Dartmoor CAM Walks

Previous walks Weather Links

This walk: 2015-6-17. Drakeford Bridge, inscribed stone, River Bovey, old oak tree stump, Oil beetle, Dor beetle, memorial bench, Hisley Bridge, wood ants, broom seed pods and flower, honeysuckle, ash house, Lustleigh church, The Cleave public house, Russian comfrey.

Walk details below - Information about the route etc.

Where we walked: Google Satellite view of the area - including the GPS track of the walk (compare with the Ordnance Survey map plus track below)

try zooming in with the mouse thumbwheel and "dragging" the map to see points of interest
click on the place-markers to read their label - they are most accurate at the highest zoom level
try "mousing" over the list of placemarks on the left of the screen, highlights their place on the map
use browser back arrow or Alt key and left-arrow cursor key together to return to normal web page.

Previous walk in this area: 7th November 2012.

Approaching Drakeford bridge .....

Inscribed stone in the bridge wall: THIS 1684 BRIDG WAS REPARD BY THE COVNTY, meaning that the bridge was repaired in 1684 (the "4" is reversed) .....

The other side.

Sign along the way.

River Bovey.

In the River Bovey!

Group photograph - and one them is The Leader .....

Another group photograph.

Stump of what was a very notable tree, from the previous walk (Nov. 2012) .....

"Somewhere along here there is a large English oak tree, with a sizeable trunk. Three of us joined hands and "hugged" it - it actually took 2� "hugs". We discovered later that this is a recognised method for finding ancient trees to be recorded on the Ancient Tree Hunt web site: Recognising ancient trees! It actually stipulates "adult hugs", do we all qualify? One "hug" is taken as being 1.5 metres, therefore this tree was about 3� metres around the trunk. At a commonly-used estimate of 1-inch (2.5 cm) increase in girth for a free-growing (uncrowded) tree per year then this indicates an age of about 150 years. If it was 3.5 m in girth, then it would be about 140 years old. A caveat: this growth rate does not apply to the youngest trees and nor to old trees that grow less slowly until they cease growing altogether.

According to information on the British Hardwoods Tree Nursery web site, oak trees can be expected to live for 200-300 years.

Recorded ancient trees can be found on this ancient-tree-hunt.org.uk interactive map. The biggest tree I know of locally (that is on the map) is the large beech in Princetown car park, Tree 110530, with a girth of 4.9 metres.

NB - The tree was seen again on 17 January 2013 and from "hug spans" on that walk, it's age was calculated to be approximately 162 years."

Counting the rings as best as one can here, I made it about 150 years old, now I see 150-162 years estimated above.

Oil beetle (photos) .....

As previous photograph.

Dor (or Dung) beetle .....

As previous photograph.

Fallen tree forming a substantial natural bridge across the River Bovey.

Bench .....

Plaque.

Hisley Bridge, at SX 77983 80021 ....

Hisley Bridge .....

Looking upstream from Hisley Bridge .....

Looking downstream .....

From Hisley Bridge .....

That's one way to stop traffic ..... note the slotted gatepost.

Wood ants' nest .....

Closer view.

Trendlebeare Down, scene of a recent large-scale fire when swaling went wrong .....

Zoomed view of burnt gorse with bracken coming through.

Another group photograph .....

Another group photograph.

Wood ants.

Looking back down the slope.

Common broom Cytisus scoparius .....

Broom flower.

Looking towards Gradner Rocks.

Wild honeysuckle or Woodbine, Lonicera periclymemum .....

As previous photograph.

Another valley photograph.

An ash house.

Red campion, Silene dioica and Cow parsley.

Along the way.

White foxgloves.

Church of St. John the Baptist, Lustleigh .....

The church .....

Scene including Lustleigh Village Cross .....

I see somewhere to go .....

The Cleave public house ..... and only halfway through the walk .....

As previous photograph .....

The garden .....

Notice.

That is quite an entrance to the house.

Village scene.

A tree growing on a large rock.

Mystery plant I.

Mystery plant II .....

Closer view.

Small bridge, at SX 78701 80916.

Russian comfrey .....

The leaf.

Walk details

MAP: Red = GPS satellite track of the walk.

This walk was reached by travelling from Plymouth, up the A38 to Bovey Tracey, going across the first roundabout, turning left at the second roundabout, driving up past Parke (Natio0nal Park HQ), following the right-hand branch in the road where it is signed "Manaton" ("Haytor etc. to the left), turning right at "Reddaford Water"(the right-hand turn before reaching Yarner Wood), and driving to the first bridge (Drakeford Bridge) and turning left into the car park immediately before the bridge, marked by the yellow cross on the map above.

Statistics
Distance - 6.72 km / 4.18 miles.