Today despite the threat of showers, I decided to explore some Devon lanes. I set off with a packed lunch in dry conditions, stopping at Motortone for some gentle exercise on the way. It started raining while I was in Motortone, but as it was light rain and I had my waterproofs, I decided to carry on with my plan. I headed for the Twisted Oak then crossing the A30, on the footbridge into Ide. Due to the rain I did not take many photos today.
From Ide I headed for Dunchideock, taking a turning to Clapham, on the outskirts of the village. This lane is narrow and very muddy in places, after all the recent rain. From Clapham I headed for Kennford, passing the farm renown for it’s orange elephant. Immediately after crossing the A38, I joined the Old Dawlish Road heading for Exminster. By this time the rain had stopped, so I stopped for lunch in a gateway affording me lovely views of Exeter, and the surrounding countryside. The beauty of this time of year, is all the bird activity with it being nesting season. With traveling at five mph or less on the mobility scooter, you see so much with the Devon hedges. But it is what I hear as well as seeing, which compounds my enjoyment.
It was not long after finishing my lunch, that it started raining again. On my way into Exminster I decided to go pass the Swans Nest, to join the Exe Estuary Trail along side the canal, back to home. The lane was flooded about 300 yards from the Trail, so I crept into floodwater keeping in the middle of the lane. It soon became apparent the water was too deep for the buggy, so I reversed out of the flood water. As it was still early afternoon, I decided to add 5 miles to the journey, by joining the cycle trail at Powderham.
So headed back into Exminster, then taking the lane pass Exminster Golf Club. There were a couple of large puddles in the lane, before crossing the A379 about halfway between Exminster and Kenton. There was another large puddle on the outskirts Powderham, but had a couple of inches clearance so able to continue. By the time I got to Turf Hotel the rain had stopped, so had a coffee stop near the Motorway in the sunshine.
Wednesday was a lovely day so we both headed down to Powderham, with a flask to enjoy the afternoon sunshine. On the way back I took the picture below, with the flood water gone.
After the damp day out on Monday, the sunshine on Wednesday was lovely, Also with the sunshine there was a lot more birdsong to enjoy.
