The last few days have been filled with mini adventures. We went for a picnic, drove to the seaside and ate local ice-cream on a promenade in Teignmouth listening to the waves, climbed a Tor on Dartmoor, and had our road blocked by three different breeds of livestock.

Much more entertaining than writing dissertations.

Wednesday was a beautiful day - cloudy but warm - so we packed sandwiches, a book, and a rug and headed for the university grounds. Beside Reed Hall the land slopes down, tree-studded and covered in flowers, towards a large pond with two fountains. We found a grassy space under the trees and spent just over an hour reading and eating and watching a squirrel playing.

As we left we passed this very odd tree - brittle with the strangest leaves. I've never seen anything like it. (Any ideas what it might be, anyone??)

Tummies full, we drove to Dartmoor, up and up and through warrens of tiny lanes (Lori was looking rather pale, whether because of the windiness or the impossibility of fitting two cars down such ridiculously narrow lanes with no speed limit, I can't be sure!)

Our mission was to find a Tor to climb.

(One of the tiny dots in the distance below -- our car)

Sitting down for a rest at the top of a Tor we were approached by the white Dartmoor pony (above), who proceeded to lick my shoes and Lori's legs. Those funny horsy lips look so comical up close, but for fear of him deciding the camera looked tasty too I didn't snap a shot.

Piles of sheep mingle with the ponies on the steep slopes. They're a little jumpy, but this one took an interest:

And now for the most amusing part of the trip. There we were, driving along the windy roads, only to find our route impeded by a herd of very quizzical cows. The roads up here are separated by cattle grids to prevent the cows crossing from one area of land to another, but there are no fields cordened off for them, so they roam around the roads along with the sheep and the ponies. The following pictures were taken from the car windows.

Speaking of sheep, this little fellow wanted to pose for Lori.

And then there were the ponies... They were much too engrossed in each other to notice the two lines of cars building up on either side, filled with camera-snapping hands. They took no notice as we drove past.

So there we have it. There's some joke here somewhere, about cows, sheep, and horses crossing roads, but I'm not feeling witty enough right now to come up with anything.

But in place of my witticisms, how about a rude cow?

:-)