Well, it is now November 6 th, 2020 and we are still in Covid-land under another so-called lock-down although lock-down here is another world from our Spanish experience. Although many places are closed, many shops are still open including garden centres, take-aways, DiY stores and hardware stores and I'm not sure what else. Also we can go out as much as we want for exercise so no one hour slots that we experienced before. We are more or less staying-put with most of our food and essentials being delivered from "Riverford" and "Morrisons" and only going to the local shops in Dartington or Ben's farm shop for odds that we forget or a treat. We have been seeing family but in a limited way as we are not sure how prevalent the virus is as most people of asymptomatic so it is very difficult to know what we should do. Also Helen is expecting a hip-operation shortly so we are trying to make sure she doesn't have any illness that could jeopardise her treatment. It is a difficult time all-round but we can't help feeling that the government is handling the crisis very badly without any longer term plan and poor leadership under Johnson and his like. The track and trace has been very bad with much money going to private companies that have been very inefficient in delivering a good service. It would have been much better to invest the money in NHS facilities and local councils that are performing better and are accountable to people in general.
Currently there is a false dichotomy between the impacts of Covid on the economy and public health. If they sort health issues out, the economy will recover quickly.
Anyway, I thought I'd give an example of a local walk that I've done several times before but this is the first time under the recent restrictions. So to avoid travelling, this is a local walk starting from our home and going towards the local town of Totnes and returning by the river through the Dartington Estate mostly through a rural landscape, through fields, woods and following the River Dart. Most of the route is not on Ordnance survey maps and I initially used local knowledge and also "ViewRanger", an App that shows all of the smaller footpaths.
I made my way to the road crossing called Rad Lake Cross and to a small meadow leading to woodland. There is a pleasant path through the woodland with a board walk over a small stream. I think this area is popular with dog walkers taking a circular walk back to Dartington. At the southern corner of the wood is an exit to a large grass field used for grazing and a path alongside the woodland (going to the south-west) to a gate that enters the wood. From here on a fine day you get views across to Dartmoor.
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| Meadow next to Red Lake Cross leading to a small wood and stream. |
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| Track through the wood adjacent to Red Lake Cross. |
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| View from the wood edge across to Dartmoor. |
A don't know the name of this woodland but it has many small paths wending their way through but no one that takes you directly across to the exit to Copland lane roughly to the south-east. Some of the smaller paths have fallen trees across but can be avoided with care. A main path does exit to a gate crossing the road to Totnes directly into Copland lane which eventually leads to the outskirts of Totnes,
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The main path in the autumn sunshine out of the woodland to the gate out to Copland Lane.
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The lane is narrow, very muddy and wet at this time of year with big puddles in the dips! It does meet another lane coming in from the left but Totnes is straight on and comes out near the allotments and across from the main railway station. From here you can pickup the cycle route going north-west alongside the River Dart to the Dartington estate.
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| The popular walking and cycle path between Totnes and Dartington alongside the river. It is now mainly a good gravel track leading to the Lower Drive to Dartington Hall. |
Once on the Lower Drive it is a short walk towards the Hall to take a footpath down alongside the river to a popular area for wild swimmng.
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The water meadows alongside the start of "Lower Drive".
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The river in the autumn sunshine. The river is high because of the weeks of rainfall in the area.
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The path that has been partially restored that follows the river to North Wood via the Staverton Ford plantation
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The path goes north and then bends west basically following the course of the river, eventually reaching a steep hill into North Wood. The path into the wood was narrow in places and very muddy.
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| A flooded area aside the river. The river is lined by oak trees on the right of the photograph. |
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A view of the river from under one of the many oaks that line this section.
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The route through North Wood is basically to the SW and then SE to the Craft Centre at the Chicken Shed Studios.
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| The end of the route through North Wood to the Craft Centre. The wood contains many Coastal Redwoods that you can see along the route.. |
From here it is a short walk to the Dartington shops and back home in Dartington.
The walk is a total distance of about 12 km taking 3 hours including stops.
