11 posts found
| Puffing Billy to Bideford Long Bridge Posted 21 Aug 2009 by Maggie Watson  The weir where Tarka swam, Oooooooohh - an even longer tunnel, the Iron Bridge at Landcross and finally the station cafe at Bideford and a bacon butty...This has to be one of my favourite stretches of the Tarka Trail. It’s about 5 miles to Bideford, walking (get the bus back) or cycling. We left from Puffing Billy, the old station just outside Torrington (on the 315 bus route or the A386 if yo...more... |
| Devon's Tarka Trail Posted 21 Jul 2009 by Maggie Watson  The challenge: to complete (as near as possible) the southern loop of Devon's long distance Tarka Trail - a walking and cycling route inspired by Henry Williamson's Tarka the Otter book.Why that's a challenge: 2 kids, ages 6 and 2. The plan: No particular order - just doable sections from my 'expedition base' - Wheatland Farm eco lodges http://www.wheatlandfarm.co.uk near Winkleigh, Devon. ...more... |
| Barnstaple to Fremington Quay on Devon's Tarka Trail Posted 23 Aug 2009 by Maggie Watson  Estuary views, cormorants fishing and railway cuttings bedecked with flowers and butterflies...Now I’ve a confession to make. I didn’t do this bit, but Ian took the children and biked from Fremington to beyond Barnstaple and back, cycling across the road bridge that crosses the Taw and out towards Chivenor. He says he had enough to do coping with the kids without taking pictures, so most o...more... |
| Bideford to Fremington, once the busiest port between Bristol and Lands End Posted 10 Aug 2009 by Maggie Watson  From the old station at Bideford we rode the 7 miles to Fremington Quay, once the busiest port between Bristol and Lands End. There we enjoyed glorious icecreams, the penny-farthings suspended from the café ceiling and grainy pictures of bygone grime. We’d parked the van in the back streets of East-the-Water, across the Bideford Long Bridge (although we could have taken the 315 bus again – it ...more... |
| Tarka Trail - live music at the Orchard Cafe Posted 04 Aug 2009 by Maggie Watson  Back on the trail. This time a sunny off-road cycle along disused railway lines, past nature reserves, towering sculpture, through tunnels of trees... to the Orchard Cafe at East Yarde - BBQ, folk music and beer!Time for a biking section of the Tarka Trail - we started at Meeth Halt. There's a bus stop here, but the service isn't frequent. The old station platform is overgrown, but the path l...more... |
| How not to book a hostel in Ilfracombe Posted 18 Sep 2009 by Emma Jamieson  I am not careful with my money. I'm more the school of: tomorrow may be a nuclear holocaust, buy those shoes you don't need today! But for some bizarre reason, when planning my summer holiday in Devon and Cornwall, I switched on the dormant Scottish trait I inherited from my dear mother and got the willies about spending. WHY OH WHY?Which is how we ended up at Maplewood Backpackers in Ilfracom...more... |
| Puffing Billy to East Yarde - water, woodland and weird benches Posted 09 Aug 2009 by Maggie Watson  We started this section of the Tarka Trail at Puffing Billy. It meant we could get there on the bus from our Devon eco lodges http://www.wheatlandfarm.co.uk, hire bikes, and you see the bench artwork along the way in the logical order (more of that in a mo). And anyway, who wouldn't want to end up at Ochard Cafe in East Yarde? http://www.yarde-orchard.co.uk/. Puffing Billy is the old station j...more... |
| Tarka Trail - Taw Bridge to Chenson Posted 25 Jul 2009 by Maggie Watson  Maps can be deceptive. The walk as far as Westacott Wood looked promising - close to the river much of the way. And I guess it did have it's highlights - a whole herd of curious cows, a friendly horse, some wonderful lichen on a tree overhanging the river. But much of it was along the edges of fields with 5 ft high maize growing almost to the hedge. And the river was beyond the stock proof fencin...more... |
| Tarka Trail - Here's a bet you can't help winning Posted 25 Jul 2009 by Maggie Watson  Here's a walk with a surprise twist that could earn you free beers all night...You set off from Eggesford Garden centre, or maybe the small car park by the church in Eggesford (tiny, pretty, but locked despite the signs) and follow the Tarka Trail past Eggesford Barton, a free range chicken farm and into open Devon countryside. And then, after maybe half a mile and in the middle of agricultura...more... |
| Tarka Trail - Taw Green Cross to Bondleigh Posted 24 Jul 2009 by Maggie Watson  It's only a two mile stretch, but you've got to start somewhere and the forecast wasn't promising...The goal was a cup of tea with my friend Carole who lives next to the lovely old church in Bondleigh. So we parked at Taw Green Cross on the B3220 (there's a layby) and headed off to Bondleigh. Immediately we were on roads small enough to accumulate gravel and stones down the middle, and bef...more... |
| Dartmoor and Exmoor Posted 22 Feb 2009 by Justin Francis  Dartmoor. Land of stone and water. We settle into the deafening silence of our room at Bovey Castle, North Bovey. From the window black grey clouds stacked upon grey clouds. As dusk approaches a monochrome graduation from sky to earth of cloud, mist, slate, old snow and wet ground.A drama as the empty sky is suddenly and magically full of birds, and I rush to the window. Black caped rooks...more... |
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