Seaton - Sea and River

The weather was promising today so I drove further and went to Seaton.  To begin with I walked along the sea wall.  The sun was out and the sea was a lovely blue colour. Unfortunately there was a cold wind so after a short walk I turned back.  I was concerned about straining me knee so chose not to walk on the sand, but it did look enticing.

After lunch of a Breakfast Bap  from the beach cafe, I started walking through the park up the river.  It was more sheltered here and was really warm in the sun.  They appear to have done some work on the path and it was in good condition.  In the past once I reached the bridge the path was so muddy, or even flooded that I have had to turn back, but today I was able to walk all the way to Hessenford.  The path was not so good at the end and I had to pick my way through tree roots, but it was lovely walking right beside the river.  I saw quite a few fish, trout I think.  

The walk to and fro Hessenford was 5 miles and it was a lovely walk.  At present the leaves of the wild garlic and bluebells were a bright green, with only an occasional flower.  In a few weeks time it will bright white and blue and I hope to return then. 

Cothele in spring

Some places and walks are best done at certain times of the year   Cothele is definitely at its best when the daffodils are flowering.  This area of Cornwall was famous for growing daffodils in the past.  During the war the fields had to be dug up to grow vegetables.  The farmers did not want to lose the daffodil bulbs so put them in the hedges with the idea of digging them up after the war.  The daffodil growing industry never returned so many of the daffodils are still growing in the hedges.  They make a colourful journey down the narrow windy road  to Cothele

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I parked at Cothele quay and walked up through the woods to the gate into the Valley garden.  There were primroses everywhere and the rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias put on a colourful display as you approached Cothele House

As soon as I entered the gardens of Cothele I was struck by the daffodils.  Many of the yellow varieties were dying but there were lots of white ones.  As well as around the house there were plenty in the orchard.  There were lots of other spring flowers to admire and it was a very pretty walk around the gardens.

From Cothele House I walked down towards Cothele Mill.  When in the woods I took a path to the left too early so walked back to the road through the wood rather than along by the river as I planned.  Nevertheless I was a very pleasant walk.

 

Antony House Gardens

 As it is Easter Monday I anticipated popular places would be very crowded, so I booked to go to Antony House in Torpoint where I knew there was plenty of space for everyone to spread out and socially distance.  The House was not open but I did not mind as I wanted to wander around the gardens.  The  magnolia trees were magnificent and were underplanted with primroses.

There was plenty of space for children to run and play on the grass.  A new addition was an area where they could build dens.  The daffodils, although past their best, were still colourful.

Usually having walked around the gardens I make my way down to the Antony Woodland Gardens, which used to be free for National Trust members visiting Antony.  This is a much more interesting garden than the more formal Antony House Gardens.  There is a lovely collection of camelias and delightful walk along the river.  Today, however, the sign said that because of Covid national trust members could not enter this garden freely.  I wondered if it really was because of Covid or whether they were attempting to make more money!  You could not even walk through the woods to the river.

Instead I walked down the Ferry Road towards Jupiter Point.  As I approached the water the cold north wind was biting, so having seen the view of  the river with the viaduct  from a distance I turned around and made my way back to the car.

It was disappointing not to have been able to wander around the Antony Woodland Garden. It only takes about half an hour to walk around the House gardens and so I probably won't be back until I can combine the two gardens again. 

Along the River Plym to Plym Bridge

 In the past I have always walked from the Coypool Park and Ride along the cycle track to Plym Bridge.  During the lockdown I found this was such a popular path with cyclists that it did not make a pleasant walk.  I therefore decided to explore the other side of the river and discovered you could walk all the way from Marsh Mills Roundabout up to Plym Bridge.  This is a much better walk.  It is along the river for much of the way, with a clear path above the waters edge. 

 It then goes through woods with roots making the path uneven and there is one tree trunk to climb over but it is not a major obstacle. The river is quite wide but not very deep at the moment.

The path comes to a bridge and on the other side you walk through meadows to Plym Bridge.

This morning I parked on the edge of the retail park and walked down the road to the river, just by the caravan park.  The wild garlic and bluebells are not yet out, but before long they will make the walk even prettier.  I did see a couple of native bluebells out in a sunny spot by Plym Bridge.

The walk from the industrial estate to Plym Bridge took about 30 minutes.

Roborough Down - Leats and gorse

I parked the car in the car park on the road to Clearbrook immediately after turning off the main road.  There was queues all the way out of Plymouth but not many cars in this car park and on the walk I only saw 2 families and a few cyclists near the cycle path above Clearbrook.

I started walking on a defined path from the car park towards Yelverton.  The gorse was a bright yellow and made the views very colourful. 

Before long I came to the Devonport Leat and followed this to Yelverton Golf Club greens.   A lot of people were playing golf so I decided not to cut across their ground so headed down towards Clearbrook and back to the road. At the junction of the road and cycle path there was another well defined leat - the Plymouth Leat.   

At this point I turned right off the road and followed the grassy path until I came to the Plymouth Leat again and I followed this back to the car.

This was a very pleasant  easy 50 minute walk.

Lockdown Easing

 After nearly 3 months of not being able to travel far to walk, once we were able to go further I was determined to make the most of it and do some different walks.

Monday 29 March was the first day of the new freedom and I went to Ivybridge to walk up the River Erme as well as visit the garden centre.  It was lovely being able to walk up a bubbling river.

On Tuesday we drove to Saltash and walked through the Churchtown Nature Reserve down to the river and back.  There were beautiful views but it was a steep climb back up.

I needed compost for the garden so headed towards Ivybridge again, but this time went on to Ermington and walked along the river to Sequers Bridge.  I followed the Plym-Erme trail out and came back on the other side of the river.  The return leg was much easier and the Plym-Erme trail took you to the top of a large field and the path back to the river through the woods was not easy.

Today I drove to Wembury and walked along the coast path towards Heybrook Bay.  A lovely walk by the sea although windy.

Walks in lockdown

 I started this blog when I moved to Plymouth in 2011. It seems hard to believe I have been living down here for 10 years.  It was wonderful discovering all the walks in this area of the South West.  I particularly enjoyed tramping along the South West Coast Path and exploring National Trust property.  Then I decided to concentrate on the wild places of Dartmoor.  I have done separate blogs for each of these categories of walk and not added any entries to this blog for the last 4 years.  During the last year there have been restrictions because of covid and I have struggled with a bad knee, so we have done very few walks.  Although I am can walk further now I have to careful not to attempt strenuous or long walks.  Most of Dartmoor and the South West Coast Path is unsuitable for me. I have therefore been researching and attempting shorter, easy walks in or near Plymouth.  Today I thought I really ought to record these walks as they are still beautiful and worthwhile.

During  January, February and most of March we were told to stay at home or travel a small distance for exercise.  I frequently walked around Central Park or Victoria Park or through the city centre to the Hoe.  If the weather was uncertain I might have taken the car to Devil's Point and walked from there.  When I went for my vaccination I had to go to Mount Wise, while there we walked around the area and have returned several times as it easier to park than at Devils Point and the views are just as good.

As the time went on I wanted to have a change of walk so I looked to see where I could drive to within the recommended 5 mile area.  I was able to drive to Saltram to walk around the estate and to Hooe Lake to walk to Mount Batten and back.  I also drove to Oreston and walked to Radford Park, around the lake and then back through the woods.  Another time I parked at Coypool and walked up to Plym Bridge, but as this is also a cycle lane it was not a pleasant walk, so next time I walked the other side of the river.  This was a new walk and very pleasant.

I remembered when exploring the green places in Plymouth walking through Woodlands Wood and Budshead Wood, so I repeated this walk one day and then later walked through Budshead Wood out to Warren Point.

Dartmoor seemed to be outside the 5 mile radius but one day we went as far as Roborough and walked across Roborough Down so got good views of Dartmoor.

It is surprising how many lovely walks there are within a 5 mile radius of Plymouth.  I did not take many photos while on these walks, but maybe as I repeat them I will add photos to this blog.