Day 94 Two Moors Way Day 2 - Scorriton to Dunstone Down

Day 2 Team of Walkers at Scorriton

Approaching New Bridge across the River Dart

A new walking team to kick off the next leg includes Chris and her dog Finlay. They start where yesterday the walk had ended in Scorriton Village with the first part of today's walk initially through woodland and then following the River Dart to cross New Bridge where there was an opportunity to enjoy an ice cream.

This is followed by a stiff climb out of the valley and onto Dr Blackall's Drive.  Ian had driven round the moor to meet the walkers first at the Dart Bridge and then to accompany them back along the scenic Dr Blackall's Drive.


Somehow the walkers strayed briefly from the main path at exactly the point where Ian was waiting.  It was some time before this was realised and so the lunch stop was taken separately!  The final stretch of today's walk rises once again to a convenient point on Dunstone Down above the River Webburn where once again the car was waiting.

Dr Blackall's Way - how did Ian miss them?

Day 2 Completed!

Day 2 completed and a further 8.3 miles in the direction of the end of the route

Day 93 Two Moors Way Day 1 - Ivybridge to Scorriton

Today's walking team

Ever since our grandson Charlie moved to South Devon he has loved walking on nearby Dartmoor so we discussed with him the possibility of a walking challenge - The Two Moors Way. For Christmas he had a number of walking related items including a complete set of laminated walk cards with a map of the route. We have read the guides and planned each day's walk with set down and pick up points for each day and we know there will be "guest" walkers joining Mary, Charlie and Tom for each leg.

At 9.00 am we are ready in Ivybridge for the off and a quick call into the information centre to get Charlie's notebook stamped at the official start. Photographs taken the first team set off. Charlie and Tom, Mary, Clare and Deborah will walk the first day. Ian will accompany them for the first few miles then return to Ivybridge to meet them later in the day when he will pick them up at Scorriton - thirteen miles away.

Having left Ivybridge the walkers head off up onto Dartmoor

This is one of the most demanding legs with a climb out of Ivybridge onto the edge of the moor, followed by the long incline of a disused tramway line, the old Redline Railway is used to gain height and to cross open, barren and lonely moorland.  The route then crosses the upper River Avon by a clapper bridge before further unmarked walking and eventually the descent to Scorriton.

The last stretch off the moor and into Scorriton

Granddad has walked from Scorriton, where the car awaits and the end of Day 1 and 13 miles completed.

Day 92 The Parks of Central London

After Clare, Mary and the boys had climbed the Monument we picked up the tube to get us to the start point of today's London walk at St James's Park. It is a sunny spring Sunday and "everyone" appears to be out and about enjoying the London Royal Parks. We head first into St James's Park and look both back towards the rear of the buildings of Whitehall and ahead to Buckingham Palace.

As we reach the Victoria Memorial the crowds get thicker and we are just in time to see the old guard marching away. Today the Queen's Guard is from the 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards with music from the band of the Grenadier Guards and the Coldstream Corps of Drums.

From here we have to battle the crowds once again to walk up through  Green Park and on into Hyde Park. As we leave Hyde Park we stop at a Lebanese Restaurant for lunch before finishing our London Parks Walk at Paddington Station.

3 miles

Day 90 Thames Path walk through Central London

In London for the weekend so for the next couple of walks we'll be taking advantage of some of the pathways around our capital city.

We are staying very near to The Monument in the City and so one obvious walk today is along the banks of the River Thames. We find a path leading through the cluster of buildings which line the river at this point and reach the Thames Path which is adjacent to the river here and follow it towards the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. The views down river to these two great monuments are spectacular. We pass riverside of the Tower of London and then climb the steps onto Tower Bridge, before crossing to the south side. Here we turn back towards central London and the seat of government at Westminster.

We pass in turn City Hall, HMS Belfast, Southwark Cathedral, the reconstructed Globe Theatre and Tate Modern before arriving at Blackfriars. Then its South Bank with the National Theatre, the Royal Festival Hall, The London Eye and the "entertainment" complex which is now the old London County Council County Hall.

Westminster Bridge is adorned with flowers on every lamppost and tied to the railings of the Palace of Westminster following the terrorist attack just a week ago. But Londoners and visitors alike appear undaunted and it is as busy as usual for a spring day at the beginning of the tourist season in the capital.

We decide to take the tube back from Westminster Station.

3.3 miles

Day 84 Brownsea Island Walk

A perfect day and Spring is in the air! We get the Breezer 40 bus into Poole to catch the ferry across to Brownsea Island and by 11.00 we are ready to start our walk for today. We have a downloaded OS map, the Garmin SatNav, Mary's phone and a National Trust guide to the island so we shouldn't get lost! We decide to walk a combination of the three marked routes, so that should cover most of the island; and the first section is through woodland where we hope to catch at least a glimpse of the rare red squirrels which inhabit the island.

I think we are very lucky but also because we are ahead of the majority of visitors and headed into a part of the island which is well away from the visitors centre, the cafe and people! There, in the trees above us, we spot a movement! Running along the branches and leaping from one tree to the next we see our first and as it turns out our one and only red squirrel. We see it very clearly as it scurries up trunks and jumps from branch to branch and tree to tree.

As we reach the end of the island we drop down onto the foreshore and work our way along this until we reach Pottery Pier. Many memories for Mary and I having visited the island with Mary's father on his boat in the seventies. In those days we just dropped anchor and rowed ashore.


From Pottery Pier, still unsafe as it was then, we continue along the southern side of the island taking in a number of stunning viewpoints, the site of Baden Powell's first campsite for scouts in 1907, the commemorative stone and further views of Poole Harbour, the Sandbanks Ferry and harbour entrance; and beyond that the cliffs above Studland Village and Old Harry. All in brilliant sunshine.

 We end with a visit to St Mary's Church, still lit by candles alone; and a short stop to watch wading birds from the hides at the lagoon. Identified Avocets and Shell ducks amongst the many feeding just in front
of us.

The RNLI Inshore Lifeboat just before it ran aground!

The return boat trip is an around the harbour tour and the crew take great delight in pointing out vessels either already aground in shallow water, or about to become so! This included an RNLI lifeboat which was predicted to hit a sandbank and did, much to everyone aboard's amusement.



In spite of the small size of the island only 1.5 miles from end to end our doubling back, detours down every path leading to a viewpoint means we manage over 5.5 before we embark at the end of our walk.

5.7 miles

Day 83 Poole Harbour Trail to Poole Quay

We delay our start as the weather forecast predicts all rain for the day will be over by 11.00 so we aim to catch the 10.55 bus to Upton House Country Park where the walk for today will begin. We aren't sure exactly where we need to get off and Mr Grumpy driver doesn't seem inclined to be of much help, but another passenger gives us the nod and presses the Stop button for us. The walk begins with a stroll through the Country Park and down to the foreshore.

The trail in places has been diverted due to conservation measures and the protection of migrating birds, but we are soon on the edge of Poole Harbour itself. This is right at the very top end of the largest natural harbour in England and here it is mostly mud flats and rushes on the water's edge. We pause a while to watch feeding birds including Black Tailed Godwits, Crested Grebes and Little Egrets amongst others!

The walk is an amazing contrast - on one side the peace and natural world of the shoreline of Poole Harbour with all the wildlife of the mud flats; and, on the other, the busy traffic filled A350 into Poole where we eventually arrive.

We follow signs to the Old Town and Quay and the route takes us down a depressingly distressed High Street filled with Charity Shops, low price outlets and bookmakers. Even the Quay area looks and feels rundown and our lunch at the Jolly Sailor an experience we would rather forget!

Finally it is back through he town to buy a replacement waterproof jacket from Go Outdoors and the the bus back to Lychett Minster.

7.5 miles

Day 81 Studland, Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks

View over Poole Harbour

A short drive to Studland Bay and we park at the car park we had stopped at on our first trip in the “old” Marianne. Mary positions the van in probably the very same location. We are walking today in the opposite direction from the last time we had been here. So we start with the steep climb up to Ballard Down, stopping a number of times to look back on the stunning vista of Poole Harbour. On attaining the ridge we turn west and head for the coast.

This is a beautiful open grassy ridge with 360 degree views. We follow the ridge, meet the coast path and turn towards the picturesque coastal formations at Old Harry Rocks. There is a school group here on a geography field trip and the staff clearly have the students under close control as they near the cliff edge.

Mary as we reach the ridge of Ballard Down

The obligatory photos taken and we continue along the coast path into Studland Bay, drop down onto the beach at the first opportunity and make our way back, dodging the gently breaking waves, for another late lunch back at the van.

We later drive along to the chain ferry and walk along the beach in the low late afternoon sunshine. We each have our own memories of sailing in and out of this magnificent harbour entrance on vessels large and small. Additional distance not recorded!

Old Harry Rocks

4.8 miles