Setting off from Holne for another day over the moor…and today there’s no pub for a lunch stop!

Fifty walkers leave the lovely Rugglestone Inn in Widecombe, heading over the moor to Holne.

The Drewe Arms at Drewsteignton has been a special pub for me & many others for a long long time. Playing there last night brought back memories of great sessions and of the legendary Aunt Mabel calling Time!, and of Charlie Hills singing. In the spirit of those days the Ramblers found some strength left after 21 miles and played a full-on set and a ceilidh. How some of the walkers found the energy to dance…but the dancers and the band on stage fed off each other and the shared enthusiasm was such that the dancing went on till 11pm.

The interior of the Drewe Arms is kept as it was in Aunt Mabel’s time, and Lawrence who now owns and runs it is determined to keep it that way and to bring back the music and the crowds enjoying great nights here. Big thanks to all at the Drewe Arms.

The night before , we played at the Tally Ho in Hatherleigh with people craning for a vantage point to see the band. There we finished with a session with other musicians joining us. The highlight was a rendition of The Grey Funnel Line by most of the women who have been walking, coaxed into public performance and wonderful harmonies by Rowan as our strange caravan has moved on.

Today: Dartmoor!

The Drewe Arms in Drewsteignton: JJ returns to a place where he played sessions thirty years ago. Tonight the pub has filled us all with great fish and chips, Morris sides have danced outside, and now the band is playing to a packed house….

The hardy few for the longest day’s walk !