Walk

Into the Walkham Valley

with Moorland Guide John Bright

This walk of almost fi ve miles is over grass and track. Smooth rocks and tree routes can be slippery, particularly when wet. The mile long climb up from the river back to the start can be wearing. There particularly when wet. The mile long climb up from the river back to the start can be wearing. There are sheep loose in places so remember to keep dogs on leads or under close control.

From the car park outside Long Ash Garden Centre (SX4975 6942) follow the fi eld wall away from the road. At the wall corner turn left along a well worn track until you clear the bushes and can see a radio mast on the hillside opposite. Head towards the mast until you cross a very obvious path in the grass. Turn right onto this path and follow it downhill to join a well rutted track. This is part of the medieval packhorse route connecting Buckland (AD 1278) and Tavistock (AD 974) abbeys, known locally as the Stickle path (see photos on the right), probably because of its gradient. (‘sticol’ is Old English for ‘steep’) Follow the Stickle path downhill to the river. The route continues over Grenofen Bridge (see photos on the right) ahead of you. The origins of the bridge are unclear but are likely to be of the same period as the Stickle path. Uphill from the bridge and well hidden by moss and foliage is a letter C engraved on a rock, erected in 1841 to mark the County’s responsibility to maintain the bridge. Once across the bridge a fi nger post on the left will take you to the riverside track. After a little under ¼ mile you’ll see a ramp rising to the right leading to an old quarry where a hard type of granite known as Bluestone or Blue Elvan was quarried. Nearest to the river is a row of three small stone-workers’ benches known as ‘bankers’. These small structures are found across Dartmoor and were associated with making cobbles for the streets of Tavistock, Plymouth and beyond in the 1870s. Continue along the track and you will fi nd an abandoned chimney stack (see photos on the right) which marks the start of the Westdown Mine site which stretches for a considerable distance along the bank. The mine operated for a short period in the early 19th century but is recorded as closed in 1857. After a further ½ mile follow the track onto a roadway and continue uphill to the junction with another road

which goes sharply downhill to the left. Follow this track and it will left. Follow this track and it will eventually take you though a gap in a rock headland to Double Waters where the Walkham gives its waters to the River Tavy (main photo, left). Cross the Walkham by the wooden footbridge to pick up the track to the left which will return us to the start. To your right are the remains of the Virtuous Lady Mine which operated in one form or another from later medieval times until the later 19th century. Should time allow, there is a lovely spot for a sit and a cuppa beside the river just below the old mine captain’s house. As you continue uphill the track becomes a metalled road. After almost a mile from the footbridge the road turns right between two walls. Turn left here and – with the wall always to your right – return to the car park where we started. n

Top left: The Stickle path Top right: Westdown Mine Left: Grenofen Bridge