Devauden, the Cot & Lower Veddw
We opted for a short walk – partly because I finally have my new boots so I am breaking them in but really because both of us have too much going on this week to spare a whole day – sometimes that’s enough to reset your mind into a more tranquil state. And boy! We needed to do this today!
We parked in Devaudan and walked northwards, turning off the road before the end of the village. Straight into the landscape of gold, green and copper, soggy ground underfoot and rotting leaves. A fair amount of mud around to take the gloss off my new boots – they have been truly muddied now!
It was a strange day for taking photographs. The clarity of the air was good but there were significant contrasts between the shadows and the light. We met a herd of Jersey dairy cows – the pedigrees of Brookes Ice Cream – they came to welcome us to their domain. Now Chris and I are a little nervous of cows with good reason – they have been known to trample unfortunate walkers and we’v had our share of scrambling through undergrowth and over walls to escape in the past – but these were delightful. One even came up for hands on attention. There was a bull with them but he was as well mannered as his females and they all matched their surroundings beautiful, their Jersey coats blending in with the foliage behind them.
We skirted round their farm and said hello to the amiable horse munching hay as we passed, before the walk down to the Fedw Pool. This appears to have been drained – perhaps they do this every autumn to restock in the spring? We have only walked this way before in the summer so made a note to return in early spring. In the meantime, the ancient tree that has come down, offers an unusual decorative feature in silver grey against the brown pool of water in which it lies. Then on to Lower Veddw and one of those cottages which appears to have been snuggled into the woods for ever.
A brief stretch uphill into Chepstow Park, back home through woods which don’t change much and that’s reassuring in itself.
It was two days after the USA Presidential election and our conversation ranged from the difficulties of dealing with deep seated misogyny and racism, conversing effectively with people who are unable to rationally evaluate the evidence and how, after Brexit, it seems as if little will surprise us now. Even if we don’t come to any conclusion, it’s good to discuss these things and always mindful that if we, as white, middle class women are distressed and disturbed by what is going on outside our environment, how much more must other people be.
