Three miles of autumn bliss
From Cadover Bridge to Shaugh Bridge and back by Ron Smith of Plymouth Ramblers
START: Cadover Bridge, in the large car park below the bridge. Grid reference SX 55441 64505 DISTANCE: Approximately 3 miles TIME: Approximately 1.5 hours The walk involves open moorland, a granite tor, steep old woodland, a tramway and quarries, an old incline, splendid rivers running over rocks and finally the route of the old china-clay slurry pipeline. Do choose stout footwear and, after a study of the weather forecast, appropriate warm waterproofs. Park at Cadover Bridge. Use it to cross the Plym and then turn left on to the moor short of the trees. Pass the reconstructed cross on your left. Follow the track parallel to the river, on the high line of that stretch of moorland. Soon you will see Dewerstone Tor ahead, reached after one mile of walking. A good place to pause for breath and to enjoy the best views you will get on this walk; misty Dartmoor fading into the distance to the north, on your right. Leave the rocks to your left and follow the well-trodden but steep path down. Take care! Wet rocks are slippery and there will be some mud. The moss-covered trees in the wood are a sight to behold. In fact, if you were to do this walk in spring, the moss on rocks and trees is such a bright green that any photo you took might cause your friends to accuse you of photoshopping the colour. You reach a level shelf halfway down. This is the bed of an old tramway used to access two small granite quarries. It is possible 46
Atop of Dewerstone Tor
to carry straight on down; but the recommended route is to follow the nearly horizontal tramway to your right past the quarries. You are parallel to the River Meavy coming busily down from the north, heading behind you towards Shaugh Bridge; not to worry as you soon turn sharp left and descend to the junction of the Meavy and the Plym. You can’t miss the turn, as the tramway just stops. At this point there was a specially-built incline with a pulley at the top, arranged so trucks heavily laden with granite went down to the junction, their weight drawing up the unladen trucks. Note the widened point about half way down to allow the trucks to pass. At the bottom the little headland between the Meavy and Plym rivers is a lovely spot to picnic, right by a convenient footbridge that crosses you back to the Cadover side of the Plym. Here were the works for processing china-clay; immediately beyond the buildings take the steep narrow stairway up, and continue for a mile all the way uphill back to Cadover. At the top of the steps, look left and into the large enclosed pits. Here china-clay slurry was led to settle and lose most of its water, before the caked material could be dug out ready to transport onward for export from Plymouth. In those days, the river ran white with suspended clay. Just imagine how busy the area was with quarrymen and china-clay workers where now it is only you, enjoying this peaceful wooded landscape.
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