1st to 7th March 2015 – Devon

A spring week on Dartmoor and in Cornwall is hard to beat when the weather is good.  We have just returned from 6 days in a holiday home on our favourite campsite at Harford Bridge just outside Tavistock.  It was the same caravan that we rented last June so held no surprises.  Our holiday started off with a trip into Cornwall to Mevagissey where we enjoyed a bracing walk out along the sea wall.  The next day saw us climb to the church on Brentor.  The church stands 1,110 feet above sea level on an ancient, extinct, volcanic cone.  We arrived in a shower of hailstones and bitter wind.  However, the weather improved dramatically as we left the church to continue our walk.  We were so pleased with our progress that we decided to tackle one of our favourite walks the next day. The walk starts with a section of Dr Blackall’s Drive and is not particularly long (5.6 miles) but includes 3 long and very steep ascents.  The descents are much more gradual and not a problem apart from boggy ground in paces. We took a little longer than we have in the past but we both felt good at the end. We had really pleasant weather for the rest of the week and enjoyed a walk around Lanhydrock House near Bodmin (Cornwall) and then undertook a walk from Fernworthy Reservoir.  It was the first time we had been to the area and was slightly disconcerting when we drove 5 miles down a no through road to the reservoir car park.  The walk took us along the edge of the reservoir up a long climb through Fernworthy Forest to emerge on the High Moor.  Our instructions said walk to the gate in the dry stone wall running along the sky line (quite a way away).  It was a good job that the weather was fine and clear as the gate was quite difficult to see. We made it and then started to return via a different route that took us across the Moor and through the lower forest back to the reservoir.  A great walk, which added to our sense of achievement.  The picture of the gate shows the sort of gradient I was talking about earlier but was actually on the Lanhydrock walk.

Once again we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Harford Bridge.