{"id":2249,"date":"2022-07-18T04:59:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T03:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/?p=2249"},"modified":"2024-01-17T10:22:45","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T10:22:45","slug":"69-return-from-okehampton-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/69-return-from-okehampton-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"69 Return from Okehampton II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On what was forecasted to be one of the hottest days of the year in some parts, the scout again boarded the train for Okehampton, intending to return along the line visiting the places it once served.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passengers were noticeably fewer at St. David’s, where it was still comfortably warm mid-morning. A dozen passengers detrained at Okehampton and about the same boarded. Under the glass canopy it was sweltering. The Guard remarked on the difference, a reversal of the normal experience.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Dire warnings of the danger of heat exhaustion had deterred many from travelling.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The most trodden route to Okehampton must be the one followed last time, the “ancient ridgeway,” but the direction chosen by Roman army engineers, later followed by the railway builders, must have a good claim to antiquity. The scout was hoping to find a bit of it still in use and so it seemed appropriate to visit the site of the Roman fort above town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, as the scout was looking over the gate on Chichacott Lane, the fellow who lives in the end house came along on foot and asked if the scout was touring the area. On being told that the scout was intending to follow the Roman road – a rather exaggerated claim – the fellow gave forth on what he knew about the fort and the neighbouring encampment which serviced it and came under its protection. A dig had taken place on the opposite side of the road, where there is now housing, and a good idea of the scale of the settlement was obtained. The subject is well covered in the town’s Museum of Dartmoor Life<\/a>, which the scout will now aim to revisit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n