Friday 20 May 2016

In pursuit of a pool

Watching a wren by the waterfal
A lot of my swim expeditions involve trying to find a place that I've built up in my imagination, often having found it on a map and speculated about what it might be like beforehand.  (an activity which often results in disappointment I might add).  But on this occasion I was setting out to try and find a pool I'd found by accident over a year ago, and hadn't had time to stop at.  I remembered it as the most idyllyic small pool with a rowan tree hanging over it.
The remains of a Bronze age house
.  Alex and I returned to the Merrivale area, and I was pretty sure I knew where the pool was, having noted it was by a fence which was marked on the map.  Anyway, the whole walk turned out to be absolutely wonderful, taking in Great Mis Tor, described by Victorian travel writer John Murray as the grandest hill in England, and from which we could see the coast all the way around from Torbay to the South Hams and finally to Plymouth where we could even see the Tamar Bridge.  We then did a big circle, going to a waterfall on the River Walkham, before walking downstream to find the pool, which was as lovely as I'd remembered it.  We then finished our walk by weaving our way through an extensive Bronze Age village which was fascinating.