Whisper it quietly, this walk was done without a drop of rain on me! Linda was away visiting her parents so I headed out from home, looking to walk some new lanes and revisit parts done before. It had just finished raining as I pulled on my boots (more on these later) and headed out the door to walk through Sherford in the direction of Elburton. Before reaching there I hung a left along the old railway track, towards Steer Point and the quarry there, before it continued on to Yealmpton. This footpath only runs to Foodbrook now however, and from there I joined lanes down to Cofflete Creek, the brook was running high on the lane as I reached the creek estuary, but a little traversing over the grassy bridge had me on the other side. I needn’t have bothered however as the lane heading up to Brixton was a running stream down towards me, all the way across the path and around an inch or so deep. It was here I realised that my boots had given up the ghost, I’d patched, glued and patched again, but the sole was leaving the upper in many sections and I realised I’d do well to get home with the pieces still attached. I pressed on through Brixton, following the coast to coast/Erme Plym trail route until I reached Gorlofen, then turned left and followed the lane to a cross roads by a solar farm. I had a decision to make here, head left as myself and Linda had done, when we walked the Erme Plym Trail from Ivybridge to this spot. Or right, and along a lane I hadn’t walked before. I checked the weather above and though I could see darkening clouds over Dartmoor and Plymouth, the weather coming towards me was from the opposite direction and was clear. Right was the decision and along the lanes towards Hareston. This was a nice section and gave views across the fields being converted to housing for the ever expanding town of Sherford. This is as far as they will go however, with most of the groundworks complete now, but still 8 years of building to do to finish it all. I wandered through the tiny hamlets of Blackpool and Wiverton and on to the main road back home. I reached the door both dry and with shoes intact, just. Rain fell an hour later!! I’m looking at more of this type of walk, maybe using a bus to get to a village between here and Paignton, a pub would be preferable and then looping a walk from there. Could provide some nice variations to our normal Dartmoor/coastal routes.

Start – Home

Route – Sherford – Elburton – Fordbrook – Cofflete Creek – Coast to Coast path – Brixton – Gorlofen – Hareston Cross – Blackpool – Sherford

Distance – 8.5 miles   Start time – 09.30am  Time taken – 4hrs  Highest Point – Brixton 80 metres

Weather – Cloud, but no rain!! Even a bit of blue sky