I think it may be spring, finally...

Mid-march, and finally the weather is turning. Skylarks, primroses and heavily pregnant sheep were the outstanding natural features of today's walk, far outweighing (for me, anyway) the 'sights' we went to see. No hat, no gloves, boots worn but not necessary (no mud); I wimped out and changed my fleece for a waterproof in the car park as we assembled because a Big Black Cloud appeared overhead, but it went away again and we had glorious spring sunshine and a gentle breeze. Lovely. What Sunday morning walks 'should' be, but so often aren't...
We assembled in the car park of the Miner's Arms at Hemerdon for a walk planned to include a visit to the workings of Hemerdon Mine before lunch. It was a one-way walk rather than circular so involved a bit of logistics carrying eight walkers (and one dog) to our planned starting point in a helicopter flying field. Model helicopters, but definitely flying, which led to minor misgivings in the part of our drivers as to what precisely they'd tell Churchill if we came back to find one of the whirlybirds had whirled into a car!
Uphill from there across a long stretch of recently burnt moorland. Surely they don't burn it deliberately this time of year? Skylarks show up astonishingly well against a black background, anyway. Then down through woods to a ford and back up again to the old mine. My expectations of old mine workings have become Cornish, it would seem - I was expecting stone buildings and chimneys, perhaps a waterwheel or two - but Hemerdon was a tungsten mine of 20th century origin, all broken concrete and metal reinforcing, crumbling but not at all in a picturesque way. There are, apparently, plans to expand and renew the mine on an open cast basis in the near future, so our walk leader kept reminding us that this could well be the last time we could walk that way.
All downhill from there back to the Miner's Arms, across a couple of fields of pregnant sheep, through pretty woods which are, apparently, a paintball jungle (complete with forts, graveyards and other scenarios to satisfy the inner cowboy or indian that all men hide within them) and down a quiet lane to the pub for lunch.
The Miner's Arms looks from the front like a typical old stone country pub, although it has a suspiciously large car park - and the bar part is old, traditional, flagged floors, low ceilings, the lot - but there's a large modern restaurant built on to the back. When the weather is slightly warmer than today they open the glass wall up and serve food on a big terrace as well. We'd not realised the significance of the date when we booked it a couple of months ago, but of course it was Mother's Day and therefore very busy. With a special Mother's Day Menu or nothing. The food was lovely, though, and the company as always even better.
It's been a long winter, this. Flowers, trees, birds, tadpoles, all delayed waiting for the sun. And today it happened, at last.