By Steve Clarke
My friend Mike and I both live in Poole, Dorset and are very keen walkers who apart from regular local walks have completed a number of Long Distance Paths and the longest National Trail – the South West Coast Path (630 miles).
It was a very pleasant surprise to hear about the Tamara Way on BBC – Countryfile earlier this year and we both said it was a must to complete the Tamara Way. Our first task was to acquire The Tamara Coast to Coast Way book; after reading this we decided to plan to undertake the walk in three * two day trips – six stages (rather than the seven recommended Stages) due to our having to travel from Poole and time availability.
Our plan for the walk is as follows:
This instalment covers from Cremyll to Bere Alston Station:-
- Cremyll to Tamar Bridge at 12.5 miles
- Tamar Bridge to Bere Alston Station at 17.5 miles
- Calstock to Lifton at 17.8 miles
- Lifton to Bridgerule at 17 miles
- Bridgerule to Upper Tamar Lakes at 13.7 miles
- Upper Tamar Lakes to Morewenstow at 11.6 miles
This instalment covers from Cremyll to Bere Alston Station:-
Day 1 - Cremyll to Tamar Bridge
We set off from Poole on 25th March at 04:15 to travel to Plymouth so that we could get the first Cremyll Ferry sailing at 07:15. We drove through the pouring rain in the hope that when we started the walk it would clear up; unfortunately we were not lucky and it rained hard all day.
After parking near the hotel that we stayed at we donned our boots and rainwear and walked to the Stonehouse Terminal to get on the boat. Interestingly; of the eight passengers only one person knew about the Tamara Way and wished us luck. Once we got off at Cremyll it was great to see the fingerpost showing that we had 87 miles to go until the end of the walk; what would be in store for us?
After using the public toilets we set off to walk to the Tamar Bridge.
The first few miles were reasonably flat and around the edge of Millbrook Lake, the views across the water were awesome and helped us forget the wet. We kept a good pace and pushed on through Millbrook and St John and headed to Torpoint where we wanted to find a café for some shelter and great food.
We were lucky to locate – Hearts Kitchen on Fore Street, Torpoint and the breakfast and coffee were both tasty and needed. It was great to take a rest from the rain which just had not stopped. After the stop we took the Torpoint Ferry (free to foot passengers) and then had to undertake the remainder of the urban walk along Plymouth’s streets.
Getting to Riverside brought our first views of the Tamar Bridges and even through the rain this was amazing to see such wonderful feats of engineering.
We walked up the steep climb to reach the Tamar Bridge Visitor Centre where we went inside and learned a lot about the history of the bridges.
We completed the first day by walking across the Tamar Bridge to Saltash Station where we got a train back to Plymouth and then walked back to our hotel for the night; a well deserved beer and much needed shower were order of the day.
Day 2 - Tamar Bridge to Bere Alston Station
We started the day with renewed vigour as the weather was dry, warm and even the sun was shining. After catching a bus from the hotel to the Tamar Bridge we started the 17.2 mile walk knowing that we had to finish at Bere Alston in time for the 15:40 train back to Plymouth (or a two hour wait for the next train!). We decided to extend the recommended Stage 2 to allow better transitions around crossing the river.
Today was a dry day but one where water still played its part. The first of these was at Ernesettle by the Sewage Works where the footpath was blocked due to a sewage escape making the footpath impassable. We had to take slight detour to rejoin the path at Tamerton Bridge, the views were certainly worth it.
Our second water encounter was around Warleigh Lodge where the footpath was flooded and necessitated a scramble through trees and undergrowth on the bank in a bid to stay dry; better a scratch than wet boots!
Our final water encounter was at Blaxton just before entering Blaxton Wood and the ford was deep enough to get very wet feet; or go wading barefoot (which we did not do). The ensuing views along the River Tavy until we arrived at Lopwell Dam were stunning and we soon forgot about our wet feet.
Lopwell Dam was a challenge even at low tide and not for the faint-hearted when there has been a lot of rain around and the river is high and the water fast flowing.
A steep climb followed by a scenic walk into Bere Ferrers gave us hope of a café but no such luck.
The walk to Weir Quay with the tide out made the effort of the two days worthwhile as the vistas were stunning. A café (from Friday to Sunday) is great if you are walking on those days but no good for us on a Tuesday!
The climb out of Hole’s Hole is a challenge when nearing the end of a long day’s walk and is as challenging as anything on the SWCP. Still once over the top of this the final few miles along the estuary and then over to Bere Alston Station made the thought of sitting to wait for the train followed by the scenic journey back to Plymouth well appreciated.
One third of the way there and we are looking to come back soon!
We hope that you have enjoyed reading the first instalment of our journey and we will be back over the coming months with more tales of the next stages of the route. If you’re planning your own Tamara adventures, remember to check back regularly and find out how we get on.
Steve Clarke & Mike Turner
