Hembury Woods, Near Buckfast - Sunday 11th December 2011

It's amazing how you can live in an area for years and not know it!  We spied an NT wood and car park at Hembury Woods on the map and thought we should explore it.  The signposts wanted us to go to Scoriton and Holne, so we had to depend a bit on my pigeon sense of direction to find the wood. It was wet and muddy but lots of dog walkers around.  We are a tough lot!!

The path gave us a choice:  the Fort or the River.  We decided to explore the fort first. Read more:

Wellington Monument , Somerset - Sunday 27th November 2011

 As we were in Somerset, we thought we would have a quick walk to Wellington Monument which is owned by the National Trust now.  It has a fence all the way round it at the moment.  Dad remembers climbing up the dark spiral staircase inside it, when he was a boy, and peering out of the hole in the top. 

The path from the car park to the monument

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Bowerman's Nose and Jay's Grave - Sunday 20th November 2011

At last the weather was dry and sunny, so we set off on the long awaited trip to see Bowerman's Nose.  By driving to Bovey Tracey, then taking a left past Becky Falls, the narrow road winds through moorland to Manaton. This small village boasts a huge church which can be seen from all around on the climb up to Hayne Down.

A car park next to the church and village green is a good starting point

The view of Hayne Down from the car park with a glimpse of Bowerman's Nose

The path up on to the Down

On the top of Haynes Down with the church in the middle

On the top of Haynes Down with Hound Tor in the background

Huge collection of rocks on Hayne Down!

More rocks piled on top of one another!  but where is Bowerman's Nose???

Ha Ha, there it is!!

Bowerman's Nose

Legend has it that Bowerman ( a Norman Hunter) knocked over a witch's cauldron while out hunting with his dogs.  The next time he went out, a witch transformed into a hare and he chased her until he fell off his horse, exhausted, in the bog.  She then turned him to stone.

Looking back to Bowerman's Nose on the way to Jay's Grave

The path then leads onto Jay's Grave, across a few fields, and the grave lies at a cross roads.  Kitty Jay was a young girl who fell in love with a farmers son, and finding herself pregnant and realising she would be abandoned, took her own life.  As a suicide, she could not be buried in sacred ground, but was buried at the crossroads where the Devil could not reach her.  There are always flowers on the grave.

Jay's Grave

Bridlepath to Natsworthy Gate

Hound Tor and Haytor in the mist

The sun's rays are highlighting the village of  Widecombe in the Moor

We retraced our steps as the days are getting shorter.  We will explore Hound Tor and Haytor another day!

Dartmeet - Sunday 13th November 2011

As we drove from Plympton to Princetown and over the moors, clouds were sweeping across the sky preventing the sun from coming out. We decided a walk up to a Tor would be fruitless so instead we planned a walk at Dartmeet. There is a good size car park with toilets, a shop and tea room.  The river was quite swollen and canoeists were making the most of the river. There are two public footpaths from the car park.  one along the bank of the River Dart and one to Yar Tor.

Dartmeet Bridge with a Clapper bridge in the foreground

Public footpath runs along the bank of the River Dart

The path ( to the right) leads uphill to Yar Tor

The ground was quite wet and a lake had formed inland.

The path became more and more difficult to navigate.

The Little Newtake Plantation on the other side of the hill

The Clapper Bridge at Babeny

The route then continued on the road as several fields contained large cattle and I didn't really want to disturb them.  The clouds descended again and the walk became a bit of an ordeal!!

This is Yar Tor !

 We followed the road past Corndon Down on our left side and Yar Tor on our right.

Ahead loomed  Sharp Tor

Hut Circles on Yartor Down

My Merrell walking shoes had let in water while on this walk, I had had them about a year.  On the way home we called in on the shop I had bought them in Ashburton to enquire how long were they guaranteed. To my surprise the shop keeper took my shoes to return to the manufacturer and gave me a new pair. That's what I call service!!

Cotehele Quay to Calstock - Sunday 6th November 2011

Such a lovely day after the terrible rains last week, so we headed 12 miles away from Plymouth across the Tamar Bridge into Cornwall.  First of all we found a signpost to Halton Quay which is a wild life sanctuary on the banks of the River Tamar. I have included a map on the area at the end of this blog.

Halton Quay looking downstream towards Plymouth

St Dominic and his sister landed here

Halton Quay looking up river to Cotehele

Then onto Cotehele Quay, a National Trust property.  From here you can walk to Calstock beside the river through the woods.

Cotehele Quay

The path through the woods towards Calstock

A view of the viaduct over the River Tamar

The River Tamar

We are now the other side of the viaduct looking back to Cotehele.  Do you see the cornish flag?

A view from Calstock

There is a potter who displays her goods half way to Calstock and we cannot resist making some purchases!

The path back along the track in the woods is steep, but we return to Cotehele Quay and below are pictures of it.

A lovely sunny day, ideal for a brisk walk on a sunday afternoon.

This map shows Halton Quay, Cotehele Quay and Calstock all on the bank of the River Tamar

The Changing season at Plymbridge Woods Saturday 5th November 2011

Autumn has come quickly this year and I wanted to capture some of the beauty of the woods.  However, we did start our walk rather late in the day as it is getting dark early now as the clocks went back last weekend!

Roborough Down, Nr Yelverton, Devon - Sunday 30th October 2011

The weather forecast was more hopeful than it was in reality.  As Bob the dog became more anxious to get out for a walk, the mist seemed to descend more!  We relented and took him on the first part of Roborough Down, close to the main road out to Yelverton, so we couldn't get lost.

The road runs beside the Down

We are on Dartmoor National Park!

I think this is the remains of Drake's Leat

Trees have grown in the leat

Not many people or animals around, they were all sensible and were tucked up at home with a nice cuppa!!