Sunday March 5th 2000 was forecast to be a good day and indeed the day dawned with a heavy frost and clear blue skies. It was not surprising therefore to find 25 walkers meeting at the Parish Hall Car Park at Bere Alston for the walk of 11 miles around the Bere Peninsula.

John Leary the leader had planned the walk very well. Some Sunday walkers prefer 6 to 8 mile walks and John had built in at least three escape points on the circular walk so that those walkers could indeed shorten the walk to meet their needs.

After a short briefing on the walk we were off heading out of the Bere Alston more or less south from the car park. After a hundred yards or so of road walking we moved onto a footpath that would take us down to Tuckermarsh Quay on the banks of the Tamar a half mile upstream of Calstock on the opposite side.

As we left the road, we had a splendid view looking across to Cornwall and the small town of Calstock below us on the other side of the Tamar in Cornwall. We followed the path down, first across fields and then through a more wooded area, descending all the time down to sea level and leaving the wooded area, we were at Tuckermarsh Quay.

Today Tuckermarsh Quay seems to consist of one house but a hundred years ago the whole of the area was one of frenetic mining activity digging for Tin, Copper and the Arsenic and doubtless the quay was a much busier place than it is today.

The owner of the house obviously likes topiary and there was an example of the craft with a bush in the shape of a large bird in the garden just above the river.

We swung left at this point and followed the footpath downstream, the tide was also going out and the mudbanks were becoming more evident as we walked down along the side of the river.

We soon found ourselves following the path through woodland and then along a muddy track leading to Ferry Farm on the opposite bank of the river to Calstock. The size of the houses at Calstock clearly show the importance that the town must have had as a centre for mining related trading in the 1800s and at the turn of the last century.

Ferry Farm is so called because there was once a passenger ferry operating across the river from the Farm to Calstock. For 25 years there was no ferry but in 1999 a summer service was reinstated and it proved very popular with crossings by the Farm and further downstream across to Cotehele Quay. Readers wishing to take the ferry should check on the availability as it can only operate a couple of hours either side of high tide.

The viaduct linking Devon and Cornwall at this point still carries trains to this day with the line going up as far as Gunnislake.

We passed through the farm, under the viaduct, up a hill for a hundred yards, then turned right onto a very muddy footpath that took us back again close to the river, further downstream. When we got to a field by the side of the Tamar we stopped for morning coffee in the warming sun.

We continued downstream soon the path entered a wood which brought us a few hundred yards further down to another passenger ferry crossing point to Cotehele where there is a superb national trust owned house and grounds leading down to the river and the old buildings by Cotehele Quay, now opposite us.

This year the ferry company intend putting on a second ferry to cope with the demands of the visitors to the area and the locals. Apparently last year over 3000 people used the ferry. For walkers it certainly opens up the possibilities of walks which can now take in both the Devon and Cornwall sides of the river Tamar.

Leaving the riverside opposite Cotehele we followed the path up through some woods to another house which has links with a now derelict mine, Ward Mine.

The two guard dogs in their enclosed pound, adjacent to the house and very near the footpath, certainly let everyone know they were around. They may not be as ferocious as they behaved but they certainly encouraged us to pass by the house very quickly.

The footpath then swung right and back again down towards the river, passing a renovated house/ farm. Once again we were alongside the Tamar with hills climbing steeply up above us to our left. The map shows just how much the Tamar meanders in this area.

After a few hundred yards we had to turn left and climb steeply up a field by a small pheasant farm before swinging right again across a small stream and up into another field.

From this high point we had excellent views looking down the Tamar.

We made our way down through the field, keeping to the left hand side and were soon down at sea level once again.

We made our way over a couple of stiles, across a very boggy area which took us through a reed bed then some more up and downs as we followed the footpath over yet more stiles and small bridges.

I thought I had taken two photographs of this area but they didn't seem to be recorded when I downloaded the set. Pity, perhaps I pressed the off button, who knows! John had promised one steep climb and the next very steep uphill section through a couple of fields was it. After a strenuous 10 minutes or more we had a deserved rest for lunch at the top of the steep hill.

We spread out in a neat line by a fence for our short lunch break looking back up the Tamar towards Cotehele, now just out of view around the bend of the river.

After lunch, we continued up for a further 200 yards, but less steep than before lunch and crossed a road. From this point we had views down the Tamar and could see the main road and railway bridges across the Tamar some miles downstream at Saltash.

We descended down cutting off a large ox bow bend in the river and emerged down at sea level again at Hole's Hole and near some houseboats. A couple of hundred yards on and we arrived at Weir Quay with its now renovated houses and boatyard. In the sailing season this section of the river has many boats moored up in neat lines. This time of year almost all of them are laid up ashore at Weir Quay Boatyard.

We followed the road along the banks of the ever widening Tamar river for a half a mile. Our first escape point back to Bere Alston was here and a couple of walkers took the opportunity of making their way back to the car park a mile or so uphill from here. The rest of us continued to Clamoak where we swung left following the road inland away from the river.

We made our way up a steep but relatively short climb along the road. At the top of the hill was the next short cut back to Bere Alston and four more took this route back. The rest of us had a short steep descent down the other side of the hill on the road until we came to a tidal inlet from the Tamar.

We left the road and turned right over a stile and made our way through fields, over electric fences and down to a renovated house which Tony Soper, the ornithologist, had bought some 25 years earlier. From the front of the house there were superb views across the inlets and salt marshes which attract a mass of waders and other sea birds and water fowl throughout the year, hence the reason for Tony Soper buying the house at this remote point in the first place.

We followed the access road built specially to bring cars down to the house and made our way up to the top of a hill and the road which leads down to Bere Ferrers on the Tavy.

From this high point we had our first views of the Tavy below us across Alan, Greta and Paul Searles' Stone Farm where I had spent many happy hours during my early teens with Alan and Greta.

No time to call in for a cuppa today though, as we followed the road down by the railway station to Bere Ferrers. The line here was once one of the major rail routes to Waterloo; no more, only as far as Gunnislake these days.

In my youth we used to travel from Plymouth to and from this station every Sunday for our day on the farm.

Soon we were walking down through the village, passing the war memorial and the pub before getting down to the quay, yet another one, but his time on the Tavy. The river is now incredibly silted, much worse now than it was some forty years ago. Many think that this heavy silting is due to the dam further upstream at Lopwell built some 30 years before.

We stopped by the quay for an afternoon tea break and I reminisced about the hours I had spent playing along this river and the Tamar every Sunday, Summer and Winter, for six years during my formative years. Perhaps that's where I developed my love of rambling, although we didn't call it that all those years ago. From the quay, we saw different species of ducks and a even close up view of an Egret.

Luckily Joan had brought her binoculars and so we were able to do some close up bird watching. The binoculars amplification was good and the ducks really did look like geese, which might explain the descriptions of the birds given by a certain member of the group.

We were soon on our way again, now walking along the banks of the Tavy upstream in the direction of Lopwell Dam. After a half a mile we swung inland by an inlet and followed a path uphill through a wood. There was a steady climb through these woods for a mile or two as we made our way up to Bere Alston at the top of the local hills. Leaving the woods after a strenuous final section, we made our way though some fields and a farmyard before emerging on the Bere Alston to Bere Ferrers 'main' road.

We were on relatively level ground again and we followed the road for a mile back into Bere Alston and the local car park.

It had been an excellent walk, indeed just over 11 miles as planned, with a range of terrain for us to tackle. These days 11 miles is rather longer than Sunday walkers normally tackle. There were 20 of us at the end so it shows that the group can walk the longer routes, although it is important to do as John Leary did and plan some short cuts back to the start point for those who prefer the shorter walks.

We were back in Bere Alston at about 3.30 PM making it a round five hour walk including stops.

We thanked John Leary and Barbara Crocker for their efforts in planning and recceing the walk and made our way back to Plymouth via Denham Bridge and the edge of Dartmoor and the traffic jams of the big city once again.