Sunday 13 December 2009

A good day out with the kids

As we are finally having some nice (but cold) weather we thought we should go for a walk yesterday but the tide times were not good for beach walking; so where else do you go when you have a 7 and a 4 year old to take into account? Well Dartmoor is out really and a long way to drive, same for Bodmin and Exmoor. There are some nice coastal cliff path walks around Hartland and Morwenstow but can be very hilly and some of the walking is quite tough. So we decided to have a look at the Tarka Trail www.devon.gov.uk/tarkatrail.htm. The nearest place we can get onto this is only about 10 minutes drive for us, near Torrington ,so our friends loaded the kids bikes and we set off. The entry point for us is a place called Watergate Bridge and from there you can go north - towards Torrington and eventually Bideford and even Ilfracombe, or south towards Meeth. We chose the northern route as there appeared to be a couple of pubs on the way - good for a rest and maybe some lunch.

The Tarka trail is a bridle/cycle and walking route along the old railway line. The first part was particularly lovely walking though a wooded section with a fast flowing river close by. You then get to a bridge crossing the Torridge River close to Torrington. You can walk then down to Taddiport where there used to be a great pub but we understand it has recently closed. We kept going along the route north towards Bideford. As you go under the main road from Bideford to Torrington there are the remains of the old station complete with a carriage. There is also a pub called the Puffing Billy but sadly this was closed too (we think it has not closed completely but it certainly wasn't open yesterday). There is also a cycle hire shop here and this was open.

Our aim was to get to Weare Gifford, further along the line and this route crosses the Torridge River several times. The countryside opens up to fields here too. In order to get to Weare Gifford itself you will come to a path on your right signposted to the Village just before a bridge over the river. Take this path if you want to got to the village, do not be fooled by the Explorer map which seems to suggest there is a path closer to the village, there isn't any way to cross the river here and the path refers to a ford. There is NO way, you can cross the Torridge on foot, we made the mistake of thinking perhaps there was a footbridge and found of course that there wasn't so had to turn back. We did follow the path signposted to the Village and this takes you through managed woodland (you can't take your bikes through here, there is a place to lock them up if you have brought locks with you just before you leave the old railway line).

The walk was lovely and luckily the path is quite easy to follow on the way to the village, on the way back the path is signposted by use of white painted dots on the side of the trees, it could be quite easy to get lost in the forest without them I think. Once you get out of the forest turn left onto the road and follow this through the village for about half a mile, you will then come to the Cyder Press the local Pub. Note, it closes at 2.30 and stops serving food at 1.30, we were too late for food but the cider was good and many packets of crisps consumed. It is a lovely old pub and we can say that the landlord was very friendly, next time we will leave earlier and have some lunch here.

By the time we got back to the cars it was getting late, I reckon it takes about an hour and 45 minutes from Watergate Bridge to Weare Gifford on foot, obviously on a bike it would be a lot quicker. M and I plan to try the southerly route from Watergate on our next trip and this time we will take our bicycles.

The Tarka trail is great for kids on bikes, no cars to worry about and this time of year it was quite quiet. I imagine in the summer it could be quite busy. Maps for the route can be downloaded from the website inserted above. Apparently the council is opening up more off road cycle routes so you would be able eventually to cycle off road from Barstaple all the way to Bude via Hatherleigh (the Barstaple/Ilfracombe section of the Tarka Trail is on road); there are also quite a few cycle routes round here as part of the sustrans project, but some of this is on road and you have to watch out for the tractors and the hills! www.sustrans.org.uk

I would recommend this trip to anyone who lives in this area or is visting, we had a great day and the kids had fun, the 7 year old managed to cycle nearly the whole way, which we think was about 6 miles round trip (apart from the forest section of course).

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