The walk normally starts from the public car park by the tennis courts in village of Noss Mayo. The route walked by Plymouth Ramblers on Wednesday 19th Apr 00 took in the whole of the Lord Revelstokes' drive around the coastal stretch of his estate and was about 9 miles long.

There are many variants of this walk all starting from the car park, from as little as 4 miles up to or even more than the 9 miles we walked on the day.

Many people who walk the route, walk out to the coast down by the side of the Yealm and then follow the coastal route east. Norman Chynoweth, who led the walk, decided that for a change we would do the walk in the opposite direction, by going to the eastern end of the Lord Revelstokes Drive via Membland and then following the coastal path from east to west.

Why is the section called Lord Revelstokes' Drive? A century ago the local landowner, Lord Revelstoke, had a carriageway dug out from the sides of the fields above the coast so that he and his guests could take horse drawn carriage drives along the seaward edge of his estate. The route still remains today but now is only used by walkers and the occasional sheep farmer with his 4 wheel drive all terrain vehicle as we saw a couple of times on the walk.

The map above shows the route we walked. To best appreciate the route this outline should be related to a 1:25000 ordnance survey map of this area of South Devon (outdoor leisure 20 map is ideal) as well as to the route description below.

The weather forecast for the day was for a dry day with some sunshine, how wrong could the met men be. It was already quite overcast and threatening when 10 ramblers gathered in the car park by the tennis courts at Noss Mayo ready to start at 10.30 AM.

Leaving the car park, we turned right for a few yards to a road junction and then left and down near to the creek where a stream emerges into a village feature. There are some village toilets just a few yards further down, the only ones you will find on this walk.

We followed the narrow lane to the right of the creek which headed upstream parallel to the creek and through the uprated houses of Noss Mayo. The road east to rejoin the main road from Newton Ferrers and we followed this road down and along to the head of Newton Creek at Bridgend.

There were some good views looking back along Newton Creek, even at low tide and even in mid April the boats were beginning to be moored for the season.

The main road swings around the head of the creek and heads back to Newton Ferrers. We carried straight on along a country lane following the signpost to Membland.

There was plenty of evidence of modernisation of the old buildings in the area. The whole of the South Hams is now a very desirable location and the hamlets of Noss Mayo and Membland are no exception.

It was a steady uphill climb but relatively gradual as we passed through the village.

We continued up until we came to a cluster of old buildings which must have been the local manor house of Membland Hall.

Bearing right we continued up the road until we came to a T junction where we could see a stile on the other side which would lead us to the start of the coastal section and to Lord Revelstokes coastal Drive.

Climbing the stile we carried straight on across a field with a clearly defined path and it was now raining. Through another gate and we left the path to take our morning break in the shelter of an old ruined building on the headland called Beacon Hill.

There were good views from this high vantage point, looking back towards Bigbury Bay. We could see from the lowering clouds out to sea that the weather was worsening.

After coffee, we returned to the main coastal path and continued our walk around the long sweep of the coastal section heading west.

Ahead of us, we could see the chalets above Stoke Beach and the old church was also clearly visible. Some long dead fir trees which had remained there despite having died many years ago made for a good photograph of the holiday village below us.

We continued along the coast path until we reached the main entrance to the Stoke Beach complex and the visitors car park.

Crossing the road leading down to the chalets and the church we walked through the car park and entered a wooded section of the walk via the gate at the end of the car park.

The chalets were hidden from sight as we followed the track through the wood.

At the end of the wooded section we passed by a national trust sign indicating that we were entering the National Trust owned Stoke Point area of the walk.

Since Lord Revelstoke had the drive cut from the hills , the coastal path didn't follow all the in and outs and ups and downs of the coastline but simply followed the contours in the main along the relatively level sweep above the rocky coast.

We made good progress along this easily walked coastal path and there were broad grassy sweeps below us leading down to the sea below.

We passed above these grassy and sometimes gorse covered areas with names shown on the map as Stoke Down, Netton Down, Snellings Down and Gunrow's Down.

We continued on until we were immediately below an old chapel and had lunch sheltering from the wind just below the derelict building and above Hilsea Point.

It was the day the Tall Ships set off from Plymouth on the first leg down to Spain. Way off shore we could see outlines of the two masted and three masted schooners. On another day the boats would have been clearly visible, today it was difficult in the wet misty conditions to even pick out their outlines, even with binoculars.

After lunch we were once again heading west following a sweeping curve slightly inland until we found ourselves at another point, this one called Blackstone Point.

West of the point, the path swung inland slightly to an imposing but remote building and local landmark named Warren Cottage.

The coastal path narrowed as it took us immediately in front of the cottage with a stile at each end.

The path broadened out again and was relatively straight as we made our way above the Warren, an area where rabbits were farmed a hundred years ago.

To the west of us we could see a lump of rock out at sea. This is a very large lump and is called the Mewstone. To mariners it signifies either the entrance to the River Yealm or the entrance just round the corner to the large bay leading to the naval port of Plymouth.

At the next headland of Gara Point, the coastal driveway swings around through 180 degrees as it leaves the coast and swings around high above the entrance to the River Yealm. The path gradually descends as it follows the river upstream. The coastguard cottages above Cellar Beach have been completed rebuilt and renovated. The landscape changes from grassy slopes to woodland as the path follows the river upstream.

There is plenty of evidence of the popularity of this sheltered estuary with plenty of yachts bobbing on their moorings well sheltered from virtually all wind directions.

The path changes to a narrow tarmacced lane which is the only way back to Noss Mayo. There are no bridges until the end of the creek at Bridgend and therefore navigation is easy, just follow the road, there is no other route other than a track which runs parallel to the road but lower than it just above the river itself. Across the other side of the river, there are a number of creeks and inlets, as indeed can be seen from the map of the route.

Soon the river Yealm swings north east and we continued along Newton Creek back towards Noss Mayo. On the opposite side of the creek could be seen the large village of Newton Ferrers with houses right down almost to the waters edge.

Soon we were passing a pub with the Swan on the other side and were back the toilets once again at the head of a little creek and the stream leading down to the creek via a small ducting and village landmark we had left three to four hours before.

Just a few yards further up the road and we were back once more at the car park. The rain if anything was getting heavier, so with a quick thanks to Norman we were soon back in our cars and on our way back to Plymouth at just before 2.30 PM.

Pity about the weather as it spoilt many of the coastal views which are quite magnificent on a clear day.