South West Tour Part 2

Well, the second part of the South West tour finally got underway on the 23rd January. The host I should have gone to on 10th January, having not heard from me for so long, booked another WWOOFer (who, incidentally, never turned up!) so I stayed at Mum's for longer, which was just as well as my car's brake shoes decided to become unbonded and rattle around inside the wheel, which is potentially very dangerous and leads to a lack of brakes, so I was glad that I was only driving in Cheltenham when it happened and not belting down the M5!

I am currently on what I call a 'proper' farm in South Devon at the moment, where they have approximately 170 head of beef cattle of all ages. The day after I arrived they had a TB test for the whole herd which involved running different groups of cattle from shed to yard and back again, and took most of the day. There was then the follow up on Thursday when they also had a couple of bull calves castrated and all of the suckler cows checked for pregnancy. Again, this was a very long job and took place in a bitingly cold north-easterly wind - even with my super mohair socks on my feet went completely numb and one of my fingers went dead with cold!

My daily routine consists of: up at 7.30 for a cup of tea and then out to feed the calves with their milk powder and pellets; in for breakfast at about 9.00; out again to bed up the pens with straw; in for coffee; any other chores that need doing (moving cattle down the road to another set of buildings, bagging up pellets and corn from the bulk storage bins,etc); lunch and a bit of a break for an hour; outside again for more 'stuff'; cup of tea; and then finally, out at about 4.30 to feed the calves again. It's quite physical work involving a lot of lifting and upper body work and for the first couple of days my muscles were screaming for mercy by the end of the day, but I'm gradually getting used to it.

The food here is good and plentiful and arrives regularly so I don't think I'll be wasting away anytime soon! There is another WWOOFer here at the moment, Cathy from Florida. She's a really good laugh and we took our day off together yesterday and had a drive round the area. We went to Dartmouth, which is really pretty but it was so cold that we didn't walk about too long - we even had a flurry of snow while we were there. We decided that sight seeing from the car was the order of the day, so just meandered along the coast a bit. We went to Slapton Sands and Start Bay where we had a very nice lunch at the Start Bay Inn; I had a smoked fish platter and Cathy had scampi and chips. They also served Addlestone's cider on draught so I had to have a half, didn't I? I also took Cathy to Bigbury Bay to show her the strange 'tractor' that takes people across to Burgh Island at high tide. Luckily it was running even though the tide was only just on the turn, so we were able to see it in action.

I'm here for another week and then I'm off further along the coast to Saltash in Cornwall, so watch this space!

Christmas festivities in Cheltenham

I finally left Launceston on 15th December on a bright and sunny morning, having arranged to go back to Jo and James in March at the end of the South West Tour Part 2. The sunny weather lasted as far as Okehampton where it became grey and overcast and finally poured with rain as I made it to Stroud where I was stopping off to buy a Christmas present for my sister. Jeni didn't come WWOOFing with me in the end as she got a temporary job as a waitress in Cheltenham and was working right up until Christmas. It was lovely to see her again, although the first thing she did was to fling her arms round me and burst into tears! I thought that this was a rather emotional welcome until I found out that she had dropped a huge pile of plates at the restaurant earlier in the day and had been feeling mortified ever since! She soon receovered her equilibrium and we chatted for ages about her experiences in Bolivia and the 30 hour bus journey from there to Buenos Aires and her flight home.

In fact, it was a good thing I travelled back when I did as by the weekend the snow had fallen deep and crisp and even and Cheltenham was pretty much cut off. This is because Cheltenham lies in a bowl formed by the curve of the Cotswold escarpment and virtually every route in or out involves some sort of hill, and the council decided not to grit or clear the roads so all the hills became impassable with stuck cars and jack-knifed lorries - Chaos! No bus services ran in Cheltenham for several days and then they only ran on the main roads right up until Christmas. Jeni went out into the front garden and made a beautiful snow sculpture of a squirrel which was much admired, and almost caused frost-bite on her fingers.

With my sister and her family coming to stay and Dave coming for a few days we were still turkeyless on the 23rd and beginning to panic slightly - we weren't going to starve but it was going to be a strange Christmas dinner that we planned. However, we managed to get the car out of the driveway and made an early morning sortie to Waitrose where we bought a turkey and all the trimmings and breathed a sigh of relief. Christmas was going to happen after all! Jeni made a Christmas cake and some mince pies and on Christmas Eve we all sat down to our traditional Giblet Pie. This sounds a little unappetising to the uninitiated but is, in fact, a steak pie with additions from the turkey giblets all served under a puff pastry crust and is delicious!

Everyone duly arrived without too much trouble and the house bulged faintly at the seams (there were eight of us staying altogether). On Christmas morning the sun shone for the first time in several days so we ventured out for a walk while the turkey was cooking. Dave reverted to a younger self and shook trees so that we all got covered in snow (although, quite often, he came off worst!) and then rubbed snow in his sister's face and she put snow down his neck. Eventually, I decided to take a hand as I felt things were unfairly weighted in Dave's favour, so I put snow down his neck. Retaliation was swift and cold - huge handfuls of snow all over my head and down my neck! Jeni and I tried to trip him up between us but failed miserably and I eventually ended up lying on my back in the snow giggling uncontrollably whilst the rest of the family walked on sedately! It was so lovely to be able to spend time with both of my children at the same time - goodness knows when it will happen again as Jeni returns to Bolivia indefinitely on 16th January. Still, I musn't dwell on that, just make the most of her company while I have it.

On the day after Boxing Day everyone went home leaving just Jeni, me and Mum, but then my brother and his family came on 29th and stayed until today (New Year's Day) so we all celebrated again and Dave returned bearing homemade pies that he had crafted (at 4.00am, if his Facebook status is to be believed). Jeni and Dave went off yesterday to celebrate New Year with Somerset friends so Mum and I are left alone for a few days to get over the festivities. The house seems very quiet without everyone.

I suddenly realised that I had not finally confirmed dates with my next batch of potential WWOOF hosts so have been hastily emailing to check that the South West Tour Part 2 is actually going to go ahead as planned. I'll let you know whether it's all gone disastrously wrong in my next blog. Until then, Happy New Year to you all and I hope your festive season went well.