And where is Labour in all this mess?

Well, if we were counting on the Labour party to save us all from a Tory Brexit, we can think again. Jezza has written to Thezza to lay out his terms for supporting her deal and it’s clear that a second referendum on EU membership is the last thing that he wants. He just doesn't seem to be very interested in representing the views of those parts of the UK which voted to remain. Neither is he representing most Labour party members and voters as Opinion Polls show that, by a large majority, Labour voters believe that Thezza’s deal is bad for the economy. To rub salt into the wounds, a recent poll makes it clear that if Labour is seen to enable Brexit, voters will punish it at the next election.

Jezza might think that his letter is really a clever ruse, making an offer to Thezza that she cannot accept. The Prime Minister is never going to sign up to the customs union or agree to remain closely aligned in perpetuity to the single market. But what Jeremy has done is to give her leverage with Labour MPs in leave voting seats. She can sweeten them with bribes in the form of promises of investment in their constituencies. She can offer to respect the rights given to workers by EU law, a meaningless promise that the next Tory leader will quickly trash. And she can do all that telling them that their leader isn’t against her deal, he’s just quibbling with some of its details.

Since the Labour leader only takes action against those of his MPs who adopt pro-Remain positions, and has done absolutely nothing to discipline those Labour MPs who enabled the Conservatives last week, Theresa May knows she’s pushing at an open door. She can pick off Labour MPs safe in the knowledge that they’ve got nothing to fear from their own party leader. Just a couple of days ago, Jeremy slapped down his MPs who said that Theresa May must accept Labour’s offer in full, or they’d press for another referendum. Labour is complicit in Brexit. It is the enabler and deliverer of a hard Conservative Brexit. Vote Labour, vote for a Tory Brexit. The Labour leadership has signed Labour up to the xenophobic tendencies of the worst of British nationalism. It’s signed Labour up to the ending of freedom of movement. Jeremy promised to listen to his party’s membership. Now it transpires that he’s only going to listen to them when they agree with him.

Labour’s remainers, and I'm one of them, are deeply unhappy with their leader’s position. Chuka Umunna tweeted that what Corbyn was offering was the opposite of opposition. It was facilitating a Tory deal which would make the UK poorer. He said that it was a joke to suggest that a Prime Minister who had sponsored employment tribunal fees, supported weakening unfair dismissal protection would ensure “dynamic alignment on rights and protections”. In an article for The Independent he angrily castigated the Labour leader for betraying the spirit of Labour’s conference policy, which said that if the party couldn’t get an early election it should back another EU referendum. Meanwhile Owen Smith hinted that he was considering leaving Labour to start a new pro-European party. Thousand of ordinary Labour members are voting with their feet and their membership fees and drifting away.

Labour politicians know better than anyone else that it was the split in the party during the 1980s when the so-called Gang of Four left and founded the SDP which was responsible more than any other single factor for the almost two decades of Tory rule which followed. The fact that they are now willing to consider another split speaks volumes about their desperation and despair with the current party leadership.

And all this, let us not forget, when the official opposition is facing the weakest, most divided and least capable government in living memory. A half way competent Labour leader would have his or her party soaring ahead in the polls at this point. Yet the chances are that Labour is going to split, that the leadership will enable a Tory Brexit and we’ll all be left powerless and helpless in the face of a Brexit-driven decline.

It’s abundantly clear now that Corbyn's Labour cannot protect us from the Tories. Its incompetence, division and ineptitude means that it enables Tory policies instead. Labour’s inadequacies mean we could be staring at another decade of Conservative rule. The gods alone know what damage the Tories could wreak in that time.

The Tories have achieved mind-boggling incompetence in the two short years that Theresa May has been in power. Labour has been working hard at it for years. Labour is doing nothing and still making a mess of it, and his supporters are still praising Jeremy’s sincerity. Sincerity isn't enough and it's certainly no substitute for competence.

Jezza is a Brexiteer but he doesn't say that he is. He has provided no leadership on Brexit, the defining issue of this generation. To be frank, he's been awful. He promised to be so much better but he's lost his way. He is a liability but changing him is probably too late to make any difference to the Brexit outcome.

 

Three Saints Way: Tremain, Treneglos and Tresmeer

Every now and again, Mrs P and I lead a walk for our U3A Thursday Group. The next time is fast approaching and we decided to reconnoitre a possible route recently. This one was called 'The Three Saints Way Heritage and Nature Trail' and sounded interesting. In the event, it was an 'OK' walk: one that we'd put in the portfolio as a possible but maybe not the one we'll actually do on the day. Having said all that, we had a good day out and saw a part of our locality that we rarely visit. And, as a bonus, despite a pretty dire weather forecast, we got around with barely a drop of rain falling on us. Another bonus was the opportunity for me to end the day under the Tamar Bridges near midnight with my camera. Something I've meant to do for a while but have never got around to.

Our route, just over 6 miles, started and ended at Tremaine church. Probably about 50% of it was along quiet country lanes: the remainder was across fields. Lots of sky all the way around and a reasonable amount of mud to slosh around in.

St Winwaloe's church at Tremaine, reputedly the smallest parish church in Cornwall. Originally pre-Norman (it is built on a circular plot called a llan which indicates considerable antiquity) , but rebuilt in the 12th and 13th centuries and largely unchanged since then. It has no electricity or gas and is a delightfully tranquil place. Of the three churches we visited on this walk, St Winwaloe's was the only one at which services, albeit infrequent, are still held.

Everything about St Winwaloe's is simple and unadorned, as typified by this floral arrangement. Anything more flamboyant would have been completely out of place.

An asymmetrical barn attached to the mid-16th century farmhouse in the hamlet of Westcott, which was mentioned in the Domesday book. The splayed design allowed for greater storage on the upper floor.

We criss-crossed the old Launceston to Bude railway line, which closed in the early 1960s. If you were alighted at Tresmeer station with the not-unreasonable expectation of being near Tresmeer, you'd have been disappointed. Tresmeer is about 3 miles distant.

Tresmeer station is, in fact, in Splatt. Nowadays Splatt seems to consist of about 5 houses but, once upon a time, was the site for a large cattle fair.

Treglith farmhouse, dating from the early 1600s and largely unchanged since then, even this porch at the rear of the property but I think the middle column was damaged a long while back.

St Gregory's church in the hamlet of Treneglos. The present building dates from the 11th century but, according to my copy of Pevsner, was subject to a drastic restoration in and around 1858. As for St Winwaloe's at Tremaine, St Gregory's was also built in a llan. Sadly, due to the roof being in bad repair, St Gregory's has been closed for several years awaiting funds for repairs. Will the money ever be raised? I doubt it.

We could not see the interior of St Leonard's but we could see its main architectural feature, this Norman tympanum above the door. It shows two beasts (lions?) facing each other and a tree of life. There is something similar at the church in Egloskerry and it is suspected that they were both carved by the same hands.

Although the sky in the direction of Bodmin Moor looked threatening, the rain held off.

Lots of snowdrops all the way around. They never cease to be a joy.

Sheep, just sheep.

 

St Nicholas's church at Tresmeer. Fifteenth century but extensively restored by the Victorians. It's been closed for several years and is now up for sale for a mere £40,000. No water, electricity or gas and not a lot of land to come with the purchase.

A few photographs of the Tamar bridges, Brunel's original railway bridge of 1859 to the right and the 1960's road bridge to the left. Despite being taken at night, with a hand held camera in a strong wind, they are not too bad.

Looking downstream.

I took this from the site of Silver Street, where Mrs P's great great grandparents once lived. They would have watched as Brunel's bridge was built.

And one more for luck.

 

I have a cunning plan.................

Steve Bell. Guardian 7th February 2019

Mrs May went to Northern Ireland to tell the Irish people all about Ireland. Ireland is a big island, she told them. It’s got water around it. Blue water. The same colour as the Conservative party, which means that she really cares about it. Ireland has fields. It has roads and houses. It has hedges and trees. No one cares more about Northern Ireland than she does, which is why she only spoke to the DUP and no one else.

She told her audience of increasingly bewildered Irish people, because she was being very clear, that she will do whatever it takes to keep the border open apart from keeping the UK in a customs union, keeping Northern Ireland in a customs union or signing up to the backstop. Theresa is committed to doing whatever it takes to keep the border open just as long as it’s not one of those things that really could keep the border open. This is because the union is precious, so very precious, as it delivers her the DUP votes that she needs to keep her show on the road. And Ireland has roads too, so they have so much in common.

Seemingly unaware that she was speaking to an audience which had largely voted to remain, Theresa pressed on. Mostly by repeating herself and saying nothing that made any sense. The single political talent that Theresa May possesses seems to be the ability to utter words that have a semblance of meaning, but as soon as they collide together in a sentence, all sense vanishes.

Faced with people who were obviously not impressed by Theresa’s vacuousness and who were demanding some concrete answers to the question of the Irish border, a question which was directly affecting their lives, livelihoods, and businesses, Theresa backtracked on what she’d been saying last week, which itself was backtracking on what she’d been saying the week before. This is a Prime Minister who changes direction more frequently than the scenic railway at Barry Island, all the while insisting that she’s going in a straight line and isn’t stuck on an eternal loop to nowhere.

Yesterday Theresa was insisting that there was still going to be a backstop, it’s just that some changes were required to it. That’s the same backstop that she’d told Arlene Foster and the DUP just the previous week that was absolutely, positively, definitely out of the question. The DUP have been very upset by the EU’s refusal to renegotiate the backstop. Arlene Foster called the EU intransigent, which is a bit rich common from someone intimately involved in the stand-off of Northern Irish politics.

The EU has repeated that the Irish backstop is not up for renegotiation. It only exists in the first place because of the red lines of Theresa May. It is only necessary because the UK has proven that it cannot be trusted. This is a British government which, with its exceptionalism and its constant demands to have all its cake after eating it, has trashed whatever residual goodwill it once had in Europe. Every change in course from Theresa May, every reversal of a previously held position, and the trust and confidence that the EU has that it’s dealing with a serious negotiating partner vanishes. There’s now no trust left in Britain. Negotiating with the UK is like negotiating with a jelly. Although even a jelly is able to hold its shape for longer than ten minutes.
 
Faced with a UK government which has no clue, no plan, and is plainly just making things up as it goes along and whose political aims consist of getting the Prime Minister through the next ten minutes, Donald Tusk now speaks like a man who has no tosses left to give. He wondered what the special place in hell looked like for those who backed Brexit without so much as the sketch of a plan, he told a press conference on Wednesday.

Unsurprisingly, the Tory press had a field day with Donald Tusk's words. Here's a cartoon by Bob in today's Daily Telegraph.

The Brexists were outraged, which to be fair is their baseline state. What an insult to the British people, they harrumphed. Although here we are over two years after the EU referendum, with less than two months to go until the British government’s own chosen date for Brexit, and they still haven’t come up with a plan. The nearest that they have is unspecified “alternative arrangements” for the Irish border. That’s not a plan, as it encompasses everything from the invention of teleportation to the insistence that goods can be transported across the border on the backs on unicorns, but still manages to rule out anything that counts as realistic. Even Baldrick’s plans were more cunning.

Brexit is almost upon us and the Tories still don’t have a Plan A. And that's because they’re political illiterates. Before you can write a plan you need to know the alphabet. This bunch of clowns would struggle with a unicorn colouring-in book and a crayon. It’s not so much a Plan A as – plan, Eh?
 
From my perspective, that special place in hell is being lectured to by a Prime Minister I didn’t vote for,  who treats us with contempt and who insists that she has a veto over our future. A special place in hell is the loss of our employment and civil rights that awaits us under Tories whose hands are no longer tied by Europe. A special place in hell is Brexit Britain.

Charge of the (politically) Light Brigade

Fantastic news. Mrs May has set up a working group 'The Alternative Arrangements Working Group' (but not so alternative as to be cross-party) to see if they can come up with a solution to the Irish Backstop débacle. Perhaps I'm being too cynical (can anything that includes Damian Green be successful?) but I predict its first meeting will go something like this:

- This backstop thing.
- Yes?
- We could propose a time-limited one?
- EU has said no.
- One we could cancel any time?
- Already rejected.
- What about technology?
- We can’t even implement a new train timetable in our country!
   [Awkward pause]
   [Another awkward pause]
- OK. let’s meet again tomorrow.

Just in case you've forgotten, the backstop is there because, to meet the terms of an important international treaty (The Belfast Agreement), there must be no border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. But, if the UK leaves the EU, there has to be a border between the EU and the UK (or, to be specific, Ireland and Northern Ireland). And that's the Conundrum.

Another conundrum is why no one gave any thought to that (did you, Posh David Cameron? Or Mrs May, who was Home Secretary in his Cabinet at the time) when they proposed this referendum. No one said: “how will that work with the land border with Ireland, Dave?" Oh dear, no. Probably that’s because the people behind the Brexit campaign barely knew that Ireland had left the UK around 100 years ago. So, the solution, for the moment, is for the UK to have a transition period and to remain closely tied to the EU, not taking back control of its borders, not taking back control of its money and not taking back control of its laws, just like the British people voted for…..or so we are told. Of course, the real Brexiteers don’t want any of that nonsense. “Leave means Leave” after all! And they most certainly don’t want this situation to be open-ended as surely it must be…until, or if, a solution can be found.

The DUP, which, you will remember, Mrs May bribed with a billion quid here and there, absolutely will not tolerate a border in the Irish Sea because that would make Northern Ireland less British and her majesty would somehow seem less important. So that’s another bright idea gone. You can see how complicated it’s becoming - and it's all inflicted on us by the Tories.

It has long been said that there is an electronic solution to the conundrum. Indeed, it was only yesterday that Home Secretary Sajid Javid said an alternative arrangement to prevent the return of physical checks on the Irish border "can be done" with existing technology. If this is the case, let's have some answers to a few questions

• Where is this technology?
• What does it cost?
• How long with it take to install?
• How much equipment will shippers/transport companies need?
• How will it be guaranteed?
• How many staff will monitor it and how much training will they and hauliers need?
• Who will pay for haulier training on either side of the border?
• How will it deal with roads that meander across the border 5 times in a 10-mile stretch?
• What about businesses that are partly in one country and partly in the other?
• How many crossing points are there?
• How many cars, lorries tractors cross each other points in a day?
• If it is such an obvious solution, why has it not already been installed?
• And, if it exists, why are there lorry queues at borders in Norway/Sweden and Switzerland/France. After all, Norway and Switzerland are seriously rich countries. If such a solution exists they can certainly afford it.
• Will this equipment be able to tell the difference between EU compliant goods and those that are not? Will it, for example, know a chlorinated chicken from a free-range one?

Still, with something like 6 weeks to go Mrs May has set up a working party, to see if the Tory Party can stop fighting with itself and find this elusive solution. If they skip tea breaks and don’t sleep maybe they’ll get there. As long as they can agree on something by the end of the week that should give them time to get an agreement with the opposition parties and then with the EU and get it all installed and up and running. If a week is a long time in politics, what is 6 weeks? 

God save the Queen - from Brexit. And the rest of us...?

Cartoon is by Ben Jennings: Guardian 4th February 2019

So we know now that the Queen is going to be safe after Brexit. I bet you find that just as comforting as I do. It’s just a shame that the rest of us are going to be screwed - royally. So we learn that contingency plans are in place to evacuate the Royals in the event of civil unrest after Brexit. Are they really necessary? After all, she already spends most of her time in Norfolk, which, let’s face it, is about as far from civilisation as it’s possible to get. Anyway, the biggest threat to her safety seems to be the refusal of her family to wear seatbelts or be bound by the Highway Code.

There are also plans in place to cope with shortages of food and medicine and the government is readying the army to go onto the streets to keep the populace - that's us - in place. It’s all a very far cry from the promised sunlit uplands and Brexit representing great and exciting opportunities. When they told us that Brexit was going to open up a whole new exciting vista of opportunities we didn’t think that they meant opportunities for looting and rioting, did we?

This is the quality of intellect that is possessed by the British establishment. “We are worried that there may be civil unrest because of Brexit. We need to make plans to evacuate the queen so she isn't attacked.” Not “Think we should reconsider?” “No, Brexit is the will of the people.”

This is the magnitude of the crisis that the British state has got itself into. Still, it's good to learn that, despite everything, the Windsors will be OK.

How many ways are there of saying NO?

Can we renegotiate the Irish backstop, please? Here's the EU’s reply in full.

не
ne
ne
nej
nee
no
ei
ei
non
nein
όχι
nem
ní féidir leibh
no
nē
ne
le
nie
não
nu
nie
ne
no
nej

Both Jean Claude Juncker and Michel Barnier have now officially responded to the UK’s demand for a reopening of negotiations and the removal of the backstop to ensure that the Irish border remains open. They said no. They said that vague aspirations for an unspecified alternative do not make a plan. They said in the clearest possible language that they are not going to renegotiate. They said that those who are now demanding a reopening of negotiations are those who themselves negotiated this deal. So why should anyone believe that the UK will adhere to any future deal that can be agreed too? They said that they did not understand the blame game that the UK is now trying to play. It was the closest thing possible that you can get while using measured and polite diplomatic language to saying “up yours.”

On Tuesday, the House of Commons voted for unicorns and for pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. The EU is not going to accept it. But far more importantly, this was a vote by the Tories and for the Tories to keep the Tory party together. A vote which, unbelievably, 14 Labour MPs supported. To their eternal shame, the House of Commons decided that it was far more important to achieve a temporary truce within the Conservative party than it was to respect the Good Friday Agreement and ensure peace in Northern Ireland.

The EU, unsurprisingly, is less than impressed. Theresa May now wants to renegotiate the deal with the EU that she herself had already agreed to, and replace it with some vague alternative that she either cannot or will not define. The position of the UK is that it’s now up to the Irish and the EU to come up with a solution.  Seriously.  No wonder no one trusts the British government. The negotiating position of the UK is now that a no deal Brexit would damage the EU and therefore the EU will fold. But that’s not how the EU sees it. As far as the EU is concerned Brexit will be a one off event from which it can recover, but the destruction of the single market and customs union which the UK is demanding will last forever. For Britain, the effects of a no deal Brexit will be far more severe, and will last forever. It’s like basing your negotiating strategy on putting a gun to your own head and insisting that you should be stopped from pulling the trigger because someone else will have to clean up the blood spatters.

The House of Commons is a pathetic sham. The two main British political parties are obsessed with scoring short term political points against one another, and incapable of seeing any larger picture. Both of them are blind to the reality of a medium sized European country that cannot, will not, face up to the truth that it lost its empire generations ago. They court cataclysm because they believe that Britain is too big to fail. It cannot enter their tiny narrow little minds that the political and economic disasters which have befallen other states can befall the UK too, because in their imaginings this is an island nation protected by the unassailable moat of the English Channel.

So they lash out, blaming everyone else for their own failures and shortcomings. It’s never the fault of Blighty. It’s never the fault of Brexit. It’s the fault of the Irish for insisting that they are an independent sovereign state and acting accordingly to protect their own interests. It’s the fault of the French and the Germans for always resenting the British. It’s the fault of the Italians and the Spanish for being jealous. It’s the fault of the Scots for not believing in Britain.
What we are witnessing in the House of Commons this week is the historic betrayal of the UK by Britain’s political parties. The British political class has trashed any residual belief that our European allies might have had in the UK’s good faith. And all in pursuit of solving the internal political disagreements of the Conservative party.

Labour is no better. Even now, even at this late stage, even with so little time left to go, Labour is still pursuing unicorns with equal fervour as the Tories. The party’s leadership still talks of the fantasy of a jobs first Brexit, as though there were two years left to negotiate it and not two months. The death of a second EU referendum lies at Labour’s door. The failure to wrest back control of Commons business from an overweening and arrogant minority government with dictatorial tendencies is the fault of Labour.

Common sense is often defined as something that’s self evident and therefore does not need to be proven. Remaining in the EU is common sense.

Meanwhile, north of the border.

 We lived just outside of Edinburgh for a couple of years from 1974 to 1976 and, back then, the SNP was more an object of ridicule than a political force. How things have changed since those days. I'm all for self-determination and am a staunch nationalist (Scottish, Welsh, Irish etc etc) at heart. Because of my early baptism in SNP politics (thank you, Jim and Joy Deacon), I've always tried to keep abreast of what's going on north of the border and it will be interesting to see how things develop after the recent arrest of Alex Salmond.

His arrest on fourteen separate charges including breach of the peace, sexual assault, indecent assault, and attempted rape is going to cause a storm in more ways than one. There is going to be a howling gale of British(English?) nationalist gloating, of finger pointing, and taunting on social media and in the pages of the anti-independence press. These are serious and shocking charges and this is a very big story. However it must never be forgotten that Alex Salmond deserves due process and so do those who made the allegations which led to his arrest. He is innocent until proven guilty and he deserves a fair trial, if, indeed, this matter goes to a trial. Those who made the allegations against him deserve a fair hearing. That needs to be said, because it is a point that is likely to be lost amidst the rush to judgement in a hostile press and the insults and slurs that have already started to fly on social media. Salmond deserves to make his case, and the case of those who made the allegations against him must be heard equally as well. The Scottish legal process must be respected: justice demands it.

Opponents of independence have always been keen to personalise the independence cause. They have consistently sought to portray the desire for independence as the personal construct of, first, Alex Salmond, and more latterly of Nicola Sturgeon. As sure as night follows day, they are going to seize with unseemly glee on the arrest of Salmond and the court case which will follow should the Procurator Fiscal’s office decide to proceed with a trial. It’s all their anti-SNP Christmasses come at once. Salmond is a giant of the Scottish independence movement, but he is not the movement. He has had and continues to have a huge, albeit diminishing, influence on the independence movement, but he is not the reason for independence. The movement is bigger than any individual. The reasons for independence are not embodied in any one person no matter who they are, despite what some in the media are already hinting as they try to make political capital out of the situation.

Let's not forget that, above all, the reasons for independence are to do with the consistent and continual failures of the British state and the British political establishment to respond to and to act on the democratic desires of the people of Scotland. The story of independence is the story of the systemic failure of the British state, that remains unchanged no matter what personal failures are alleged about any individual. Making the case for Scottish independence means making the case for a nation in which the government is democratically accountable to the people of Scotland, elected by the people of Scotland, and which works in the interests of the people of Scotland. That case remains the exact same today as it did yesterday. That is why no matter what happens with respect to Alex Salmond’s legal issues, the reasons for independence will remain unchanged.  And, why, if I had the vote in Scotland, I'd still be supporting the SNP.

It's all Posh Dave's fault

Like me, perhaps you've wondered how David Cameron could have been stupid enough, what with Eton and all that expensive education, to think that a referendum on the EU would somehow pour oil on the troubled waters of  the civil war in the Tory party between the people like Ken Clarke, Anna Soubry on the one hand, and the-former-disgraced-minister Liam Fox, the-yet-to-be disgraced-former-minister Boris Johnson, Jacob 18th Century and Michael Gobby Gove, on the other. The most rudimentary intelligence would have concluded that bringing the argument, kept bubbling under for 40+ years, to the forefront of political life, was only likely to add oxygen to the fires of discontentment in his party. Now it seems that Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, has released information about conversations they had which may throw some light on his motivations.

It appears that our esteemed ex-prime minister failed to realise how being associated with his toxic party had damaged the Liberal Democrats and that, as a result, their seats in parliament were so diminished that there was no coalition. In fact, a small majority for the Conservative party, and thus no coalition partner was available to stop the folly and take the blame. Just in case you've forgotten, a small majority which his successor would manage, unbelievably, in an even more incompetent style, to lose. Remember the mantra 'strong and stable'?

He did all this, not because of any consideration of national interest but because he worried about splitting the party and imagined that was the likelier hazard than Britain actually leaving the European Union. When it turned out he was wrong, he shrugged and left the stage, humming a little tune (clink the link to watch) with the jaunty gait of a man who has never had to clear up his own mess; whose tables have always been laid before he arrives and cleared by the staff after he leaves.

And now, nearly two years later, he tells us he thinks he made the right choices. Now we know that former prime ministers aren’t generally in the business of trashing their own legacies and, since the Brexit plebiscite is certain to be Cameron’s biggest contribution to the history books, he doesn’t have much incentive to think of it as a monumental blunder. Just as Blair presumed his silver tongue would seduce the UN into backing that legality-conferring second resolution, Cameron blithely expected to charm fellow European leaders into doing his will. He had the public-school arrogance to believe that he could negotiate a deal with his EU partners so good that he would win a subsequent referendum… a huge miscalculation.

And as a result of his misjudgement, the Tory party, which he thought he could bring together with the referendum plan (and then blame the Liberal Democrats when it all fell apart) is now engaged in what seems to some may be a terminal civil war. Oh well, if nothing else good comes out of Brexit, the damage that it will have done to the toxic Tories is a small chink of light in the darkness.

Nice one, Dave. Be careful what you wish for. It may come back and bite you on the bum.

Sun, stiles and snowdrops.

This was a good walk. Not too far to drive and with sun (blue skies most of the way), stiles (lots of them! Must have been 20+ but who was counting?), snowdrops (not quite at their best but giving a good show) and spires (at Linkinhorne and South Hill). And the next day, it poured down so we were lucky to fit it in.

We started and ended at the South Hill Parish Hall in Golberdon, which is about 2 miles from where we live. The 7.6 mile route took us north-ish along the Lynher Valley to Linkinhorne and then back to Golberdon via South Hill and Morniick. A delightful combination of farmland and quiet country lanes - and stiles.

Looking towards Bodmin Moor, with - left to right - Caradon Hill, Cheesewring and Sharpitor. Done 'em all.

Snowdrops in sunlight. Give it another week or so and the displays will be amazing. They'll be followed by hosts of daffodils and drifts of bluebells. Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are one of the first bulbs to flower and are a signal of the start of spring - a little premature, methinks. The flower is a symbol of hope - hope for a good year to come. And I'm not thinking of Brexit. Galanthus, by the way, means 'milk flower'.

Crossing the Lynher via a narrow clapper bridge. At this time of year, it's not the width that is the problem, rather the generous covering of very slippery moss and lichen. We've yet to lose someone but I always have my camera primed for an action shot of someone getting wet.

Just an old oak tree. Is this what a blasted oak looks like?

Our group of intrepid walks negotiating yet another stile. At least this one had a handrail to aid climbing the vertical stome wall. Look at the blue sky.

According to legend, the snowdrop became the symbol of hope when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. When Eve was about to give up hope that the cold winters would never end, an angel appeared. She transformed some of the snowflakes into snowdrop flowers, proving that the winters do eventually give way to the spring.

The interior of St Melor's church in Linkinhorne. Its services are probably the most traditional locally and they even hold a regular choral evensong. The patron saint of St Melor's is St Melorus, a saint with a fascinating backstory. He was the son of Melianus, the Duke of Cornouaille, in Brittany, France.  When he was seven years old, his uncle, Rivoldus, killed Melianus, so that he could become the Duke. To make matters worse, he cut off one hand and one foot of his nephew Melorus, and forced him to go to a monastery.  Somebody gave the poor boy a silver hand and a brass foot.  God worked a miracle, and soon Melorus could use his silver hand and brass foot, just like his real hand and foot. These prosthetics also grew in size as the boy grew. Melorus advanced in virtue and holiness and by the time he was fourteen years old, he was working miracles.  Rivoldus then became afraid of his holy nephew and asked the boy's guardian, Cerialtanus, to get rid of his nephew, Melorus.  Cerialtanus then cut off the boy's head.  The dead body of Melorus was the cause of many miracles, and God saw to it that his murderers all died.  Then Melorus was buried with great honour and respect. 

A stained glass depiction of St Melorus. There was no sign of either a silver hand or a brass foot. Given their scope for artistic licence, I was surprised not to see them feature prominently in this window. An opportunity missed, in my opinion.

Looking back across the fields to St Melor's. I like the ethereal appearance of the leafless trees.

Some house signs that caught my fancy on our way round. Wagmuggle? No idea what this means and no-one else, including Mr Google, seems to know either. Pennti Myghal? The owner of the house told me it was Cornish for 'Michael's Cottage' but he wasn't the eponymous Michael. 1817 JP? Yet another house owner told us that his great grandfather, James Pearce, had built the house in, you've guessed already, 1817.

The tower of St Sampson's church in South Hill. A story for another time but, compared with that for St Melorus, a very tame tale. But it is a very interesting church - the oldest around these parts.

The last of my interesting facts about snowdrops - the name does not mean 'drop' of snow, it means drop as in eardrop - the old word for earring. Fancy that.

Heading back to our starting point with Kit Hill and its stack as a landmark. We live half way up it - Kit Hill, not the stack.

Great Mis Tour Walk: January 20th 2019

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than on Dartmoor with my IWC? A walk sandwiched between visits to two teashops and a walk with some very nice weather. The storm clouds may be gathering over Westminster but getting out onto the moor restores the perspective.

We began and ended our walk (almost bang-on 4 miles) in the Four Winds car park on the Tavistock to Mortonhamstead road. Our aim was to 'bag' a couple more tors - Great Mis Tor and Little Mis Tor. An ascent of around 500 feet got us to the top of Great Mis Tor, with an easy descent back to the car. Views all the way.

Looking due east with, from the left, Middle Staple Tor, Great Staple Tor and Roos Tor. We've already 'done' these.

Looking back down the track with Kings Tor to the right.

Our destinations: Little Mis Tor to the left and Great Mis Tor in the background.

If we keep looking at the camera, do you think it will 'click'?

A boundary stone, delineating something or other. Could be a parish boundary or, perhaps, marking the extent of granite working? 

The rocks at the top of Great Mis Tor.

You come across all sorts on the moor. Brucie lives.

Looking west from the top of Great Mis Tor towards the Walkham Valley.

Clouds gathering over Plymouth Sound.

This shot was taken about 5 minutes after the previous one. Conditions were good but a little changeable.

That shimmer in the distance is the sea beyond the breakwater in Plymouth Sound. Maybe 25 miles away?

We passed a number of these boundary stones incised with D.C.P. These initials stood for Directors of Convict Prisons and delineated the lands belonging to the nearby Dartmoor Prison.