Mrs. E’s Half Term Blog
I have decided I need to get fitter so I am going for a walk every day this week. I thought you might like to share it with me. Today I did one of my favourites, a circular walk at Cotehele starting at the lower car park on the quay.
I arrived in the mist – it all looked very ghostly but the sound of the birds celebrating a delayed dawn lifted my spirits. I struck out up 
the damp path towards the Chapel and had a spooky moment when I saw the door slightly open … I was quite relieved when I found a National Trust worker inside cleaning the windows!
The sun was desperately trying to break through the mist and it looked particularly beautiful, and surreal , above the river with the glinting waters. I met very few people, only the occasional dog walker, but as I walked up the path past the lower gardens I heard voices. Two lady gardeners were hard at work and one of them (brrr) was in a T-shirt.
The boards were outside the house entrance which surprised me – they don’t normally open until Easter. No-one seemed to be around and the car park was deserted. The mist still clung even though I had climbed considerably higher away from the river.
Crossing the coach park across the green I came across a man walking his Jack Russell terrier which promptly laid on its back when it saw me coming. The man couldn’t get it to move at all until I had rubbed its tummy!
Heading along the top road to the gate into the woods above the mill, I found some daffodils just opening their petals. They looked very cheery.
I walked along the top path of the woods and found some views I was not so familiar with as I usually take the lower path. As I headed down the slope to the weir below I could hear the water roaring. It is a beautiful spot and I always have to stand on the little bridge and look down the river and leat.
I was beginning to see a few more dog walkers now and the mist was just lifting. I passed the mill and then out onto the road by the 
bridge. Passing the reed beds, I looked out along the Tamar which looked silver grey and so peaceful. A final look at the Shamrock (she is a nineteenth century river barge which used to carry coal and lime up and down the river) and a longing look at the Edgcumb Arms (too early for a coffee sadly) I got back to my car and the sun had come out!
Tuesday 17th February 2009
Today I had company! My sister in law Lesley came along with her wonderful dog Stella, and (shock, horror!) my younger son Byron came too. This time we headed off to the woods that skirt the ford below Downgate village. On one side there is Deer Park Woods and on the other is a wood that Byron and his friends used to call Shaver Wood when they were children. These are forestry commission woods so mostly pine and therefore they have less diversity of wild life, but even so I have seen foxes and deer when I have ridden through these woods in the past.
It was pretty mucky underfoot and we didn’t have the wonderful mist of yesterday, but even so it felt good to be out walking.
Stella had a great time charging ahead and then coming back to ’round’ us up. 
We took a wrong path at one point and had to turn back and we thought we had lost Stella, but she reappeared a long way ahead of us having been exploring over the dry stone wall.
The forestry commission had been clearing lots of the trees and unfortunately the high winds recently seemed to have snapped off quite a few part way up their trunks.
For those of you horseriders like me, I am sure you will be filled with excitement and anticipation at
the sight of these impromptu jumps strewn along the path. We had to step over them which wasn’t quite as exciting as I would have liked.
It brought back lots of memories walking through here. I hadn’t been here since I stopped riding a couple of years ago. Everywhere in this wood there is standing water or winding streams and the horse I used to ride really enjoyed playing in it all – I always got wet.
As it was today we just got muddy. As we approached the end of the walk Lesley suddenly said, ‘deer’. Byron and I stopped dead in our tracks looking hopefully around, but what Lesley had found was fresh deer tracks in the mud. They must have been just ahead of us, but we didn’t see them.
Wednesday 18th February 2009
Back on my own today and walking one of my favourites – New Bridge! This has been a dog walking haunt of mine for the past 25 years and even now, with no dogs in tow, I like to go there regularly.
You can see why! Wonderful deciduous woodland and the river winding its way breaking away the banks and creating huge bends with deep water. I always meet lots of dog walkers and they are always a sociable lot who stop and pass the time of day. I love the expanse of water. I used to come here a lot with the boys 
when they were small. We would bring a picnic and the dogs and everyone plunged into the river (I paddled) and there was much splashing and laughing. You often see people in their canoes riding the rapids, but the banks have suffered over the years and can be a bit crumbly.
Today I decided to walk along the road after the first section of woods instead of going into the next gate.
The road follows the woods along and the countryside on the right climbs steeply up to Cadsonbury. I have walked up there a couple of times but, as you can see from the picture, it is quite a long way 
and a steep climb.
I entered the wood at the far end and starting walking back towards my starting point. This part of the woods is very boggy and there are lots of little tributaries that trickle their way under the path to join a bigger stream, which in turn leads into the river. Soon it will be alive with tadpoles.
The National Trust maintain this woodland and you can see they keep the paths in really good order.
I strayed off the main path to walk right next to the river, always a bit risky because of how undercut the banks are. But it was wonderful and I stopped and listened to the rushing water.
I always have to stop when I reach this little beach. Brook and Byron, for a very short time, dabbled in fishing and the beach and deep bend in the photo below was where we bought a permit to fish. I sat and read and the boys fished – well that was the theory. Actually I spent hours untangling fishing line. They never caught a thing! 
My last picture was taken in great excitement! Suddenly overhead there was the flurry and chattering of quite a large bird and I realised it was a spotted woodpecker. Scrambling for my camera I was thrilled to see a second one arrive. There was lots of flitting and flirting, but sadly I could not keep up with them. So this wonderful picture (if carefully enlarged) just might reveal a pair of spotted woodpecker. Happy spotting!
Have you seen them yet?
Thursday 19th February 2009
Today started misty for all the wrong reasons – rain! Fortunately by the time I started my walk it wasn’t that wet but the clouds were very reluctant to move on. So what is normally a breathtaking view from Kit Hill was nothing like as expansive as usual. First of all I walked up to the chimney to try get a view across to Plymouth and the Sound, or to Dartmoor, or to Caradon, but all I got was a damp squint at some fields below me.
Everything was a bit drippy and grey and frankly not very promising. The hill was deserted apart from one or two dog walkers. I had hoped to see some moorland ponies that my sister in law Lesley assured me were now grazing the hillside, but actually I couldn’t see anything wild at all.
Instead of wildlife spotting I decided to remind myself of Kit Hill’s industrial past and I went off in search of bits of old mine. This is one of my favourites. Running out from it is a shallow tunnel which, I seem to remember, children were sent along. I find it fascinating. I researched the hill quite a bit at one time but am ashamed to say I have forgotten much of what I found out.
I live in old miners’ cottages below the hill and we have engine houses and vent chimneys all a
round us, a constant reminder of how active this area used to be in the mining era. Looking back at the chimney it is clear to see that it now has another important job to do in the digital age. it drips with aerials and communications devices.
This was another great favourite when we had the dogs and part of our walk used to take in the old railway line that ran from Kelly Bray past the quarry – but that is quite a slipper route down – and worse a steep climb back up, so today I just satisfied myself with a circuit of the crown. I didn’t have long to walk this morning as I was on my way to give my Mum’s fish tank a clear out before getting new fish.
It is very easy to forget as you walk along that you are just above Callington. Also, everyone 
concentrates on the chimney at the top of the hill and overlooks the one further down and the other ruins. Now that wardens look after the hill these are all quite safe to investigate, but it can still be a bit hazardous if you have small, inquisitive dogs.
As you can see the mist was thicker towards the top. The chimney had a ghostly appearance when I looked back up towards the summit. However the path ahead was pretty clear and it is easier to see how the landscape fits in with both Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor.
I have ridden up here many times, but I must admit the last time was a bit of a disaster. I was riding alone, which is quite unusual for me (usually out with friends) and I had just gone through a gate on one of the lower paths, when to my horror, I realised my boot lace had caught around the gate catch! Jack strode through confidently and I felt myself slowly moving further and further back in the saddle as my left leg got dragged behind me. Well something had to give, but sadly it was not my shoe lace. Whoosh, straight off the back of Jack’s rump and on my back with a thump (not funny from sixteen hands). Jack bless him, looked around to see where I had gone and then came back and nudged me with his nose as if to say ‘ what are you doing down there?’
Well I couldn’t quite resist trying to get a photo of my house in the valley below, but, as you can see, it’s just too far away … but it is down there, somewhere … only hope I can find my way back!
Friday 20th February 2009
No walk today. Our garden has suffered badly in the frost and snow and my cottage bed, which I only planted last year, was looking very sorry for itself. So I weeded, cut back and generally tidied. It took all day and I really suffered afterwards, but I am really pleased with the results – see what you think. It looks a bit bare now but I promise it fills right out and is full of flower.
Oh, and I couldn’t resist showing you my little meadow compl
ete with snowdrops and small daffodils.
Sunday 22nd February 2009
No walk yesterday as I take Mum and Auntie shopping, and this included the all important new fish! They have settled in well and so today Bob and I went on one of our favourite walks, particularly from when Brook and Byron were young – the coastal path from Talland Bay to Polperro.
As you can see, I allowed Bob to hold my stick whilst I took this photo. It looks as if he is standing in front of a quarry! The tide was low and it was a bit grey when we arrived.
As we climbed the steep path and looked back we 
saw that there were some hardy individuals on the beach. Mostly families wrapped up against the wind, and a few dog walkers.
We always love this walk, not least because you pass some lovely houses on the way and we are just naturally nosey! The house in this photo has just had all its boundary walls renewed – and with Bob being a gardener we had to stop to study the stonework.
Once past the house the view is breathtaking when 
you look back at the bay. I think this stretch of coast is like somewhere on the Mediterranean – if only the sun had been out, you would surely see what I mean.
This stretch of coast is so well walked that the paths are eroded down to the bare stone. It looks so beautiful, particularly when the hedgerows start to flower.
I always think the war memorial is such an unexpected sight out on the 
point, and I find it very moving that people still trek up to place wreaths in memory of family and members of the community.
I love the middle of the walk when you seem miles from anywhere. Down on
the rocks below, there was a whole gaggle of shags sitting watching the sea, and not much later we turned the corner and there was Polperro sunning itself.
I couldn’t resist this little chap, who was obviously enjoying the late sunshine. We saw a lot of early flowers including violas, daffodils and this wild garlic. viburnum and quince.
The view of Polperro always makes me smile. It is almost empty at this time of year, there are so
many holiday lets, it felt strange to almost have the whole village to ourselves.
Finally the sunshine caught us up, just in time for our long walk back to Talland,
Well, the last walk of the half term break and it finishes with a lovely sunset! I hope you all had a good break.
One Response to “Mrs. E’s Half Term Blog”
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Hi Upton Cross!
I wonder if you all know how lucky you are that you get to see and spend time with my bestest friend in the whole wide world, web and real. One of these days I shall fly back across that big pond and come and visit your school (again). Tell Mrs. E I still can’t see the pictures but I love reading the blogs.
Cheerio.
Dee