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.

Cothele

We wanted an short walk in the morning so drove to Cothele and parked by the quay.  We knew the Hall was not open to see the Christmas garland till 11pm so went for a walk in the woods.  We started off going to the Mill then turned back and up the hill.  We thought this led to the House but we saw a path signposted to the Weir so followed that.  We had not been this way before and the weir was very pretty.

We returned to the car and then walked through the woods to the House and went to view the garland. It was brighter this year with lots of gold flowers.

Polzeath to Pentire Glaze

We were planning to follow the walk in the Ramblers book, "Short Cornwall Walks" and park at the National Trust car park at Pentire Glaze.  However, we missed the turning to this car park and ended up at New Polzeath.  As this was on the walk we parked there and walked from this point but in the opposite direction to the description.

To begin with we followed the South West Coast Path.  There were beautiful views  all along this walk and it was not too strenuous, although up and down at times, particularly where the path had to be diverted inland due to cliff falls.  In total we walked about 6 miles.

 From New Polzeath we had a good view across to Polzeath beach where many people were surfing.

 The first bay we came to after a short walk was Pentire Glaze Haven and we were surprised what a lovely beach this was that as deserted,

There was gorse growing on the cliff edges making the walk even prettier.

When we approached the Rumps we thought it looked like a dinosour.

Along the way we had seen the occasional bluebell, just coming out, but they were more prolific after we had walked past the Rumps, and the bluebells were out further.

There were clear signs from the coast path to the National Trust car parks and when we reached the sign to Pentire Glaze we followed this path back to the car park, then walked down the road until we came to a footpath that took us down to Pentire Glaze Haven.

When we got back to the car we carried on walking down to Polzeath beach.  Having crossed the beach we had a cup of tea a the TubeStation overlooking the beach before heading home.

Starcross to Exeter Quay

We caught the train to Starcross then started to walk along the Exe Valley cycle path towards Exeter.  This was a lovely flat walk, beside the river Exe and then the Exeter canal.  At times we had to share our path with cyclists, but some of they way there was a separate footpath for walkers.  Although we were on a road at one point, it was only an access road and cars knew they had to share the space with walkers and cyclists.  Most of the way we had a view of the water, and lovely countryside on the other side.  This included walking past Powderham Castle, and we could see the deer in the distance.

Our original plan we to walk to the Turf Hotel for lunch then catch the ferry to Topsham to get the train home.  However, after a wonderful lunch at Turf Hotel (salad and curry) we felt ready to walk all the way to Exeter.  Turf Hotel was in a lovely setting, and I am sure we will go back there again.  Fortunately we were they just after 12 and got our meal quickly, but it was busy and I am sure in high season and later in the lunchtime there might have been quite a wait for food.

We walked on another 3 miles until we came to Double Locks.  We have eaten at this pub in the past when we have walked out from Exeter.  Today we just stopped for a cup of tea and cake.  It was very crowded and we felt we preferred Turf Lodge.  

Having been refreshed we continued on to Exeter Quay and then walked to Exeter St Thomas' station. Altogether we had walked 9 miles and we were tired, but it had been a good day. In future I would probably do the walk from Starcross to Turf Hotel, but not go on all the way to Exeter.

Wheal Jewell reservoir and Lydford Gorge

I love walking on Dartmoor, but like to have walks with definite paths so there is no danger of us getting lost..  I was therefore pleased to find the walk at http://www.richkni.co.uk/dartmoor/betsy.htm which said it was a walk with clear paths.

The walk starts off the main road just north of Mary Tavy. We found it difficult to find where we had to park to start the walk, but eventually we found where we needed to stop by the path up to the Wheal Jewell reservoir.  The walk was easy as it was flat and with wide ranging views.  We could see the Wheal Betsy mine works but as there was no definite path to it was did not go to see it closer but instead stayed on the path to the Wheal Jewell reservoir and then walked around that and then back again on the same path.

The leat that flows into the reservoir

Pool beside the reservoir

Wheal Jewell reservoir

As this had only been a short walk we drove on to Lydford Gorge.  We walked down to the Devil's Cauldron then returned to the car and drove to the other end of the gorge and walked to the base of the White Lady Waterfall.  The wild garlic was out, but only a few of the bluebells.  It won't be long before the woodlands around this National Trust property will look wonderful.

Devils Cauldron

River rushing through the gorge

White Lady Waterfall