Saltram in November

Although it was chilly the sun was shining and the sky a lovely blue so we thought we would go to see the autumn colour in Saltram.

As we walked into the courtyard we saw they were preparing for the Christmas Festival and the Christmas tree was already up in the marquee covering the courtyard.

There were also two Christmas trees either side of the front door of the House.

There was lots of colour in the gardens.  The most spectacular was from the leaves on the acer trees.

There were also some flowers still out, in particular the nerine lilies and michaelmas daisies.

There was a new sculpture in the garden, a white tern. It looked beautiful.

Burrator in November

It was a grey morning on Saturday, but not too cold, so we thought a brisk walk around Burrator would be good.  We parked at the dam and saw the water was gushing over it.

The trees were gradually turning colour, it was a pity the sun wasn't shining on them as they would have been more attractive then.  Nevertheless we could still see reflections  in the reservoir.

As we walked to Norsworthy Bridge there were lots of streams flowing fast into the reservior.  The waterfall was as pretty as ever with the fallen leaves covering the ground.

The trees around Norsworthy Bridge were in full autumn colours and looked wonderful against the fast flowing water.

Lanhydrock in early autumn

It was a sunny October day so we thought we would have a walk around the Lanhydrock Estate. We often go to Lanhydrock but usually park in the main car park then walk down to the House and Gardens and from there walk through the woods to the river Fowey.  It is a lovely walk, but it is all uphill on the way back.  So today we decided to park the car at Respryn Bridge and do the walk in the opposite direction.

The river Fowey was flowing fast and it looked very muddy as it had been raining hard over night.  I had hoped that the trees would be colourful as their leaves turned to reds, oranges and yellows, but they were mainly green so not very interesting.

When we got to the Gardens around the House the herbaceous borders were still very colourful.

It was very nice walking down the Avenue back to the car.  It was so much quicker and easier than walking up!

Saltram in October

It has been a mild autumn so far and today was grey and cloudy with occasional showers.  We did not want to go far so thought we would wander around the gardens at Saltram House  and see what signs of autumn there were there.  We just got into the gardens when it started to rain so we quickly made our way to the Craft Gallery in the Chapel, and browsed around there admiring the art work until the shower past.

Most of the trees still had green leaves on them, but we had not walked far into the gardens before I came to this beech that was showing the wonderful autumn colours.

  
There were not many flowers in the beds, but I did see this one that looks most tropical.

Ususally when we walk in these gardens we walk up the Lime Avenue and then around and back via the Orangerie and Chapel.  Because of the rain shower today we walked in the opposite direction.  Therefore we did not notice the cyclamen in the Lime Avenue until we came to walk down it.  It was a spectacular sight.

Cadover Bridge

It has been a long time since we visited Cadover Bridge but recently this part of Dartmoor has been mentioned to me a number of times so I thought it would be good to go there again.  We drove through Plympton to Wotter where we had been told there was an excellent view of Plymouth.  However, it was a misty day and we did not see very much.  Driving on through the clay works was not a very attractive route but we were soon onto the moor which was much more pleasant.

We parked at the National Trust car park at Cadover Bridge.  In the past we have walked from there to Shaugh Bridge, but today we decided to walk up the river.  The first thing I noticed was the sheep grazing by the river.  Most rivers on Dartmoor are fast flowing over boulders, but the river Plym at Cadover flows more gently and I was reminded of Psalm 23 "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters"

 

We crossed over the road by the bridge and started to walk up a small road parallel to the river.  We only walked as far as Trowlesworthy Warren House as the sky was threatening rain.  But as it held off once we were back at our car we did a short walk through the woods in the opposite direction.

It was surprising how quickly the river went from flowing gently to rushing down past boulders.  It seemed like a completely different river.

Although there were some brown, dead leaves on the ground most of the trees were still green.  There were lots of acorns around and some other berries on trees, but no magnificent autumn colour displays yet.

We did not return to Plymouth the way we had come but continued on the same road until we came to Yelverton,  Driving this way over Dartmoor was much prettier than the other way.

Heather on Haytor

I wanted to see the heather and gorse on Dartmoor.  According to a Dartmoor National Park leaflet there was a lot around Haytor so I looked for a walk in this vicinity.  Again the Park Authority obliged.  They have an audio walk that you can download from their website.  I printed out the instructions and map and we started walking from the Information Centre at the foot of Haytor.  It was very useful to have such clear instructions and interesting to be given background information on what we passed and saw.

To begin with the heather and gorse was a little disappointing, but as we walked further there was a better display.

As well as admiring the flora there were stunning views to various tors in Dartmoor.  It was very interesting walking around the pond in the Haytor Quarry, and it seemed so unusual to see water lilies growing there. We walked as far as Smallacombe Rocks, but then turned back as we did  not have time to do all the 6 miles of the audio walk.

Most of the way the path was good although we had to pick our way carefully through granite stones as we walked around the base of Haytor.  The view between the two main rocks  was spectacular - you could see all the way to the South Devon coast.

This was a very pleasant walk and I would like to do the second part of it another time.

Par to Fowey

We caught the train from Plymouth to Par - a pleasant journey as the train (the 9.24 to Penzance) was very quiet, having started in Plymouth.  From Par station we walked down to Par Beach a distance of about .75 miles.  We walked along the back of the beach on the dunes to the far end.  Par is a lovely large sandy beach, it is a pity about the industrial site at the side of it.

As we walked through the car park we missed any southwest coast path sign and so walked to the road and a long way around until we came to the southwest coast path from the Saints Way.  Once we were on the path it was easy to follow it to Fowey.  As usual the path went up and down, but the views were spectacular all the way.

A view back to Par Beach

 After a while we came to Polkerris and we thought this was a lovely beach and harbour.  The sand was fine and there was lots to watch as people were canoeing and windsurfing .  There was also a lovely art gallery there to browse around.

Polkerris

The next stop on our journey was  Gribben Head.  It seemed to be a long time before we saw the tower on the top of this headland and there was lots a climbing so we were glad to be able to rest when we got there.  Up to this point we had been having views of St Austell Bay, but once we were over the top we could see the River Fowey estuary and coast down towards Polperro.

View from Gribben Head

Looking back to Gribbin Head

The walk continued undulating, with some steeper parts, but it helped to see the finishing line.  On the outskirts of Fowey the path signage was confusing as there appeared to be 2 different ways you could take and still stay on the coast path!   Initially we stayed on the top path and started to walk through woods, but that took us away from the coast and so we turned around and headed down to Readymoney Cove.  This was another pretty beach and the walk into Fowey from here was lovely with views of the river and boats between houses.  

A view from Fowey

View across to Polruan

 Once in Fowey we spent an hour wandering among the shops and admiring the views before heading up the hill to catch the bus back to Par Station.  This had been one of the prettiest sections of the coast path we have done and well worth the effort expended.