45 degrees

this is by far my favourite dartmoor dry stone wall, in terms of its sheer craziness by going up this 45 degree climb, its size (in places it's about 3m tall and a good metre wide at the bottom),and its stunning setting in an ancient oak forest.

and as an unexpected bonus, today i found the first wild bilberries of the year - growing in the forest rather than out on the open moor, much earlier than usual and so much juicier than last year's crappy efforts. so i spent a good 20 minutes stuffing my face and turning my hands and mouth dark purple.

last year was a very bad year for bilberries, this year is looking very promising so far - the forest floor is absolutely covered in them, i could stay there a month and barely make a dent in them.

(if you've only ever eaten those huge blueberries from the supermarket, bilberries are in a different league altogether - much smaller and intensely tasty.)