Walk 4: Broad Falls to Buckfastleigh
“The Road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say”
J R R Tolkien
This walk description is from my Tumblr blog ‘Dartmoor (and other) walks’, where you will also find guides some of my other walks, and (eventually) hints, tips, for successful hiking and descriptions of some of my favorite places
The walk described in this blog is the return journey from the one described in walk 3
Homeward bound from a camping trip is as much pleasure as going. There is no pressure to keep to a schedule and one can take the time to go slowly and poke around. After all, it doesn’t matter too much if you get drenched, or do too many miles and get sore feet: Home is at the end, with a shower and dinner and warmth-not the possibility of a damp night in a sleeping bag with aching legs. Thus the walk back from Broad falls (walk 3) was a deviation from my plan. I decided that instead of returning the way I went to South Brent, I would take a nice amble over Hickaton Hill and dawdle down some country roads and head for Buckfastleigh. If I had to wait for a bus, no matter, there are places to get a coffee and read a book while waiting.
Click here for pictures from this walk
Walk data
Distance: Approximately 7 miles (11 km). Plus another mile to Buckfast!
Grade:Moderate
Start point: Western bank of the Rivr Avon, near Broad Falls, approximately SX652670
End Point : Buckfastleigh
Facilities: None at the start, until you are off the moors. Buckfastleigh has shops, cafes, a good chip shop, pubs and toilets. A look at the map will show that a little detour from the route will take you to Scorriton, where the Tradesman’s Arms does good food .
Transport: There are buses on weekdays and Saturdays from Buckfastleigh to Exeter, Plymouth and Totnes. For details check Traveline South West. On Sundays, there are buses to Plymouth and Exeter, but they are not very frequent. You cannot get directly to Totnes on a Sunday. If you are driving from Plymouth take the A38 in the Exeter direction. From Exeter take the A38 in the Plymouth direction, and turn off when Buckfastleigh is reached. Both routes are about 24 miles.
Map : Ordinance Survey Explorer OL28. Compass needed across Hickaton Hill if visibility is bad
Walk overview
The walk starts along moorland river banks, then a shortish tract of open moor. From Lud Gate it is road walking all the way, except for a a detour on public footpaths through some rarely visited woods.
Route Map
Click here to see the route maps for this walk
stage 1: Broad Falls to Lud Gate
It had been a dry night and there was no dew, so my tent was dry, and I could get an early start. I munched a bowl of muesli, had a mug of tea, packed up and set off. It was perfect walking weather for someone with a rucksack-a little chilly, but dry. The sky was a single sheet of bluish grey. The was no sign of the sun.
The first part of this walk was along the right bank of the Avon as it heads in a south-easterly direction, The river bank itself is marshy and difficult, and there are wide areas of tussock on the side of the hill, but between them runs a fairly dry path, used occasionally by people, but more often by sheep. The path climbs up and down a little and then follows the river as it changes course and bears left.
The Avon on it’s way to Avon Dam
Shortly after this turn you will see the Avon clapper bridge crossing the stream.(approx. SX656661 )(see picture below). There are (apparently) about 200 clapper bridges on the moor. Most of them are medieval, being on the routes that the shepherds drove the giant flocks belonging to the abbeys. A clapper bridge is a simple affair: One or more granite slabs used as a bridge. The work in pre-machine times to construct these must have been immense. The average granite slab in such a bridge is about 6 foot (1.8 m) long, 3 feet (0.9 m) wide and about 6 inches (15 cm) thick, making 9 cubic feet (0.25 cubic meters). Granite weighs 20 pound per cubic foot, so the average slab is about 180 pounds (about 36 kg). These would have been hauled into position from wherever they were found, then levered over the water. The bridge here consists of 2 slabs supported in the middle by a pile of smaller blocks.
The Avon Clapper
The trail descends to the clapper, slightly passing it before it does so. Don’t be tempted to cut this corner off. The Two Moors Way National Trail joins our path here. It is very popular, and the passing of many booted feet has turned the area around the bridge into a slippery mush. The path takes the least squishy approach.
After crossing the bridge, and standing to watch the waters gurgling under its piles, our track follows the path of the river eastward. The path is well trodden, but there are lots of alternatives as people have tried to avoid the watery parts. Take your pick, and good luck. Keep higher if possible is the only vaguely practical advice. To your left rises Huntingdon Hill. On the is hill is the remains of Huntingdon Warren. The rabbit farm on the hill was running until 1956.
The path crosses over a style at the end of a wall that goes down to the riverside. By the wall stands Huntingdon Cross. This is a medieval cross and has stood here for at least 600 hundred years. The path then Crosses the Western Wella Brook, a tributary of the Avon. The stream divides into two and the crossing places are very muddy. Until recently this was the place where a walker was most likely to get wet feet-but a new clapper bridge has been put over the wider stream and stones (with a pipe) have been put over the smaller stream, so I got across without having to hop gingerly over loose rocks. This (very welcome) new bridge was made by Dartmoor National Park Authority, with funding from the Totnes and the Devon Ramblers, who have earned, at least my, undying gratitude. Of course the bridge was not made as it was in the middle ages! A video can be seen here of it’s construction. They clearly picked a day of bad weather for it.
The new clapper bridge. The two DALEKS beyond are the remains of a water pipe system across the river
Looking north east from Huntingdon Cross you can see a rounded hill. This is Hickaton Hill. It is easy to identify because of the large, almost circular shape on it’s side.This is the site of a neolithic settlement. Four thousand years ago, the climate on the moors was more hospitable, and they were well populated. There are the relics of settlements, hut circles, stone rows and circles spread over most of the moor.
The track now leads up Hickaton Hill. It can be seen (usually) from the cross. It is well trodden, because it is part of two trails, the Two Moors way and the Abbot’s way. In summer is can be relatively busy.
Follow the track up the hill, and take time to poke around the settlement. The map show distinct hut circle shapes. These may be obvious from the air, but at ground level the settlement ring seems to contains random piles and patches of stone. You can sit here and imagine the bustle, smells and noise of all those years ago.
The ancient settlement on Hickaton Hill
Follow the Two moors Way up the hill. It levels out and then climbs again, and soon you come to a place where the trail you are on is crossed by another (this was once the road to Huntingdon Warren). This is close to the edge of the open moors. Ahead and to your left you can see fields and patches of woodland. There are now wiry and twisted blackthorn trees amid the granite boulders.
view of fields from Hickaton Hill
We are heading towards Lud gate ( SX683673). Shortly after passing the crossroads you will notice that the track diverges. The path straight on is the Two Moors Way and bearing slightly to the right, the track to Lud Gate. You can see your destination as a small copse of fir trees to the north east. Lud gate lies in a small kink in the moor boundary between these and a little wood of deciduous trees,The path is clear and gravelly.Around you are bushes of gorse. It always seems so lush, this small patch of heath after the grassy expanses of the moor.
Stage 2 : Lud Gate to Buckfastleigh
Lud Gate
At the gate ignore the finger post pointing to the left, and pass through the gate into a long lane with dry-stone walls and cut-and-laid hedges on either side. Trees arch overhead. In summer it is a delightful canopy of leaves, alive with birds. In winter it is a fascinating network of twisted branches.
After about ten minutes walk the lane becomes a proper road, which eventually comes to a crossroads called Cross Furzes. Pass this junction and turn left at a T junction a little further on.The road we are following is it is to Buckfast and Ashburton. (picture at top of this post). There is another mile or so of road-walking, past farms and fields, until you come to a farm called Button. There is a footpath through the farm. It is rarely used as the footpath signpost is beyond the farm gate, and almost hidden in a bush of holly.
Pass the (very well kept) farmhouse, and on crossing a style keep the hedge to your left and enter Bilberry Copse, which is a small part of Kings wood. Because the path is not busy, the leaves were still dry underfoot and the forest was decked still in autumn colours.
After the woods the trail passes through a few fields which often have sheep and horses in. The track comes to a road, at which we turn left and cross a small bridge over the River Mardle, shown below, then through Bilberry woods. There is no reason to do this, as the path through the woods merely loops in an arc and joins the road again.
footbridge into Bilberry Woods
Bilberry Hill Woods
On joining the road turn left and in just over ten minutes you will arrive in Buckfastleigh
Buckfastleigh is a small, busy town.
For some reason, they have changed the bus timetables so that there are no longer buses to Totnes on a Sunday. I walked another mile to Buckfast, where I have frequently caught a Sunday bus home, It was the same-no service. So I had to ring my wife and ask her to come a get me, like a lost schoolboy. And, it being Sunday, the chip shop was closed!
Fish and chips in Buckfastleigh
