Ivy’s Maiden Voyage

Woke up refreshed and excited to go to another place that was reportedly a must see hidden gem. Bliss was chilling outside the side door as is the norm in the morning after her breakfast, when a stray dog came to say hello. She was very happy to see him and tried to engage him in a play session but he stuck his nose in the air and strolled off uninterested, much to her disappointment.

We drove quite a short distance to the “secret oasis” we were going to see. When we arrived Darren asked me to get him his bathing stuff together while he waited with Bliss, so I gathered together what we needed and we headed off.
A short 10 minute walk took us up a narrow path meandering beside a fast flowing stream of crystal clear ice blue water. The path was lined by swathes of honeysuckle and wild mint. The unexpected aromatherapy was so calming… lovely.
We reached a clearing that opened up to a large pool of crystal clear water, which was our destination. A spring emanating from an underground cave at the bottom of a limestone cliff. It must have been emerging from the ground at quite a rate to enable such a fast flowing stream that we’d followed up here.
Bliss wasted no time in leaping into the cool waters, as is her usual reaction to water. Darren was quite keen to get in for a swim and freshen up too, especially in such an idyllic location. So he started to get ready… but when he searched his rucksack for the crocs he needed to wear because the floor of the pool was covered with sharp rocks they weren’t there. He turned to me and said “Where’s my crocs? I’m sure when I asked you to pack them you said you had?”. “Well,” I replied all stroppy and indignant like. “I don’t remember you saying that! I’m sure you didn’t mention anything about crocs. I’m not your mum”. 😂 I really had no recollection whatsoever of that conversation!! And I wasn’t going to be gaslighted into believing I had!
So Darren didn’t get his dip in the ice water, and tbh I was probably as disappointed as he was, as I was quite keen to see him screaming like a girl as he took the plunge because it really was very cold water. 😜

We still enjoyed the beauty and scent of the place though and decided it wasn’t worth falling out over, even though we both believed with 100% conviction that we were right.

When we got back to Ivy we continued on our way, after a while of Darren being busy on his phone he looked up and announced “Ah!!! I knew it!” 🧐
He’d been investigating the onboard camera footage and had video evidence that he had specifically asked for his crocs and I had even answered him “crocs? yes” I’ll get them”

So I definitely think dementia has started to set in and I had to apologise for my earlier strop. 😱. Something I just hate having to do because it induces high levels of smugness from Darren that’ll last for hours while he teases me about it. 🫣

We continued driving and after a few hours we came to a place that had a sign suggesting a natural wonder to visit, so intrigued to find out what it was we went to investigate. Driving through some big gates and over a cattle grill we discovered horses with foals roaming around a vast open area. It reminded us a lot of the New Forest national park at home. We continued on along the very potholey dirt track through some woods at a snails pace until we reached a car park. Time for a bit of a hike because Bliss and indeed us need more exercise than we’ve been managing to date.
Following a route through the forest we walked up and up and up on our quest to see the ‘natural wonder’ that we were now so invested in reaching. Still no idea what it would be. At the point of almost giving up as we were pooped we came upon an immense rocky escarpment with a look out point. The views from it were vast and the cliff was so high (I couldn’t tell you how high) but it was a sheer drop and so long, it just went on for miles. We hadn’t a clue that the new foresty area we’d been in for hours was actually atop an enormous plateau. Here we saw a huge eagle, the biggest one we’ve seen so far. We’ve seen quite a lot since being here because we’ve spent so much of our time hanging around the mountains, which is of course where they like to be.

On returning to Ivy we had to decide where to stay tonight, here doesn’t feel right somehow. So we decided to move a bit down the road. This second place was ok but then we discovered there was no phone signal. So after studying the route for the morning drive it appears that we have no option but to go down the only road taking us to the bottom of the escarpment, with many switchbacks to navigate. Rather than endure the worry and not sleep well tonight thinking about it I decided I would rather get it out of the way tonight and find somewhere in the lowlands below. It seemed the best option so we did it, it was predictably scary and I didn’t like it, but we survived the switchbacks and we slept safe and calm in a not so picturesque parking lot on the edge of a small village. 😴Read more