Firstly a bit of an apology, I’ve been moving house over the past 3 weeks, which has meant very little activity on the site recently, plus I haven’t read the normal websites that I would, so have plenty to catch up on there. I have internet up and running now and most of the boxes are emptied, and only one room which looks like it could be forever a storage junk shop! We’ve done really well with curtain poles flying up, blinds up and wardrobes sorted and garden plans drawn up. However a new house always comes with its snagging list, and we have a few bits, but nothing too bad. All this has meant walking has been a premium this last month, but I have some walks to catch up on, including this one from mid October (there was also another from late October which will be my next post). This walk is a lovely one around north east Dartmoor, through woodlands, lanes and on the outbound loop, along the river. Its another with a stack of Dartmoor 365 squares as well, picking up C17, C19, D17, D18, D19 and D20 and is walk 62 of my second round. This is a rarely visited part of the moor, in the main and certainly after Fingle Bridge, you won’t see many people, and after Clifford Bridge you won’t see anyone until you reach Drewsteignton again. The land here rolls, as you would think in Devon, with plenty of green farm fields, walls, hedges, lanes and streams. At the end is a pint in the lovely Drewe Arms, once the home of Mabel Mudge, the longest serving landlady or landlord in this country, who finished at the grand old age of 99, after 75 years behind the bar!! After a closure, the pub has been reopened as a community pub, fingers crossed it continues for another 75 years at least. In Devon tradition at the end of this walk, we did a bit of apple scrumping and took some apples from the trees around the car park, we are enjoying these here in our new home alongside some blackberries from our walk along the North Devon coastal path. Like us in our new house, apples and blackberries are a perfect combination 😊

Start – Drewesteignton

Route – Rectory Wood – Fingle Bridge – Upperton Tor – Seamans Borough Rocks – Clifford Bridge – Woodbrooke – Lower Eggbeer Farm – Coombe Hall – Burrow Farm – Drewesteignton Church – Drewe Arms

Distance – 8 miles  Start time – Midday  Time taken – 4hrs 30mins Highest Point – Drewesteignton 208 metres

Weather – Cloudy, some weak sunshine at times