My first day for a while that I'm not going to be on the coastpath as I head across North Devon. Stop for breakfast in a copse carpeted by bluebells.
I head up onto the rather bleak expanse of Bursdon Moor.
Then through a pine plantation to the village of Woolfardisworthy for a spot of lunch in front of the church.
The village of Woolfardisworthy is notable for a number of reasons. The first thing to note is that the village has an alternative name, Woolsery, which is actually how it is pronounced. It has connections to two rather unexpected organisations: tween-targeted loser of the social media battle, Bebo; and the Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ).
One of the founders of Bebo is reliving his childhood memories by sinking money into restoring the manor house, local pub and fish & chip shop.
The CFZ, which is based in the village, is focused on cryptozoology, the pseudoscience of discovering lost animals of folklore in the wild - bigfoot, werewolves, vampires etc. Jonathan Downes, the founder of the CFZ, describes an encounter he had at young age in the next door village:
"In the half-light we could see an amorphous shadow of what appeared to be an enormous black predatory creature crouching over the carcass of the roebuck. If you looked at it directly there was nothing to see, but out of the corners of our eyes it was clearly visible. That was just too much for us...To this day I am convinced that we encountered the Abbotsham werewolf."
Having left Woolfardisworthy/Woolsery I journey along more country lanes to the 13th century inn where I am staying the night.
