After an hour's steep upward toil, through a thickly wooded gorge and along some very precipitous granite rock formations, you reach a wooden footbridge. Here the landscape's totally changed. Just dense bracken, a rough winding path, all slanted steeply up to a wide open sky. Somewhere, up there you think, is an ancient stone circle known as the Nine Maidens.
But no Dartmoor walk should be done, or needs to be done, without stopping to take in the atmosphere. This footbridge is a natural stopping point. You rest on its weather beaten beam, look down into the tumbling stream, and think at how it nourishes the woodland below. The air is rich with the smell of verdant undergrowth, moist rock and deep green mosses. Then you see an interesting tree, a little further on, growing beside the water.
At the tree, you sit down for a rest. Looking up, you see it's several types of tree, growing together as one. In front of you begins the wood that runs down into the valley. Behind you the bare path up to the Nine Maidens. But here, in this spot beside the tree, and for this little piece of time, you've found some pure, watery bliss. Feeling the tree's soft bark against your back and the luscious cushioning moorland grass beneath your outstretched legs, you let the richly spatial flowing water lull you into a delicious, dreamlike doze.
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* We captured the sound feel of this place only a few days ago on Dartmoor, above Okehampton. This 35 minute segment of time shows how a stream is made up of constantly yet subtly shifting formations of richly textured sound, that can be really helpful as a focus for an overly busy or overly tired mind.
** Over August we're pausing the release of new material so we can travel and find more quiet places. Instead we'll be posting collections of clips we made for Essex Wildlife Trust, along with links to the full episodes so you can listen without having to search the back catalogue. Thanks so much for listening and for your on-going support, including donations which we combine with our own money to keep the podcast going. This week we reached a significant milestone of 200k downloads. Have a lovely August and we'll see you in September!
137 Night rains amongst moorland trees (sleep safe)
136 Curling folding breaking waves (high-definition sound and sleep safe)
135 A natural sound report from the Forest of Dean
134 Night waves rolling onto Coldingham Sands (sleep safe)
133 Vivid rain - rolling thunder (very spatial experience with headphones)
132 A bird watcher’s outpost beneath the telegraph wires
131 A thousand years along the Creel Path
Daydream 4 - water rain wind
Daydream 3 - rain water woods (new material coming soon)
Daydream 2 - lazy summer days
Daydream 1 (a series of short August adventures)
129 Pristine quiet to early dawn (includes woodcock roding calls in full spatial detail)
128 Persistent rain (long, sleep safe, may ease heat fatigue when used in combination with a fan)
127 Mirrored ambiences from a summer meadow at Wrabness
126 The seawall and the night patrolling curlews (quiet, long, sleep safe)
125 May rain in the Forest of Dean
124 Midnight waves by the sea fort at Weymouth (sleep safe)
123 A sound-view from Orcombe Point on the Jurassic coast
122 Forest bathing in the cathedral of trees
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