Grand Tour of England Day 8

We said goodbye to our friends and took the A303 then went on M5 to get round Exeter. On the opposite carriageway were many convoys of vehicles taking police rubber boats and bomb disposal stuff as well as fleets of police motorbikes heading back from their overtime at G7.

We came off the A30 at Okehampton to have a walk I’d researched. It was called the Meldon Viaduct circuit and said it was 4.5 miles so in the car park (£4) we made up a picnic to take. It was 24 degrees and sunny. The walk started close to Meldon Reservoir, which was pretty. We followed the route of the West Devon Way at first. It took us uphill to an old green lane which had been part of the King Way, the medieval highway between a Okehampton and Tavistock before it was superseded by a new turnpike system in 19th century. The Rocky outcrop ahead of us was Sourton Tors. We reached Prewley Moor, open grassland with Dartmoor ponies grazing. (Blip) We had our lunch looking out to open views to the rugged outline of Bodmin Moor on the left with Exmoor on the right horizon.

We headed downhill to reach the tarmac path of the Granite Way, a cycleway built on the former railway line from London Waterloo to Plymouth, closed in the 1960s. Although it was a bit boring walking through railway cuttings it did give us welcome shade. Eventually it opened out dramatically onto Meldon Viaduct, built in 1874 for the railway. Apparently it is unusual as it is constructed of wrought iron, taking us high above the valley floor.

We took steps and descended steeply to a public bridleway to the reservoir. At a lime kiln we forked right to cross a bridge back to the car park. It was barred with a sign saying it was closed due to vandalism - the sign was quite old yet the walk notes had not been updated on-line or on the information board in the car park. We met a young man just approaching. He said he’d been going round in circles but did say the route over the reservoir dam was open. It added about 1.5 miles to the walk. We followed a track steeply uphill to reach the dam which we were able to cross and get back to the car park.

As soon as we got into Cornwall the sun departed and the sea fret arrived. The steep narrow farm track to our site was worth it for the stunning view we have over Sennen Cove. There are 4 vans parked up in a big field high above the coastal path so it is totally peaceful. I can’t believe our luck - I just hope there’s not a big gale to tip us over the edge.