The 12 mile walk on the 2nd August 02 offered the group the Tamar Valley from Thorn Point near Bere Ferrers right up past Calstock to Tuckermarsh Quay a half a mile upstream of Calstock on the Devon side.

The shorter 8 mile variant of the walk omits the loop down to Bere Ferrers and Thorn Point and also the little detour to see the Topiary at Tuckermarsh. I led this walk on Sunday 27th October 2002 when 17 ramblers, including visitors from the Dawlish and Teignmouth Group, braved a full gale with forecast of 80 mph winds and squally showers to 'enjoy' the conditions and the walk up the Tamar.

The views are superb and both routes are well worth the effort. The walk description which follows relates to the 12 mile longer walk with remarks to link to the shorter walk.

The forecast for the day was heavy showers but despite the gloomy forecast 20 walkers turned up at Clamoak near Weir Quay for the 10 AM start.

You can see from the map how the 8 mile option can be walked. just turn right when reaching the road and return to Clamoak rather than the extended option left and to Bere Ferrers.

After a briefing on the route we would be covering, I led the group out of the car park near Clam Oak and headed along the road by the banks of the wide expanse of the river Tamar, passing by the many boats moored on the river, the Weir Quay boatyard and further along to a small hamlet called Hole's Hole.

As the road swung away from the river, we took the footpath to our left which took us up through a heavily wooded steeply descending slope, almost a cliff, above the Tamar below us.

The Tamar swung around in a large U turn but there is no linking footpath by the river and we were forced to go over the top of the hill and descend to the riverside again on the upstream side of the U turn of the river.

At the top of the hill we climbed, there were great views of the river both upstream and downstream.

The outline route map at the start of this description clearly shows the section of the river we were forced to miss because of the lack of the linking footpath, a great pity,it is an interesting section for the river.

On the far side of the hill we descended to sea level again and cut across a thick almost bamboo like reed plantation at the head of an inlet of the river.

We then climbed up another hill again skirting the edge of two fields before descending once again to the banks of the river just upstream of where the river ends its oxbow section and heads due north again.

From this point we hugged the bank of the Tamar right up to Calstock.

Walking along the banks of the river, we were in a sheltered woodland area when we had the first shower of the day. We stopped at this point, above the riverside for morning coffee, sheltered from the rain, before continuing on passing next a farm called Ward Mine farm.

There were nice views across the Tamar into Cornwall at this point and to the commercial horticultural greenhouses famous for their strawberries on the south facing slopes.

We continued up the hill to the Ward Mine House with its Doberman guard dogs. Some say their bark is worse than their bite, others who have had rather closer contact might disagree.

From the Ward Mine house and the dogs, we dropped down through woods to the river bank again immediately opposite Cotehele Quay. It looked very attractive across the river with its old buildings and Tamar Barges moored up.

Continuing upstream, we had good views through the trees to the river and soon we emerged onto open fields once again.

Nearing a wide bend in the river the footpath climbs up and away from the river but quite recently a farmer has granted permission for walkers to walk along the grassed reclamation bank right beside the river.

This flood defence continues right around following the curve of the river under the Calstock viaduct and upto and beyond Calstock.

As we approached Calstock, on the opposite bank, there were good views of the magnificent Calstock railway viaduct still carrying rail traffic to Calstock and beyond to Gunnislake.

The permission to walk along the bank continues up to the Ferry boat point opposite Calstock but no further.

The ferry boat service was restarted again only in 1999 after there having been no service for at least 25 years. Apparently, during the season over 2000 foot passengers used the service, so one would hope that the service will continue for some time to come.

At this point, we turned into Ferry Farm, turned left before the house and then followed the public footpath (unsignposted) up and into the woods still on the Devon side, beyond Calstock.

The route planned swung up a valley and away from the river but members of the group indicated their wish to see the topiary at Tuckermarsh Quay, a few hundred yards further upstream.

I didn't take the walkers on the 27 October 02 variant up to Tuckermarsh, as the climb up through the woods to the lunch point was pressing!!

We were quickly at the Quay and the topiary was very impressive. I'd seen the bird before but had never noticed the enormous cat watching the bird, very innovative indeed.

After admiring the handiwork of whoever had produced the topiary, we retraced our steps to the steeply ascending path leading up the wooded valley, passing old mine workings en route. After a steepish climb we left the woods, over one of many stiles we crossed during the walk and continued steeply up through a field towards a bridge still carrying one of the few branch lines, from Plymouth to Gunnislake, still in operation today.

Towards the top of the hill , the heavens opened again but we were in luck as we were by a copse and at 12.30 PM it was a good spot to stop for lunch. At 1 PM, still raining, we were on our way up and under the railway bridge, along to a road leading up towards Bere Alston.

We stayed on the road until we reached Collins Bridge, where we left the road again and picked up the footpath running beside the railway cutting, down towards Lockeridge House in a wooded area just below Lockeridge Bridge.

The start of the footpath from Collins Bridge is in a poor state, full of nettles and at least one non existant stile, where there should really be one.

It has been like this for many years now unfortunately.

We skirted Lockeridge House and just before the bridge, we swung right and followed the footpath up through the wood and over a stile out into a field overlooking a valley.

The footpath drops down to the valley via steps and a winding path over a small footbridge and up the other side passing mine workings en route, out of the woods up through a field and out via a stile onto a narrow country lane.

It sounds easy enough but the route in this area is devoid of footpath signs or directions of any sort.

Very unusual, on the walk in October 02, I noticed a footpath sign dumped at the bottom of a fenced off mining depression. Perhaps someone doesn't want walkers in the area, it certainly seems that way.

We followed the road due south for a short distance and then swung slightly left onto a footpath still heading south, but uphill again, until we could see the roofs of the cottages, old miners houses at Cotts.

We swung south east along a road passing Cotts cottages until the junction of a road heading down towards Weir Quay.

We ignored the turning to Weir Quay and continued south along a very muddy bridle path for over half a mile. As the path started to descend steeply, we had our first good views of the river Tamar again right down to the Tamar Bridge and Brunel Bridge carrying traffic and rail passengers respectively from Plymouth to Saltash in Cornwall.

The bridlepath emerged onto a country road which linked Weir Quay to Bere Ferrers.

This is the point where the 8 mile walk variant turns right to drop the final section, under 0.5 mile, along the road back to the car park at Clamoak.

We turned left onto the road and descended steeply to Tuckham Bridge and then for the half mile along to the railway station at Bere Ferrers, after a steep ascent again up from Tuckham Bridge. We made good progress along the road and soon we were crossing the bridge overlooking the station at Bere Ferrers.

After a quick diversion into the station, to see the re-developments at the station, we continued along a little further towards the village itself. As the first houses of the village were alongside us we turned right along a road away from the village and soon were walking under yet another railway bridge.

Beyond the bridge was a signpost indicating the path to Thorn Point on the banks of the river Tamar immediately opposite Cargreen on the Cornwall side of the river.

We followed the footpath through fields and soon, at the top of the hill overlooking the river there were magnificent views up and down the river. There were splendid views of the salt marshes on the Devon side of the Tamar at this point, a well known site for birdwatchers.

We stopped for a welcome afternoon tea break and admired the splendid views.

A slight incident befell me which caused a little amusement to some of the group. Halfway down the hill towards Thorn Point, I stopped to remove a stone in my boot and told the group to continue. I couldn't find my 'prodding' stick and rushed up to the top of the hill to locate it only to find that John W had picked it up and was smiling and waving it to me at the bottom of the hill.

Rather like the Grand old Duke of York, I had done it again, only it wasn't the troops who were rushing to the top and down again but me!!! Thanks John.

Back to the beauty of the area. It had so inspired Tony Soper, the broadcaster and ornithologist that he bought a house built in this remote location by the salt marshes, so that he could enjoy watching the masses of wading birds which fly in here at various times.

This was the most downstream point of the walk and we turned right and walked along the footpath through fields by the side of the salt marshes and inlets and made our way along to Liphill Quay and Soper's house, it has changed hands twice at least since he owned it.

There were some muddy areas to pass during this section of the walk and at least one member of the group decided to test how far his boot could sink into the mud, quite a way apparently.

We followed a footpath up through fields and a narrow inlet before climbing over a stile and onto the road again at Tuckham Bridge for the final half a mile of road walking over a hill and down to Clamoak. Just beyond Clamoak was the car park, immediately in front of the disused mine under the massive pylons carrying electricity across the Tamar and into Cornwall.

It was just before 4 PM when we reached the car park, an interesting six hour walk in the sunshine and showers and most of us were still smiling, muddy boots and all!!

Despite the heavy and blustery showers, as far as I was concerned it had been a good walk, it was getting on for 12 miles, no one had got lost or injured and everyone seemed happy with the day out.

We were soon on our way back to Plymouth, battling through the narrow lanes on our way back via Denham Bridge and the moors towards to the city and the hustle and bustle again.