:18","slug":"day-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/julesforth.com\/walkingtheblackdog\/day-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 17"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Distances etc” _builder_version=”3.0.63″ background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n

From: <\/strong>Brayford to Simonsbath
\nDistance: <\/strong>10m \/ 16km
\nCumulated distance: <\/strong>211.2m \/ 340km
\nPercentage completed: <\/strong>20.54<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=”Subscribe” _builder_version=”3.0.63″ area=”et_pb_widget_area_1″ orientation=”left” background_layout=”light” saved_tabs=”all” global_module=”1260″ \/][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.0.63″]<iframe src=”https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/embed?mid=1ZvnYyU2zMF_G4-WOBnO8MS52sKw” width=”372″ height=”800″><\/iframe>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_image admin_label=”Donate to Black Dog Institute” src=”http:\/\/testform1234.gofundraise.com.au\/Upload\/385023\/images\/Donate%20to%20Black%20Dog%20Institute.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http:\/\/walkingtheblackdog.gofundraise.com.au\/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” border_style=”solid” _builder_version=”3.0.63″ \/][et_pb_image admin_label=”Donate to Sane” src=”http:\/\/testform1234.gofundraise.com.au\/Upload\/385023\/images\/Donate%20to%20SANE%20UK.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”https:\/\/www.justgiving.com\/fundraising\/walkingtheblackdog” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” border_style=”solid” _builder_version=”3.0.63″ \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Add text + images” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.0.63″ background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”center” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The view from my bedroom window this morning was very pretty .. gone were the high winds of yesterday and in their place the sun shone across the blanket of fluffy snow. It was royal icing scenery.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Little Bray House<\/p><\/div>\n

My lovely hosts treated me to a delicious Aga cooked breakfast, which included eggs from their clutch of bantams. Little Bray House had been a very welcoming home for the night http:\/\/www.littlebray.co.uk\u00a0 \u00a0My clothes had been dried .. also on the Aga and I was eager to get going as I had the third county in my sights. Somerset.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Bantam eggs<\/p><\/div>\n

Crossing the border into Somerset meant walking on Exmoor. It\u2019s an area of beautiful, hilly open moorland punctuated by deciduous woods. It takes its name from the River Exe, which flows a couple of miles north of Simonsbath, today’s destination. Exmoor is home to wild ponies, red deer, rare birds and to the Exmoor Beast. The ponies have summer coats which are fine and glossy but right now they\u2019re still wearing their thick, two-layered protective coat which gives them a bit of shaggy, unkempt look. The true Exmoor is a sturdy pony, well-proportioned and sure footed. It has a large, well-shaped head with ‘toad’ eyes and is large and dark, with fleshy ridges above and below the eyes which channel the rain away. I was infuriated that when I came across two of them plucking up the last bits of grass not covered in snow, my phone’s battery decided it was far too cold to cooperate .. so I just stood and enjoyed the sighting.<\/p>\n

Strangely enough my phone had had no difficulty performing when I saw sheep with their lambs earlier.<\/p>\n

\"\"

I DO love sheep!<\/p><\/div>\n

Although the sun was shining it was bitterly cold and as the wind got up, the temperature dropped right down. I should have loved a balaclava today. With the wind chill I suspect the actual temperature of -2 degrees was more like -6. For the first time on the walk I could barely feel my fingers.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Icicles hanging from the wisteria at a cottage window<\/p><\/div>\n

I had planned to walk along the MacMillan Way West today but I figured the chances of getting lost were high so I opted for the road instead. Even so, at times it was difficult to see that!<\/p>\n

\"\"

Thick snow on the road to Simonsbath<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

County number three!<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

View towards the moor<\/p><\/div>\n

I would love to have come across the red deer on Exmoor today. There was a reasonable chance as there are 3000 of them. They\u2019re the largest land animal in the country and have been living here since prehistoric times. I was hopeful that the males would still have their antlers, as they are shed every April and new ones grown. It occured to me that the poor ill-fated rhino would have a much better survival rate if this were the case with their horns. Each year the red deer\u2019s new antlers have increasingly more points, making them easy to age. The older they get, the more majestic they look until they can pull off a very convincing \u2018Monarch Of The Glen\u2019 pose. (A bit like red <\/span>lechwe, Patrick!)\u00a0 However, the only red deer I eventually got to see was a print of Landseer’s ‘Monarch of the Glen’ on my bedroom wall.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Exmoor<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

More bleak and beautiful Exmoor<\/p><\/div>\n

I wasn’t so keen on coming across the Beast of Exmoor, however. If you consult wikipedia you’ll find that the Beast is a cryptozoological felid. Yeah. Just what I thought. Actually, that translates as \u2018phantom cat\u2019 and sightings of a black or grey leopard were first reported in the 1970s. At around that time, it was made illegal in the UK to keep wild cats in domestic captivity and so it\u2019s not beyond the bounds of possibility that the beast could have been a leopard. Its existence reached notoriety in the ’80s, when a farmer claimed to have lost over a hundred sheep in the space of three months, all of them killed by sustaining gruesome throat injuries. There were even reports of the Beast seen \u2018fishing\u2019 with its paw in the river at Simonsbath .. which I can see from my bedroom window. (The river, not the Beast!) However, since The British Big Cats Society confirmed that the skull of an animal found on a farm in 2006 was a puma .. I think I\u2019m safe.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I was researching for the Walking The Black Dog adventure I read numerous blogs and books. They ranged from the ludicrous to the lyrical, with all sorts in between. I had three favourites which you may like to dip into if you’re enjoying hearing about this journey from Land’s End to John o’Groats. Marilyn Slater wrote exquisitely about the journey she and her husband Phil made 20 years ago. I had the good fortune to meet them both in Sydney last year and hear about their trip first hand.<\/p>\n

Walking on the road across Exmoor was not too difficult but there were a couple of non 4×4 cars which really did struggle and twice I took off my rucksack to help push vehicles out of snowy ruts. It was good for conversation and for donations! Because I’d taken the road rather than the Way, I arrived at Simonsbath mid-afternoon. It’s felt luxurious to enjoy the warmth, cups of tea and the (glacially slow) wifi for a couple of hours before dinner. There will be times when there will be no wifi at all .. so please, gentle readers, don’t fret if there isn’t a post .. my satellite phone will have taken care of me if there’s been an emergency.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Exmoor Forest Inn<\/p><\/div>\n

Black Dog Tails<\/strong>
\nMeet Naida, the stray Siberian black dog who rescued four-year old Andrei Pavlov when he fell through the ice into a pond.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wasn’t so keen on coming across the Beast of Exmoor<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/julesforth.com\/walkingtheblackdog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/julesforth.com\/walkingtheblackdog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/julesforth.com\/walkingtheblackdog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/julesforth.com\/walkingtheblackdog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/julesforth.com\/walkingtheblackdog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1213"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/julesforth.com\/walkingtheblackdog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2876,"href":"https:\/\/julesforth.com\/walkingtheblackdog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions\/2876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/julesforth.com\/walkingtheblackdog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/julesforth.com\/walkingtheblackdog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/julesforth.com\/walkingtheblackdog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}