Day 60 - Dartmoor day II

Woke up refreshed and recharged. Helps that the hotel served a pretty good English Breakfast. For £20 per person, which is slightly cheaper than most B&B, we stayed in a hotel which has a pub that serves fantastic food, wonderful room with flat screen TV and many many channels, and most importantly, super friendly and helpful staff. I think Nardev found us a really really good deal. So yeh, if you're going to Bovey Tracy, Dolphin Hotel is highly recommended.

We start off with a sunny day.

Oooh! A Rainbow!

Of course must take photo with such a wonderful weather lah.

Met some friendly sheep on the way. They approached us instead of running away!

Totoron was obviously excited, so was his owner.

As we trekked on, the weather kept changing. Sunny, then cloudy and drizzle then sunny again. Had to put on layers, take off layers, and put them back on again. All in 1 hour. The cycle went on and on. We almost lost our way in a small town, as the map didn't reflect a lot of things that we see, but thanks to our trusty navigators(Keng Rui and Nardev), we found our way.

Note how cloudy the sky is.

Think this is the greenest computer I've ever seen yet. And when we finally trekked to Cantonteign Falls, the tallest in England.....

When in the world did a waterfall become natural property??

Ouch. We were a week too early, but given their "efficiency", it might be a month too early actually.

Can't see the falls? There is always the board.

disappointment.

And the skies cleared up. Perhaps sympathy for our plight.

since we can't go to the falls, we shall attempt to drink it then.

the rainbow shined. Is the pot of gold over there private property and opened during Easter as well?

Disappointment overcame eventually.

we took a cab to Exerter, where our train back to London will be from. Well, there were technical works at Newton Abbot, so we can't take a train from there.

Exerter Cathedral. Like Royce says "What's inside? Let me guess, a priest, benches, flying buttress and an organ"

Former Guildhouse, now a shopping centre.

the statue aren't pleased wit the orange cone on his horse.

And at the train station, we found out something - my ticket says that I'm suppose to board an earlier train, even though we booked for the same timing! I think the person at King's Cross booked mine to leave Exerter at 18.43, instead of Newton Abbot at 18.43. Sigh, now we can't go back London together.

So that's it. The end of the last trip of all 4 Machas. sigh.

Day 59 - Onwards to Dartmoor

We reached Newton Abbot train station at about 5.30 am. Kena AND-1 by the door. You see, we were suppose to open the train door on our own. But there wasn't any handles or buttons on the inside! Turns out after reading the instructions, we have to open the window and turn the handle from OUTSIDE.

Anyway, we cabbed to Bovey Tracy to Dolphin Hotel.

They start only at 8 am. So we camped outside in the winter cold.

Thank goodness the sun rises at 6.30am. After a few sausage rolls (thanks to the nearby bakery), we sustained till 8+ where we checked in and trekked out.

slow because cats are crossing, or slow cats are crossing?

By the River, I sat down but didn't weep. Sorry Paula Coelho. :P

Took this photo while I was looking away from something / someone. The temperature was fluctuating. Put on jacket, took off jacket, repeat cycle. But of course, someone took a more drastic measure, hence I had to look away. :P

Becky Falls. A Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI). Thanks to my Freshwater Ecosystem course, I know what it means.

Turns out you actually have to pay to enter this falls. But somehow, we took a route that didn't. But we found a cafe and had lunch there, instead of munching on our "out-ration".

Caution - "Moor" Bad Puns ahead. Certainly didn't "Brighton" up my day.

and it began to drizzle. Speaking about fluctuating weathers and temperatures......

Haytor, one of the largest Tors in Dartmoor National Park. How large? Can you spot how small is the human on the bottom left edge of it?

and the wind was blasting.

A disused quarry near the tors.

On the tors. It was quite easy going up, as there are steps-like thingys cut into the tors. But with the clouds blowing pass the tors, it was a little slippery. And the wind was blasting......

"The answer my friend, it's Jaffa in the wind. The answer, is Jaffa in the wind". Oh we bumped into a Singaporean based in Odehampton here!

The wind was so blardy strong, my bag had difficulty staying flat.

And the clouds cleared up a little for 10 minutes. And it became cloudy again for another 10 minutes. Repeat cycle. We proceed to trek for 6 miles back to the hotel.

Funny thing about our hotel key.

Obviously tired from the lack of sleep from the overnight train.

Dinner! It was one of the most fantastic pub food I've ever eaten. Great portions, very well cooked. Even the side salad came with such a great variety of vegetables.

And we took a much needed sleep for the night.......

Day 58 - The start of the last trip together

The last trip together of all 4 Machas. This time, we're heading towards Dartmoor National Park, where all the tors are. Well, they can't give up the sight, I can't give up the geographical features either.

It starts with an overnight train from Paddington to Newton Abbot.

At London Paddington. No, Paddington Bear cannot be found there.

Totoron's first overnight train. So was all of us. We started with Dai Dee, but after an hour of it, we were all tired.

Knocked out.

Something funny when we slept. Royce was opposite me. Somehow, our leg switch places while we were asleep, without hitting each other.

Day 56 - Memories of Snow (Spring is coming)

Did some object handling for my "Ancient Egypt in London" class. It was interesting to be able to touch these archaeological objects (although through a glove) and observe it up close, instead of being barricaded away by a layer of glass. As my lecturer always say "These objects have survived for 5000 years, it will be good it can survive at least a few more years".
She told us about idiots from other classes who damaged the objects during object handling classes.

How?

Idiot No. 1 was wondering how strong the metallic object on his hands was. He proceed to bend it, and of course it broke.

Idiot No. 2 scraped some paint off an object to see how strong the paint is stuck to the object.

Of course, there were near idiotic cases during our class, like one who took the object away from the table edge, until she was reminded. Perhaps wearing gloves and handling object has the same effect as wearing a helmet during NS.

Anyway on a unrelated note, I've finally uploaded the photos that were in my phone. These are photos taken when London snowed in......

Just one block of walking and this is the amount of snow accumulated on my water bottle. Ironically, I had such fantasies when I wanted ice water on a hot day in Singapore.

A shopowner made use of the snow outside her shop to attract attention. The bandana is just so cute.

Remains of a snow man, outside Brunswick. Not sure if you can see the fallen carrot nose and buttons, as well as the twig hands. Taken on the 3rd day after the snow was over.

And on my way back today, I saw these

Spring is definitely coming.