Devon Sojourn 1 - Meldon Reservoir

Found myself having to make an emergency visit to Devon in very unfortunate circumstances, but there was still an opportunity to have a lovely day in late summer sun amongst the Tors of Dartmoor.

Our first port of call was The Granite Way . This wide, traffic free cycle path runs for about 18 miles through Dartmoor, and combines damp wooded sections moistened by the sort of cliche babbling brooks I remember from childhood days in the Brecon Beacons; and also open sections above which a good number of swallows were dancing in aerial pursuit of insects.

There were plenty of butterflies too; butterflies and swallows abundant, so different from back home where summer has seemingly given up and gone to bed, pulling its equinox duvet up towards its head.

And then there is the viaduct, where the path crosses a deeply lush and green chasm below, and the Tors dominate the high skyline above. In the distance, water tumbles down the face of a dam...

Holly blues still having a good year

Feeding away quite peacefully

The peaceful greenery of The Granite Way

Very tatty red admiral seems to be trying to turn itself into a swallowtail

I'd be shy, if I were that tatty

Speckled wood

Surprised looking butterfly

And another, sunning itself on a fence

The viaduct. The railway carriages contain a cafe

The far Tor

The waterfall

...so onto Meldon Reservoir itself, 900 feet above sea level and boasting a dizzying drop down its wall, where the water falls into a turmoil at the bottom. There's less life here, almost as if it is in awe of this power.

Looks fairly normal here

But there falls the water

On one side tranquillity

And on the other, the drop 

It's a long time since I'd been back in Devon. It is still beautiful up there.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 30.08.15