Plymouth to Taunton

My Final week long trip for the year; I should have been excited and planning for it but an incredibly stupid episode at work forced me to get on the market again in the search of a new job and job hunts do have a knack being great time hoovers. Not until I as reminded by Gavin that I was travelling in two days did I start making some bookings and it slowly dawned on me that this trip was going to be quite a logistic challenge, multiple long distance routes, two moors (hopefully without any flourescent hounds), and remote villages and a distance of 160 miles. Most of all though the fact that I would need on the job training to navigate my way through the moors using a map and a compass, the previous rule of green on the left and blue on the right wouldnt work any more now that I was going to leave the coastal path to go up North, If all went well I would meet the coastal path again on the penultimate day of my walk near Minehead.

The weather forecast was favorable for the week which was quite a relief after my last walk between Landsend and Plymouth. The issue that I would have to deal with this time would be the shorter days, while previously I could depend on the sun to be up till eight , this time round it would start getting dark much earlier and any major walks after five in the evening would be foolish.

So I got myself on the train to plymouth and after an incredibly long journey on account of all trains having to slow down to accomodate this lady who decided to have an evening stroll on a high speed rail track, I finally hit plymouth and quickly got myself to my hotel. Plymouth has some very nice B&Bs and the Seymour Guest House is surely top on the list.

I really must sort out my mobile chargers, At Plymouth I realised that I had infact brought along my old blackberry's charger. So I had two tasks to finish before I started my walks buy maps and buy a BlackBerry Charger. Plymouth is a city that wakes up early and I was able to sort both of these tasks and get on the ferry to Mountbatten Point by half nine. Would have been quicker if I didnt have to select seven maps from the whole Landranger series that covered my journey.

The walk from Mountbatten point was reminiscent of my previous coastal walks, climbing up and down cliffs , blue on the right and green on the left. An hour into the walk I reached the outskirts of Bovisand beach, from here on I was walking inland, leaving the coast for a long time. The start of the walk was beautiful - into the woods with a silent river beside the path that would lead me from one village to the next - Staddiscombe, Hollacombe, Spriddlestone - onto Cofflette creek and then sweetly into Yealmpton around two in the afternoon. Yealmpton is a nice village I found the nearest store to get some energy drinks inside me. The image I remember of Yealmpton was this couple who had just got married - probably in the church - and were enjoying champagne in a the back of a old red Rolls Royce. I started the last stretch of my walk beside the Yealm river for a while and then through a series of farms and woods and forests was landed into Ivybridge where I found the Sportsman Inn easily to rest for the night. Had a good dinner and some Doombar, funny how St Austell is still the local brewery even though I am miles away from it. At the disco I saw this lady who reminded me of someone I really fancied and who like the one I fancied was out with someone else but that didn’t stop her from smiling at me every chance she got. It’s something to do with the distance from London I guess - people are not afraid to smile.


I had followed the Earme-Plym trail from Plymouth to Taunton, the next day however I was going to start at the bottom of the Two moors way. I always find getting out of a village or town incredibly difficult using the Landranger maps, primarily because the road names are not marked. So after half an hour I finally found the start of the trail. Each Long distance trail is waymarked differently and while the charm of getting used to a new trail does add to the sense of adventure it does need some getting used to. The two moors way markers are laid at very large distances on an as per need basis. If you follow the general direction of a waymark you will meet another marker but probably a couple of miles down unless there is a need to change direction. While the scheme is logically sound unless you have a map and a campus and know how to use it you will suffer long stretches of anxiety between markers which is compounded by the fact that you are in the wilderness with nothing in any direction for miles - a feeling I have grown to love and miss now that I am back home in London.

The walk from the Ivybridge station and over a bridge took me into a tree covered path that suddenly opened up on the moors. The start of the walk was classic, firm ground steady climbs, one can do miles pretty quickly here. Winding across various hills and gradually getting away from all signs of civilisation. Around three miles in I left the main path to follow the general vague direction provided by small marker on the ground, up and down a hill crossing the river Avon and the into Huntingdon Warren. Here John Butler's walk (http://www.jbutler.org.uk/e2e/) moves away from the two moors way (twm) to climb a few hills. First Puppers hill, then Snowden hill , then Ryders hill . There are no paths here and the moors are streaked by the paths left by the mountain scooters, so one has to just follow the general direction of the hills walking over bracken and gorse of the moors. Given that I was walking in a dry weather patch the walk was brilliant and as long as I walked with soft steps I could walk wherever I wanted. Things got much more interesting in the stretch between Ryder’s hill and Comberstone Tor. Lovely views and an awesome walk. I was getting a bit concerned about time now as it was nearing 3 when I came down from Comberstone tor into Dartmeet. After having bought some energy drinks from Badger's Holt, I started walking beside the East dart and crossed it over the beautiful Stepping stones. From here on things became hopelessly difficult. The path was pretty damaged on account of rains and trees falling all over the place. the moor was wet here so I had to be very careful to avoid injury. I kept walking in the general direction of Laughter Tor and climbed up a hill and realised I was on the wrong hill altogether and then had to climb down through some pretty wet terrain to get down again. Climbing some serious bracken I found a bridleway to Bellever Tor. It was nearing four and I was getting pretty tired - I was happy to give Laughter Tor a pass and followed the briddle way towards Bellever. I mile in I took a turn towards what I thought was Bellever and climbed it. What a view across all directions from the top !! Amazing. I sat at the top and enjoyed my lunch trying to find the marking stones for Bellever and couldnt find it and then I looked at the hill towards Post bridge and there it was - I had another hill to climb before end of day!! So I filled myself with fluids and climbed Bellever. Bellever Tor is in the Bellever plantation and the path to Postbridge, my halt for the night, was right through the plantation; a hard path though woods gradually climbing down into Post bridge still 2.5 kms away. I reached Post bridge and found Beechwood house (http://www.beechwood-dartmoor.co.uk/ ) run by Andrew and his wife - a lovely couple very friendly and warm and a beautiful house. Andrew was kind enough to book me a place in the restaurant down the road for my supper. On my way to the pub, he checked if I had a torch and since I hadn’t made sure I carried his with me. I was a bit surprised but took it anyways. After a having dinner at a very homely pub - I remember I ordered an additional portion of bread as it was no nicely baked - I started walking up the road back to the B&B and then I realised why Andrew had ensured I had a torch with me - it was pitch dark, something I am not quite used to having lived in London for so long. No city lights to light up the sky and beautiful clear sky - a sight I will remember for a long time.

I had been trying to book an B&B for the next night but the signal in Postbridge was incredibly patchy. So I had been unable to book anything, I as waiting to find the first place I could get a decent signal to book my accomodation. Andrew kindly guided me to a shortcut that would help me get to Grey Wether's Stone (Dartmoor's Stonehenge). I followed the path and thought I was very close when I got lost. It’s very easy to get lost I realised on flat hills which all look very similar without a marker saying what hill I was on. And this is when I had to look at my map skills to get back on the right track again. The map suggested that If I kept a north bearing I would hit a forest in a mile or so. So I started walking through the open moors in a Northerly direction. The bracken here was soft and I had to be careful where I stepped as it was very easy to end up with a sprained ankle here and that would be a huge issue in the middle of nowhere. In a while I hit the long ridge - a path named because it is a long path on a very long ridge unsurprisingly - and was back on track again and hence had used the map for the first time to get me out of a spot - I was beaming:) Walking beside the forest and then veering right to first climb Stone Tor and then come down into Shovel Down only to climb again onto Kes Tor. From Kes Tor the walk was downhill first into the village of Teigncombe and then into Chagford. At Teignocmbe I was back on the Two Moors way and happy that now I had a path to follow rather than make paths in open moors. The path from Teigncombe to Chagford follows the Teign river and has some incredibly rich farmhouses on both sides. I remember seeing one where the lawn had a full sized cricket pitch with life size statuettes (umpires , bowlers, batsmen , fielders and a couple of spectators outside the ground) enacting a cricket match - surreal.

I was running late and got lost again while I was speaking to my dad on the phone outside Chagford. Here finally I got some decent reception and thought that it might be a good time to book a place for the night. Looking at the map I realised that I couldnt go beyond Drewsteignton as it would be too far too reach. I searched for B&Bs in Drewsteignton and there were no vacancies. I was now in trouble - I had to find a place to stay in Chagford. Searching the net I found a couple of candidates but they were all booked. So I had to search for places just outside Chagford and found one MoretonHamsptead 10 miles out of Chagford on the bus route. I didnt waste a minute booking that place and getting directions. So I walked up to Chagford to get a bus to MoretonHamsptead. The next one was in two hours !! I sat outside the bus stop seeing the beautiful village of Chagford - it wasn’t one of the normal villages - this was a very high class village, people very looked like they were very well to do and incredibly tasteful. The Village square had a couple of art shops, a patisserie, a flower shop , a restaurant. In many villages I had seen in the last couple of days I would be lucky if I could find a post office store. So I sat there being marlene on the wall seeing this village get on with its afternoon rituals. Quite charming really; Moms doing their shopping having picked up their children from school; A wife buying some special ingredients for the dinner in the evening; The old couple going into the wine store to buy some vintage wine; The village mayor (?) chatting with his constituents; The lady from the farm in her four by four dropping in with dog but some coffee. I could sit there for hours just watching the charming village in action. But it was a cold and windy day and I was feeling the chill as my sweaty shirt was sticking to my body and giving me the chills. I popped down to the corner shop and got a number for a local taxi and this old lady came over and gave me a lift to Moretonhamsptead

The Longhouse (http://www.longhousebnb.co.uk/) in Moretonhamsptead is probably one of the most charming B&Bs I have ever lived in. This used to be a traditional longhouse and Lorely and Peter have decorated the house with immense care and love. It’s one of those places where the moment you enter you get the feeling that so much care has gone in getting the house the way it is now that you don’t want disturb or change a thing. And Peter was most helpful , he actually helped me find my accommodation and bus route for the next day. I was tired after three days of walking and enjoyed the hot bath so much that I fell asleep in the bath and woke up to my own snoring. Moretonhampstead like the villages I had been encountering had flaky mobile reception and Peter suggested that I walk upto the church as people normally get a few bars of signal there. So after dinner I walked upto the church and found the number of a B&B in Morchard Bishop , and just when I tried dialling the number the church bells went off – so much for good luck. Those were the most wonderful bells I have heard – church bells always put me in awe with their beautiful sounds and this one was fantastic. After the bells stopped ringing I finally got through to the B&B in Morchard Bishop my stop for the next day. It was going to be a longish walk around 20 miles aggravated by the fact that since the first bus to chagford was at 9:50 I would be starting the walk much later than usual - so I would have to keep a very healthy pace throughout the day.
After a lovely breakfast I headed into the village and fetched from supplies for the day and waited for my bus. I caught the two moors way at the Dogmarsh Bridge, climbing up to castle Drogo and then into Drewsteignton a small but charming village. Frome here on the walk was on roads for a long time pretty much till Newbury. The path after that was primarily through woods and corn fields. At Paschoe dairy farm I had to give priority of way to a herd of cows being herded back to their shelters for their evening. I felt like a painting in the British museum being stared at – in my case the viewers were cows with salivating mouths and huge eyes. Walking through a number of farms I finally reached Morchard Bishop around six and was put up at this charming old lady ‘s house(must be well into her eighties). She booked me a dinner at the only pub in the village “London Inn”.
After a shower and bit of a kip I walked up to the pub. The owner of the pub Vera was quite a character well into her seventies – she managed the whole bar through the evening while her daughter did the cooking. There were a number of women in uniforms and on enquiring I was informed that they were here for the local skittles competition. I didn’t know what the game was like and later discovered the traditional version of ten pin bowling with teams playing against each other. Coming back to my table I found food was served. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I was starving but there is now way I could have finished what was on the table a huge steak and ale pie with a bowl of roasted potatoes , a bowl of veggies and a bowl of cauliflower and cream !! I could barely make a dent and was surprised that the whole meal cost me only 7 pounds !! I guess a hard working farmer would be disappointed to find anything less but it was way too much for a city slicker like me. I couldn’t have any breakfast the next morning as I was so full so the lady packed me a couple of Bacon sandwiches.
I had bought seven maps at Plymouth but none of the m covered the next bit – from Morchard Bishop to Jubilee Inn. I had booked accommodation at Partridge’s arms in Yeo Hill. I tried to check for maps at the post office - in vain. 22 miles without a map – scary!! Anyways I started walking and making sure I followed the signs as well as I could – I was lost within the first half hour but got on track soon. Around eleven I thought I should be half way to Withyridge nine miles from Morchard Bishop and checked with the couple of villagers who informed me that I had left it back a while back. I was a bit sceptical but couldn’t question local knowledge without a map so was jubilant at having walked nine and a half miles in 2 hrs (I normally walk three miles an hour !!). So I calculated that I had another thirteen miles to do for the day and had loads of time, so starting walking casually. At one I hit a mid-sized village and thought this must be Creacombe Parsonage. It was only when I started looking at the signs properly I realised this was indeed Withyridge - a place I thought I had crossed 2 hours earlier!! I had another 12.5 miles to do !! So I bought a couple of energy drinks and paced up!! And pace up I did , through farms and parsonages and gorgeous fields and the Knowstone moor I landed up in Partridge’s arms by five – I think that pace set my pace for the rest of the walking week.
Yeo Mill is a pure farming village, there is nothing but farms for miles and miles around. Partridge arms farm had been a family business since the 1850s and seemed to have incredible amount of history. The landlady saw me to my room. She was the most stunning woman I have seen in the late sixties I would think. A visual treat, the kind of beauty that just makes you smile and makes you wonder how beautiful the person would have been when younger. She offered me a ride to Jubilee inn the only pub in the vicinity, she wasn’t sure if they did dinner midweek and asked me to knock at her door in case I didn’t get a meal there - she would make me some sandwiches.
Jubilee inn, was an interesting place and had a skittles night on so the food only on a small menu. I ordered a burger and some cheesy-chips. On that night the cheesy chips stole the show L . I started speaking with Tasha and Chris (http://exmoorelectricalservices.com/default.aspx) at the bar and told them that I was walking upto Porlock via Hawkridge where I would be stopping to fetch supplies. Tasha suddenly went concerned and said – but there aren’t any shops in Hawkridge. She asked me to look into the Telephone booth on the path in Hawkridge and she will leave some sandwiches for me – and reminded me to definitely look into the booth. Tasha and Chris later went on to crush the local team at skittles whilst I left to walk back to my farm B&B. A mile-long walk down the road; it was dark and getting very misty. I was loving it. Barely 100ms into the walk a car stopped beside me and the guy asked me if I wanted a lift and I said Oh yes!! I would love a lift. And so the random guy went out of his way to drop me at my B&B.
The next Morning I started my walk , destination Porlock : distance a good 23-24 miles over some hilly terrain. It took me two hours just to get to Hawkridge , wouldn’t have been more than 4 miles but was just up and down in the moors – a beautiful walk. At Hawkridge I looked in the booth and indeed there was a M&S bag with sandwiches and snacks some fruit and a drink in the bag.
The helpfulness shown by the people in the moors is something that I have never encountered before – maybe on account of my urban existence – but I am sure it has impacted my life. It definitely filled my heart with a warm fuzzy feeling. I have asked myself since if I were at the bar and I met a walker in a similar situation would the thought of leaving a sandwich have occurred to me – most probably not. It wouldn’t cost me much but would have really helped the walker immensely. I hope the experience teaches me something – atleast encourages me to lookout for ways by which I can be of help.
I took the shortcut suggested by Tasha to get to Tarr steps a very old clapper bridge and quite an attraction by itself. It also leads on to the walk by the banks of the river Barle which is by far one of the most beautiful river walks I have walked. Four miles of walking by the banks gets you to Withypool where we join the Exe way for exford. This is Exmoor the second of moor of my walk. I tried to follow the path and the map but it came to point where I just couldn’t find the way forward, I came up and down to the way marker a few times and try to go as per the map and as per the sign but just couldn’t find the way down to Exford, So I had to take a longer route which would add atleast five milese to get me to Exford, but I had no options and so I came down the hill and tried my best to race to Exford. I reached Exford at three and still had another 10 miles to do before I could hit Porlock which included the climb of Dunkery beacon (520mts) the highest point of the walk. At Exford I stopped at the local to get some energy drinks and asked the lady where is the path to Dunkery beacon – she went completely red – it’s very steep is all she can say; she never climbed it because its so steep. Its funny how sometimes people will have explored the rest of the world but not the adventure at one’s doorstep. I left the traumatised lady and started the walk through the moor up to Dunkery Beacon, a long walk but mostly a steady climb; I did pretty well on time and was on the beacon just after four. I took a few snaps and rested on the ground and started my walk towards Porlock - I had been told it was all downhill from now. From Dunkery Beacon I could see the sea again – the sea that I had last seen when I left Bovisand bay to walk north inland. Halfway down I realised I had left my mobile at the beacon so I had to climb up again to get my mobile!! I should really be more careful about my mobile. I started the descent and what a beautiful walk down through the woods it was. I hit Webbers post and then down to Horner and then into Porlock and was at my B&B just after six. I had done 30 miles in very good time – the next day’s walk was going to be the longest though- if I didn’t get lost I will have covered 29 miles, If I got lost don’t know how many more.
I really loved Porlock, the B&B was incredible (www.rosebankguesthouse.co.uk ) . When I signed in I was asked to list it exactly what I wanted for breakfast on a form so that they could arrange it. The shower was the highlight though. I was in it for a good half hour I think. I made arrangements for my stay at Williton and Taunton before heading out for supper. Finally proper restaurants, I went into one; the food was just plain simple but beautifully done and good banter after dinner. I loved it.

I started the next morning early going North to meet the coast at the coastal path near Hurlstone point on the way to climb Bossington Hill. Bossington hill isn’t really high 243 m, but it’s probably the steepest one I had climbed on this walk and a heavy back pack meant that I was stopping every 200 ms to get a bit of rest. I climbed it and the views from the hill were extraordinary. I walked the last of the moors of Exmoor for the walk towards Selworthy beacon and then down into Minehead. When I hit minehead I had technically completed the Devon coast to coast walk from Plymouth to Minehead through Dartmoor and Exmoor, and achievement that sank in when and old man walking in the opposite direction enquired how long I had been walking and congratulated me. The walk down to mine head was beautiful through woods and very sharp decent. I relaxed in Minehead for fifteen minutes - It was a well earned rest.

Form Minehead I was essentially going south eastward towards Taunton. While this said easily I realised it was quite a mind shift change when it comes to map orientation – you are essentially better off holding the map upside down else your brain has to continuously recalculate the rights and the lefts. I walked by the coastal path and cut into Dunster which as John Butler says is a very pretty village. The path out of Dunster is a bit difficult to find because of the number of tracks that spawn just outside Dunster. After bit of exploring I found the path I needed and climbed up to the Bat Settlements and into Withycombe and the innumerable farms that will take me to Williton. I met my most innocuous enemy which I hadn’t met hitherto in the moors but I found in hordes in the farmlands near taunton – The stingy nettle(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinging_Nettle). At first I didn’t know what was causing the sting but then I isolated the leaves and avoided them as much as possible – but there were places where it was impossible to avoid being stung.
I hit Williton around five. The B&B was great but Williton as a town was disappointing – it lacked character and I was the target a number of comments. This is the first time in the whole walk were rather than being made welcome I felt I was almost being provoked to start a fight. I was happy to leave Williton the next morning but had trouble finding the path out and needed some local help to help catch the path again. I walked into Bicknoller and the started the walk into the Quantocks. It was a pure pleasure the Quantocks. Definitely a moor but beautiful and once I got to the top of the hills the views were incredible and I could understand why this was such a favourite for mountain bikers. Around 12:00 I crossed Crowcombe and I started my decent from the hills around two. Around a mile outside Taunton at around 3:00 pm I tried to get a bearing of where my B&B in Taunton was and I was cursing myself why I hadn’t checked earlier. The B&B was at Crowcombe, nine miles back the way I had just walked. There was no way I could have walked back so I called a cab from Taunton.
Kirsty was very welcoming and warm and I had the whole cottage to myself. I soaked myself in the huge Bath for a good hour and when I came down I found Kirsty had left some scones and clotted cream for me in the kitchen. I made a cup of tea and sat down on the carpet and rested. It was a mission accomplished – In 8 days I had walked much more than 160 miles, climbed numerous hills, crossed two moors, met the most friendly people I have met in my life, and was ready for whatever was in store for when I got back to London especially at work.
The next morning I had a lovely breakfast while chatting with Kirsty and she was kind enough to drop me at the station at Taunton. I was travelling back to London First class. What a way to finish a vacation that had impacted me in so many good ways