Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail

The Iron Road by Keir Smith 

Catching up with our home news first: our friend Marta is now the proud owner of our Bailey Orion caravan and we hope she will be as happy in it as we were. We're enjoying being in our Classic Hymer motorhome, despite a few teething troubles, and have decided to call it Horace because it sounds like a lion roaring if you don't change up from first gear fast enough when pulling away at traffic lights! I thought I remembered a lion called Horace, but Googling the phrase has failed to find anything so goodness only knows what I should have remembered!

We took Horace to his first art exhibition this week although he didn't actually get any further than the car park. Dave and I set of on foot to (mostly) admire the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail. This free Trail (It did cost £3 to park for up to 4 hours) is essentially a five mile woodland walk, sporadically interrupted by sixteen large outdoor artworks. Reading up on the website afterwards - because we didn't shell out for the map), some of the pieces have been in place for decades.

Horace waiting at the Sculpture Trail 

My favourite was an atmospheric work called Dead Wood by Carole Drake. It comprises of "five steel plates dug into the forest floor amongst a regiment of larch … they bear faint traces, memories of European forests devastated by war." I didn't get a good photo of this work and the one Through This Link doesn't really do justice to its spookiness.

Detail from
The Iron Road 

The Iron Road by Keir Smith is another that made quite an impression on me. "Twenty evenly spaced railway sleepers placed on the gentle curve of a disused railway line bring the spirit of the Forest’s industrial past to life." The sleepers themselves apparently originally were in the London Underground. Now they are each carved with different motifs such as the vase pictured. Other images include a smoking chimney and an open book.

My third highlight was Echo by Annie Cattrell. This piece is a replica of a section of the bank behind it. It's cleverly positioned so we could see details of tree roots in the sculpture and their natural inspiration. I would love to know how this one was created. Surely a mould of the bank would have disturbed it too much? I did try calling to try and get an audible echo too - of course! It didn't work particularly well.

Echo by Annie Cattrell 

I made an unexpected discovery tucked into an Echo crevice - a cute Bee Kind painted pebble from FODRocksUK. I haven't decided where to rehide it yet!

Here's some of the other sculptures:

Exploring Cockington Country Park, Torquay

Dave found us a beautiful walk yesterday and I am glad we went straight out in the sunshine rather than leaving it until today when the rain would have put us off and the mist obscured all our views. We began at Nut Bush Lane which is right on the edge of Torquay and so always reminds me of the Tina Turner song Nutbush City Limits. An influence on the town planners? There is space to park three or four cars and we got lucky.

Our path led away behind the red dog waste bin which seemed sadly redundant as I noticed a couple of instances of dog walkers preferring to bag their animal's crap and then hang the bags from trees. Seriously - what is the point of that? Especially less than fifty yards from a bin. Sometimes I despair of people!

Fortunately such ugliness wasn't typical of our afternoon and we were soon walking through pretty green woodland and emerging onto open downland from where we had gorgeous views across valleys and out to sea. The existence of Cockington Country Park protects the agricultural and natural environment from house building - for the time being at least - and we felt lucky to have this expansive green space so close to our home. We intended to follow the John Musgrave Trail into Cockington village, but it is only sporadically signposted so we don't know if we were exactly on course all the time. There is a bewildering choice of footpaths, cycle routes and bridlepaths converging on Cockington. Does anyone know if a definitive map is available? The John Musgrave Trail was created by the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust in partnership with the Ramblers Association, from a legacy left by John Musgrove who was a keen walker. It opened in 2006 and extends some thirty-five miles around Torbay. We have a lot more of it still to discover!

Instead of continuing across Torbay, our furthest outward point was around Scadson Woods which I think, at the moment, must be the best destination for wild garlic. The woods had their fair share of bluebells too, but the white garlic flowers stole the show. Their scent was incredible as well.

I was pleased to see that all the paths we walked were well-trodden, cycled and ridden. The more people who use an area such as this, the more likely it is to preserved for the purpose. The paths closest to Cockington Craft Centre and the village would be the easiest for disabled access, but even further afield I think they would be acceptable for pushchairs and Tramper mobility scooters as long as the frequent short-but-steep gradients could be overcome.

I knew we were close to the estate's centre when we began to spot rhododendrons through the trees and then saw the restored Gamekeeper's Cottage. We had visited here last summer so made our way directly to the Cafe for a cup of tea and generous slice of Red Velvet cake. It was getting late in the afternoon so we didn't linger long before continuing our circuit back towards Nut Bush Lane. I did notice a couple of artworks outside the Cafe that are part of a Sculpture Trail. The works are there until the 10th of September and I intend to return to see the whole Trail. I am also tempted by the monthly Food And Craft Market which takes place on the last Sunday of each month and features locally farmed foods and unique handmade crafts. The next Market is on the 28th of May.

A Weekend in Bristol - St Anne's Wood

Paul Gulati gateway 

We made a beautiful discovery in Bristol last weekend and, best of all, it was free! St Anne's Wood in Brislington is relatively new in natural history terms having grown up since the Second World War when the majority of this area was farmland. It languished for a while, but was subject to an ongoing regeneration effort in 2013 which is resulting in a serene natural space. Himalayan Balsam plants have been ripped out and coppicing undertaken, and regular cleanups now help keep litter to a minimum although we two two instances where, in a practice we commonly see in Spain, people must have deliberately walked a distance into the wood, past a number of bins, simply to dump an armful of their rubbish. Sometimes I really do despair! The trail, workshops and new paths and entrances were joint funded by Bristol City Council’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund, the Neighbourhood Partnership’s Wellbeing fund and the Heritage Lottery. Ideal for getting away from the city bustle for a while! The Wood follows Brislington Brook and there are maps and further information from 2013 and 2014 on the Brook Trail blog.

St Anne's Well 

I loved the whimsical entrance gates. These were created by local blacksmith Paul Gulati and are great fun. Fairly steep steps lead down from the pictured gateway to the brook. I was amazed how traffic noise seemed to just vanish as we descended! I would have been easy to imagine ourselves way back in history, especially as a small re-enactment group appeared between the trees dressed in Medieval garb! This area was once part of one of the most important pilgrimage routes in Britain with the now neglected St Anne's Well being a focal point for locals and travellers alike.

For a much shorter 'pilgrimage', you can spot each of the nine plaques set up within the Wood. They each give brief information about historical sites such as the well, or about flora and fauna that can be seen nearby. If you are visiting with children, take paper and pencils with you because these plaques are apparently also intended to be used for the ancient practice of brass rubbing. I remember doing that on a school trip many years ago!

Brislington Brook 

The Les Santes walk through the Desert de les Palmes

Almond blossom 

The Ermita de les Santes is over the other side of the Desert de les Palmes from our Pico del Bartolo walk so we got to see completely different aspects to the natural park. The circular walk starts and finishes at the Ermita and is pretty easy going most of the way with just a short downhill section on the return stretch which was steeper and a little tricky. Our guide book indicated that the walk would take around two hours, but for once we finished well ahead of time in just one and a half hours! I think the route might take longer in Spring or Summer when more of the varied plant life hereabouts is in flower. We saw several orchard fields of blossoming almond trees, but otherwise most of the vegetation was evergreens or dormant. I did see my palms this time though! There are lots of fan palms along the Les Santes footpaths.

The route begins on a track right at the edge of the protected natural park so it was interesting to see almost impenetrable forest on one side of the track and open farmland leading to towering limestone cliffs, possibly the Marmudella, on the other. We also discovered that this side of the park is considerably cooler in temperature, perhaps due to the woodland although we were out in the open early on. Maybe the sun just doesn't get high enough over the mountains at this time of year.

Having previously read about it, we were keen to see one of the most geologically interesting zones in the park which is where the track leads over an outcrop of Palaeozoic slate. The slate apparently dates back some 230 million years! Unfortunately, while we are pretty sure we correctly identified this point as we walked over it, there wasn't really much to actually get excited about. Just a few metres of dark grey slate instead of the usual reddish sandstone.

So in lieu of a photo of ancient stone, here's one of our path spookily plunging into woodlands instead. I was a little perturbed that our guide book included a paragraph of instructions for what to do in case of a forest fire. We are used to being given blindingly obvious fire prevention advice such as not dropping matches or cigarettes, or discarding glass which can intensify sunlight to cause flame. I don't think we've ever told how to escape before though. We saw extensive evidence of the frequency of fires here. Most of the oldest trees aren't particularly large and along one stretch plant stems were still scorched black from a recent incineration which was a sobering sight. (Oh, and I learned fire tends to go uphill and downwind so we should head downhill and upwind. And, like in this tenuously relevant James Keelaghan song, Cold Missouri Waters, if necessary stand in an already burnt patch.)

This time we continued safely back to the Ermita pausing only to get out of the way of a gaggle of mountain bike riders heading up a very steep part-concreted part-rough track section of the route, and one man heading down the same on a vintage Royal Enfield motorcycle.

Ermita Les Santes 

The Ermita is dedicated to the Saints Llucia and Agueda and we saw photographs of the simple altar inside. The doors were firmly locked so we couldn't go in, but one of the doors in particular was amazing. Made of metal, it had been stamped by hand with hundreds of tiny dots to create shapes of religious figures. I am not sure exactly how old the original building is - around the early 1600s I think. It was renovated about twenty years ago and the work included the spring which is now piped out of a tiled wall into a beautifully clear pool. There is also a significant recreation area on terraces at the front which includes brick built barbecues and wooden picnic tables. The small car park was private to us for our walk(!) but probably gets busy during summer months and there aren't any parking options along the narrow 2km cami to the Ermita so then I would recommend either starting out early or be prepared to add twice the length of the cami to your walk.

Ermita door 

Fan palms! 

A day of two walks - Cepie and Pieusse

Cepie walking route map 

We are enjoying great walks in the Aude region of France. Days in the valley tend to start out misty and frosty, but once the sun breaks through in the late morning we have glorious blue skies and perfect walking weather. On Thursday we combined two shorter walks into one great day out by completing a circuit of 6.5km from Cepie in the morning, picnicking in the car, then completing another circuit of 5km from Pieusse in the afternoon. Both routes were well marked with yellow stripes and had sign boards at their departure points. Both of the maps shown on this post are photographs of these sign boards which would be adequate to complete the walks although we did appreciate our flyers from the Tourist Office too.

Pieusse walking route map 

Neither walk went across particularly challenging terrain so we could take time to enjoy the varied environments through which we passed. I loved seeing gorgeous autumn colours everywhere! Oak trees have yellow leaves, strawberry trees have red and orange fruits, and dark green cypress trees stand tall in between. The geology referred to on the Cepie walk sign is an area of sand, strewn with shells and rounded pebbles which used to form an ocean floor, but has now been thrust upwards to form the Pyrennean foothills.

Boucle de Saint Polycarpe - hiking in Aude, France

Aqueduct at Saint Polycarpe 

Boucle is the French for a loop and the word is applied to routes for hikers, cyclists and motorists. We picked up a half dozen boucles from Alet les Bains tourist office and set out on the first of them yesterday. Saint Polycarpe is a village about 20-30 minutes drive from our campsite - into Limoux and then almost back on ourselves out again! Like Alet les Bains it too has a Abbaye and also boasts a part-ruined aqueduct which originally brought water to the religious community. I don't think it still does. Our leaflet told us that car parking was available at the Mairie (the town hall), but this building actually fronts onto the narrow main through road so it is better to turn off where parking is signposted for the Abbaye and Aqueduc. There's a small car park here, over an old stone bridge, which might fill up quickly in summer, but had plenty of space at this time of year!

Apple press? 

We set out towards Buc and our route soon left the road at a ruined apple press. Uphill - all the best walks start out uphill - towards villas and past barking dogs, I thought the route was going to peter out almost before it had started, but a grassy footpath leads off into trees and woodland. The steepest climb of the whole walk was this first fifteen minutes and was just enough to make me start thinking that a 'two boot' graded walk might be beyond my capabilities right now. I have gotten way out of condition over the summer! However once we attained the crest and were strolling along the ridge, my breathing calmed down and we were able to enjoy some stunning views over the valley below. Once past a dedicated viewpoint, we were delighted to see numerous strawberry trees (arbutus unedo) which reminded us not only of the one we grew in our former Polegate garden, but also of our weeks spent at Serro da Bica in Portugal. Dave tried the local firewater there which was flavoured with the trees' fruit.

Superb views from the ridge 

Golden vineyards 

I liked the variety of terrain encountered on this walk. We saw the towns of Saint Polycarpe and Villar-Saint-Anselme as well as walking through woodlands and out in the open past numerous golden-leaved vineyards. It seems every spare inch of land around here has a vine planted in it and the resultant local wine is highly thought of - a sparkling wine which is claimed to be the forerunner of champagne. We haven't tried it yet! Back to the walk and I was impressed by how well signed it was. The symbols were a yellow dot over a yellow stripe and these were painted at regular intervals and very clearly at junctions. We almost didn't need the flyer although it was nice to have both. I'm certainly now confident to try more walks in the series and we considered a drive to Couiza to get more leaflets. It has turned distinctly frosty here in Alet les Bains valley though so Dave might prefer to move on to Sigean where the campsite is on an open plain and may have sunshine for longer each day!

Boucle de Saint Polycarpe 

Walking the South West Coast Path from Torquay

View across Torbay 

One of our main considerations when choosing Torquay as our new base was the availability of great walking routes near to our home. We had already tried a few rambles on Dartmoor when we were here in the Spring, but only managed one short coastal wander. We're rectifying that now and have been on a couple of good walks directly from our front door out along sections of the wonderful South West Coast Path and back home again. All car free so far which is great and we are also enjoying simply exploring the streets up around Wellswood, the Lincombes and St Marychurch. There is so much interesting architecture and green expanses that I don't think we will be getting bored walking around here any time soon!

Our first coastal wander took us out past the Imperial Hotel near Torquay harbour to join the Coast Path. We were actually directed through part of their car park! Once onto the Path proper, there are gorgeous views out to sea and across Torbay. It's all pretty easy going underfoot, albeit with steep step sections, so I imagine the Path can be walked at all times of the year to appreciate the differing colours and moods of the sea. We continued as far as Daddyhole Plain which is a limestone plateau 75 metres above the sea. Apparently Daddyhole is an ancient name for the devil and Kevin Dixon wrote an interesting article for the Torquay Herald Express about Daddyhole Plain's folklore. The only sort of unusual thing we saw up there was this stone bench created by the National Association of Master Masons in 1984.

NAMM stone bench on Daddyhole Plain 

Further walking, now fortunately downhill, took us to Meadfoot Beach which is considered one of the nicer swimming areas. The tide was in though so the beach was mostly a concrete promenade. Fortified and refreshed by locally made Marshfield Farm ice cream, we headed home following an almost hidden uphill path which began a little way along Meadfoot Beach, about in the middle of the parking layby. We ascended through pleasantly shaded woodland, emerging eventually in the Lincombes and near to home.

View across Torbay 

We're back in Banwell, Somerset

We stayed at Cottage Farm, a pretty Caravan Club CL in

Limestone Link sign 

Banwell, Somerset, for one night last year and have returned here now for several nights as it is a lovely spot in its own right, but also handy for popping up to Bristol. It's possible that we might not be able to stay here again in the future though. Due to retirement, the Stimsons are selling up and moving on. So if any readers are interested in buying a CL campsite with house, workshops and a seven acre smallholding in North Somerset, the details are on estate agent's David James' website!

We didn't get much chance to explore locally last year so have already rectified that with a nine mile walk on Friday. Dave plotted the route by tracing footpaths on our Ordnance Survey map and printed out the relevant section. Isn't technology wonderful! We parked up in a small layby just past Banwell Garden Centre on the A371 which was handy for a footpath heading across fields towards Winscombe and Sandford cemetery. There seemed to be more little signs indicating the Butcombe Brewery Mendip Pub Trail than any other route, but we never actually saw a pub!

After strolling through Sandford, we kept heading East on a

Wild garlic carpet 

woodlandy footpath towards the ski centre and beyond towards Dinghurst. Much of the walk was through woodland of one kind or another. It varied from being cool against the mugginess of the day to be very close and stuffy, and did mean that we didn't get much in the way of long views. We did love seeing and smelling wild garlic flowers everywhere. Torbay area might be distinguished by blue bells at this time of year. North Somerset is carpeted with wild garlic. Our walk was a sort-of figure of eight with the second loop being on part of the Limestone Link route around Dolebury Warren. This 36 mile route joins the limestone of the Cotswolds to that of the Mendip Hills. We followed it for about forty minutes below Dolebury Warren before turning almost back on ourselves and climbing to return back above Dolebury. This ancient site is looked after by the National Trust and Avon Wildlife Trust and one of the highlights for us was walling across the hill and ditch remains of an Iron Age fort. It was apparently built about 500BC and, although it is not as extensive or well delineated as Maiden Castle, it still felt pretty amazing to be there.

After a complete loop of Dolebury Warren, our return

Lime kilns at Sandford Award Land 

footpath took us to Sandford Batch around the other side of Lyncombe Hill to our outward journey. It turns out that Sandford has quite a history too. In 1799, an Act of Parliament awarded land with a quarry to the Ecclesiastical Parish of Winscombe which provided stone to build and repair public roads and properties. The quarry area is now preserved as Sandford Award Land and includes these late eighteenth century Lime Kilns (like the one at Dornafield), remains of an 1860s forge furnace and the old railway track route. We were both pretty exhausted by the time we reached this point so didn't spend as much time exploring as we could have done. The area boasts a great network of footpaths though so we could easily make it a starting location for future walks. Instead, this time, we headed back to the layby and our car, pausing only in the middle of a field to unfurl our waterproofs as a sudden heavy shower tried to drench us!

Walking from Lemonford campsite to Rora Wood and Liverton

One aspect of our current campsite, Lemonford, that most

Vintage tractor at Liverton 

attracted us to it is its proximity to Dartmoor and, therefore, potentially good walks. We set out on one a couple of days ago which Dave had plotted from our new Ordnance Survey Landranger map 191. Starting from Lemonford and walking in to Bickington, we crossed over the River Lemon and took the second left, passing under the A38. We then passed a turning to Yeo Farm, instead taking the bridleway towards Goodstone Woods. I wondered if Yeo Farm was a contributor to Yeo Valley, but couldn't find any connections mentioned online. There is a beautifully picturesque Bed and Breakfast called Owls Rattle on the junction. (They're not taking bookings right now though)

At a fork, we took the right-hand footpath towards

I never get bored of bluebell woods 

Ramshorn Down. There was a little uncertainty leaving the first field. It turns out that through the leaning metal gate is the correct route! The narrow wooded path follows a pretty little stream for quite a way, emerging at Coombe Farm where a protective collie dog didn't allow us much thinking time. We should have gone straight ahead uphill, but actually took the right fork along a rough road away from the farm. It didn't really matter as we then rejoined our footpath by turning left at the tarmaced road and completing a triangle. Our track to Ramshorn Down, after a short distance on the right, climbed up onto open moorland with stunning panoramic views in almost 360 degrees. We spotted Lemonford below us and looked over to Haytor where we previously walked a couple of weeks ago.

View to Haytor (you'll need to squint to see it though!) 

Descending towards Rora House, we passed either several little or one huge equestrian establishment. There are numerous tyre jumps by the sides of tracks too. The three-way junction where we turned down to the House only has signs pointing in the other two directions, but it is marked as a right of way from the other end. Rora House is an elegant pinkish coloured building, unfortunately obscured by scaffolding at the moment, and is a religious retreat for 'Regions Overseas, Regions Around'. I think the house must have been named first!

Liverton hamlet, on the far side of Rora Wood, is picture

Song thrush egg (?)

postcard pretty, although a possible scrap metal merchant on the outskirts spoils the effect. I think the vintage tractor pictured above was his though. We ate our picnic lunch perched on a road bridge just before the village, and then followed the road through as the farthest point of our circular walk. Returning around the other side of Rora Wood, we climbed steadily uphill along forestry tracks and paths. There are lots of options here and the Wood seems popular with dog walkers. I am not sure of our exact route, but we ended up coming back to the three-way junction and retracing our steps to Ramshorn Down, now with those expansive views in the other direction. There are two tracks marked on the map to cross the Down. We had come up from the Coombe Farm direction and so headed back along the other track. This entailed climbing over a stile prior to a short but very steep downhill section after crossing the road. I didn't like this bit at all, but had we done the route the other way round we would have had a very steep uphill and Dave certainly wouldn't have liked that!

We returned along the same woodland path as we had taken on the way out. There are a couple of places where unofficial small diversions around fallen trees or muddy patches make the path vague for a while. Our whole route was about six miles and we were delighted with the range of environments we saw. Were we staying here longer, we would certainly do more walking from Lemonford as it is a great base location. The little roads are very quiet and there are plenty of small villages and hamlets to discover as well as Dartmoor itself.

Views From Bridges part two - walking Dartmoor from Lustleigh

For the second part of my Views From Bridges post pairing

The old Clam Bridge viewed from the new 

I am turning away from the superb National Theatre production and, instead, talking about actual bridges over which we crossed during our second Dartmoor walk of this season. We chose Number 18: Lustleigh And Becky Falls in our brilliant new Walk Dartmoor book. This walk takes in several pretty villages and hamlets as well as woodland paths and babbling brooks so it was a complete change of scene from our first walk last week.

Beginning by trying to find somewhere to park in the

Lustleigh sheep! 

gorgeous village of Lustleigh - we got lucky with a spot by the church - we were a little disappointed to see that the recommended tea rooms are closed down at the moment. Apparently the owners are retiring so the business is up for sale (and with the same estate agent, Bettesworths, as is selling a furniture shop we had wanted to visit in Newton Abbot). As it turned out, we weren't back in time to indulge in Afternoon Tea anyway! I liked these painted sheep by the church although I am not sure what the reason for their decoration was.

Setting off through a wonderful orchard which is now

Lustleigh May Queens' chair 

recreational space for the village, we passed by the May Queens' throne. The stone chair was designed by Doug Cooper and carved from local Blackingstone Quarry granite by Warren Pappas. It sits is atop a large boulder engraved with the names of all Lustleigh's May Queens from Vivienne Jenkin in 1968 to Abigail Carroll in 2015 and apparently a previous rock has names going back to 1905. The chair was still decorated with this year's May Day flowers, only slightly wilted, so I expect this year's queen, Talia Sullivan, will be immortalised there soon too.

The woodlands around this part of Dartmoor are beautiful,

Woodland near Lustleigh 

especially at this time of year when they are carpeted with bluebells. We saw both blue and white bluebells as we descended from Lustleigh and also pretty two-toned pink purslane flowers. This walk took in a variety of woodland areas with different trees dominating. Some were more open like the picture here, others very overgrown or, like Becky Falls Park, strewn with mossy boulders. The signposting is generally very good so we could often dispense with our book and Ordnance Survey map between waypoints. It was beautifully peaceful with just distant birdsong often the only sounds and we hardly saw any other walkers. We did step aside for two mad mountainbikers and Dave got a comment on his last-year-birthday-present t-shirt:

Our book had mentioned the authors 'gingerly crossing' the

The new bridge 

River Bovey at Clam Bridge and Dave had wondered whether this might be a bridge too far for my vertigo. The old bridge is pictured in the first photo at the top of this post and I think I would have been ok, if nervous. However that slender crossing is now closed and barricaded at each end for safety reasons. We learned that some locals aren't very happy about this even though there is now a new £35,000 bridge right alongside, because it doesn't have the historical significance (or adventure factor) of the original.

Once over the bridge, we continued on to the famous waterfall at Becky Falls. Our route followed a public footpath through the privately owned land and we did catch sight of the brook tumbling, but in order to get good views of the waterfall you need to buy a ticket to the park. Having been so impressed with High Force and Low Force last year we aren't sure yet if we will splash out on Becky Falls too.

Finally, steep climbs up from Hisley Bridge towards Hisley

itself gave us long views out over Lustleigh Cleave and Trendlebere Down. The bridge is an old stone packhorse bridge and has a lovely sense of timelessness to it.

We took quite a bit longer than our book suggested for this walk - 3 1/2 hours as opposed to their 2 1/2. We are putting this down to a combination of too much time spent pointing at things and taking photographs, and to being a tad out of condition for the uphill bits! It's an excellent walk though and we were very happy to have been guided along this route past sights that we probably wouldn't otherwise have found. We finished up with a spot of good luck too: we just got into the village shop as the church clock was striking six so were able to buy ourselves each a delicious and well-earned ice cream before they closed up for the day.