FIRST BLOGGING ANNIVERSARY AND THANK YOU ALL

Today, one year ago, the 29th of March, I wrote my first post. I wondered if anyone would ever read it and whether I'd be able to think of anything to write about or photograph. I must admit that it has become an important part of my life and an incredible help in filling the gap that not being able to ride any more left. I'm so grateful to every one who follows and leaves comments. I've met some fabulous people, if not face to face obviously, and found huge support in difficult times. I never expected that when I started. I imagined it would be a lonely experience, speaking into a void but how wrong I was. Thank you all. Today has been a good day, culminating in a Chinese takeaway from Exeter; a rare treat when you live where we do. Yesterday wasn't so good when I realised I couldn't find my purse and my precious glasses that I use for computer work broke. I have no idea what happened to the purse, but I've cancelled the cards and will be okay without the 27 pence it contained! The week old  drivers licence and photos of Origami boy as a baby are more of a wrench. The glasses have been mended with a plaster, Jack Duckworth style. Coronation Street is my secret indulgence....not so secret now. Amongst the relative rubbish are characters that have made me cry and laugh. No other soap like it. Probably best to stop there I think! Here are the glasses; not a great look for the school library.

Triggers 'companions' are still staying away but at least I've found them amongst the gorse forest now. I was starting to get worried that they'd somehow managed to escape. I would not have been popular. Here's one of them, skulking and looking warily at me. 

And Trigger eating his breakfast off the frosty ground. He prefers that to a bucket so I just tip it out now rather than watch him chucking it about with his nose.

On our way back from the school Easter service yesterday, Origami Boy and I followed Daisy up the drive on her way to her late afternoon and night time residence. She's getting very slow now.

 She was out on the moor this morning again looking rather beautiful:

A few more pictures from the last couple of days:

Bird table pictures:

Male Blackbird

Female Blackbird

The Mistle Thrush

Male Chaffinch just taking off

I hope you all have a great Easter weekend and thanks so much again for following and reading this. How strange that I have 52 followers after 52 weeks.....until next time, here's Snippet with a stick today.

MORWELLHAM QUAY

It was tipping down with rain on Monday but we decided to venture forth anyway and I'm glad we did; it was a lovely, if damp, day. Origami boy's companion told us he was a bit scared of the dark but said he did want to go on the spooky mine train ride. This was not a good move and thank goodness I had a torch in my pocket. Snippet was even worse and panicked as soon as we went into the tunnel too, much to the amusement of the very calm Labrador in the same carriage I'm sure. At one point I thought both he and the friend were going to jump out onto the rails. I don't remember much of the ride as I was clutching onto an eight year old boy - not my own - who in turn was clutching my torch and shaking. We felt terrible about it but he recovered very quickly and is now apparently saying he had a fantastic time.

In the 1860s Morwellham Quay was known as 'The Greatest Copper Port in Queen Victoria's Empire'. It lies in the centre of the Tamar Valley Mining District, three miles below the tidal reach of the river. The George and Charlotte copper mine was the only open copper mine in Britain and being only 23 miles from Plymouth and 6.5km from Tavistock and with transport links with both, made it strategically very important. It was exhausted in 1869 having opened in the mid eighteenth century. You can see the remains of the iron rails running across the site everywhere. The Quay's history goes back much further. In 974 AD Benedictine monks founded an abbey in Tavistock, and these monks constructed the quay at Morwellham on the Devon bank of the Tamar from where they could transport goods safely to and from Plymouth downstream. When the abbey was dissolved by Henry VIII in the sixteenth century the Quay passed on to the Russell family who became the Duke of Bedford family who owned it until 1956.

Minerals and ores actually began to be transported through the quay in the twelfth century when the mining of tin deposits began followed by silver and lead ore in the thirteenth century.  Copper followed soon afterwards and until the canal to Tavistock was constructed by 1817, it was all taken to the quay by pack horses. The canal ended 237 feet above the quay, so an incline railway, powered by a water wheel, was constructed (this one is a fully restored version on the site of the original):

Manganese was also found locally and the ore was crushed to a powder at the quay using water powered crushers and shipped out in wooden casks made at the cooper's workshop next door:

Sailors from all over the world stayed at the quay in the Ship Inn and bought supplies at the chandlers. Queen Victoria visited in 1856 on her way to stay with the Duke of Bedford. The ship below is the Garlandstone, the second last wooden merchant ship to be constructed in Southern England. Built by James Goss, she was launched in 1909 and has been at the quay since 2000. 

This is the Assayer's Laboratory where he would test and analyse the composition and value of the ore:

Outside the Cooper's Workshop, looking at the Forge:

I love these round pillars holding up the cart shed:

All the glass in this greenhouse, which I vaguely remember from the Edwardian Farm programme, is in the form of tiles; I've never seen anything like it:

A cobweb on the mast of the ship:

The weather on our way home was NOT nice and made the landscape look all smudgy, like a painting:

Dartmoor Prison looking ominous at Princetown:

My partner made a bird food perch for me last weekend; here are a few of its visitors - I love my camera!:

Sorry I haven't been visiting all your blogs this week - it's been a bit full on and it's taken me four days to get this post out! Origami boy will be drawing the winner of the sketch on Sunday so good luck. Incidentally, I hadn't realised I had the word verification thing activated so many, many apologies for the last seven months of verification hell. It's off now which should make things a lot easier. I also enabled anyone to comment and within hours I had a HUGE list of loan companies appear on the infamous "FRISKY FOAL NUMBER 2" post. I've switched that off now! Have a great weekend. It hasn't got above three degrees centigrade here for the last few days so I've given up listening to the forecasters who said it would be 8-14 degrees. Grrrr and brrrrr. Until next time.....the moon from the other night.