Monday 10th April arrived and with it perfectly sunny skies with barely a cloud in sight.

We made it up to Totnes by midday and duly called in to the boatyard. Only the section of broken hull was there, the rest of the boat was still at Dartmouth and due to be moved up to Totnes on 12th April.

The walk we had looked at was a circular walk to Ashprington just less than 6 miles overall and which started, according to our guide book, from Steamer Quay, on the other side of the Dart to the boatyards. We drove around to Steamer Quay to do things 'by the book' knowing full well that we would be walking back again to just above the Baltic Wharf complex housing the damaged hull to make our way along the footpath down the river.

We left the car park at Steamer Quay having paid for 4 hours parking (£1.30) at 12.50 PM with the aim of getting to the pub at Ashprington for a pub lunch before our return to Totnes.

The route through Totnes to pick up the footpath is very easy. Leave the car park and follow the road upstream until the first river bridge is found. Cross the bridge and then walk along the road on the other side downstream towards the Baltic Wharf complex.

We soon reached the Baltic Wharf development and after a hundred yards more we reached the public footpath by climbing some steps over a stile and following the very clear footpath through fields just above the marine workshops we had visited an hour previously.

We soon left the fields, passed by a kissing gate and made our way down some rough steps following the footpath as it made its way through woods.

There were excellent views looking back towards Totnes up the river and when we emerged from the woods down the river across the reed beds.

Walking was very easy along this section as we skirted wire fencing along the side of the river. The path then left the river as we followed it along the side of a field but we were soon returning close to the reed beds again and walked across wooden boardwalks.

The path downstream remained very easy to follow with some stiles and some minor undulations we were making good progress.

We crossed over a bridge and thence onto a very clear path which rises slowly. Having passed through a metal gate the path was then marked private and the finger post directed us towards Ashprington by heading directly up a steep grassy field to a wood at the top.

This section certainly got the blood coursing as it was straight up across the steepest section of the field.

At the top of this steep section we climbed another stile and followed the track to the left as it continued to rise up through woods.

After a while the path levelled out between the hedges and emerged onto a metalled road next to an impressive entrance to the private Sharpham Estate.

We followed the road along the level and it soon started descending and we could see the tower of the village church of Ashprington below us. A few hundred yards later we entered the village and walked past the impressive looking church and down to the village pub called the Durant Arms for our bar meal and a drink.

Well that was the intention, the reality was lunchtime food stopped being served at 2PM and it was now 2.15 PM, still the beer was nice and I always did enjoy a Mars Bar.

We were out of the pub by 2.35 PM across the road past the village memorial cross and walking up the road opposite the pub, away from the village and back towards Totnes.

A half a mile later we reached Ashprington Crossroads and turned right onto a narrow country lane, with the signpost to Totnes indicating 2.5 miles straight ahead, not in the direction we were heading. It transpired that this was a slightly shorter return route but along very narrow country lanes.

We followed the lane as it rose to a high point of 140 metres above sea level ( 500 ft). After a mile of lane walking we saw a footpath sign pointing across a field with a rough stile over the hedge into the field.

There was no discernable path across the newly planted grass in the field but the map indicated that the route was across the field so we made our own track.

Sure enough we could soon pick out the yellow footpath marker and another stile over a hedge, we were indeed on the right route, the farmer simply was ignoring the path with his cultivation. We had done our bit for walking the footpath.

We continued across the next field descending slightly until we climbed the stile by a gate and onto the road again. There were superb views from this high point looking down on the town of Totnes below us.

For me the next downhill section was the hardest part of the walk, a very steep, knee jolting, descent of at least 400 ft down a narrow tarmacced lane and back into Totnes again, arriving at the entrance to the Baltic Wharf complex once again just by the Steam packet Inn.

All we then had to do was to retrace our steps back into the town, across the bridge and so back to the Steamer Quay car park by 3.45 PM for a well deserved ice cream in the sun before our 25 mile drive back to Plymouth.

It had been a very pleasant afternoon 5.5 mile walk in the warm sun with some spectacular views of the River Dart and the town of Totnes.

The day was really made for Joy upon our return home as there was a note in the door indicating that a bouquet of flowers had arrived.

They were from Sara in the States and within minutes of me taking the picture of Joy admiring the flowers the pictures were back in the States to Sara at work courtesy of e mail.

Modern Technology certainly does help in keeping widely spread families together.