2nd August 2020
Trip to Ivybridge and Totness stopping at Bodmin parkway and Plymouth on the Way.
As Sundays are my worst day especially at the moment with the Corono crisis
and no church i decided to fill it up by going from Redruth (where my flat is)
to Plymouth by train. This soon evolved into a more elaborate tour of the
southwest. As the train travelled up through cornwall I had an impulse to get
off and explore around Bodmin parkway on the way up , looking for possible wild
camping spots as i am planning on using my disabled bus pass to tour the
country .
A track takes you bodmin parkway
station under the railway bridge and
towards Lanhydrock house through the estates woodlands . You soon come
to the gorgeous Fowey river and i took a righthand track that went past the
stagnant and shady railway pond and continued along the river in an upstream direction.
I noticed how very pleasantly quiet these woods were, with no nearby traffic,
only the sound of the hourly train. There were a few walkers about and I chatted at the bridge to a man from st
austell aged about 60 accompanied by his two dogs . Was general chit chat about
fishing and he likes football. when he was younger he had a friend called "John the
fish" who went out on the trawlers from newlyn onto the irish sea. He
never drank out at sea but on land John drank large amounts hence "the
fish".
I spotted a lot of small brown trout in the fowey river and i may try and
catch one or two next time using maybe a freelined worm .
I caught the next train and got off at Plymouth. I caught a bus to the city
centre and then after a quick snack from Taco Bell i got on the Stagecoach Gold
bus which runs hourly , even on sundays,
towards Torquay stopping at Ivy bridge and Totness.
After about 30 minutes of travelling out of plymouth and through lush devon
countryside we got to Ivybridge where i disembarked . I looked around ivybridge
and i could soon see that this was a small quiet town with not much open on
sunday (no cafes open) . The best thing about Ivybridge is the River Erme which
tumbles down from Dartmoor and is strewn
with numerous cascades flowing over mossy boulders and bedrock even in the town
centre . Its a really picturesque river . I followed the river upstream using a
road at times and along the riverside walk at other times. I went past a large
old mill thats grounds are being turned into a posh housing estate and i expect
the mill itself will become flats. Then
i came to a woodland park that follows the river and goes under the railway
viaduct built by Brunel . I follwed the stream through these woods for maybe a
mile . the river continues having many rocky cascades and pools as you head
up all in the shade of a wooded valley.
I saw some suitable spots for camping especially higher upstream on the
opposite bank where there was a conifer plantation . If one were continue up this river you
would end up high on Dartmoor at the River Ermes source . One of the Tors could
be seen from Ivybridge... possibly Butterdon Hill or one of its neighbouring
hills .
Altogether I spent two hours in Ivybridge . I also has a quick look at the
town park which had a covered bench that
might be usefull for overnight sleeping . I also went into the costcutters
looking for shrinkwrap or bin liners i could use as a tarp and stay the night
camping high upstream in the woodland park . I decided to postpone buying these
and continue by bus on to Totnes . I could buy them on my return later on if i
decided to sleep the night in Ivybridge.
The bus went on to Totness through more rolling green countryside with some high Dartmoor tors on the left .
After maybe 40 minutes we arived at Totness . I got off craving for a coffee as
id had no caffeine since i left Redruth in the morning . Iv only been to
Totness once before about 17 years ago to a friends wedding. I never noticed
before but it seems to be a rather upmarket town with some nice bistros etc and
the river Dart running through it . THe wide river gives it a nautical feel although its quite inland. I
went into a pub to order a coffee but it was quite a palava with form filling
(coronovirus) before i could be seated and quite a palava to pay the three
pounds once i had finished the coffee ( i wasnt allowed to pay at the bar
(Corono)) and was worried i would miss my bus one of the waitresses got to me
in the end.
Back at the bus stop an attractive blonde lady of maybe 40 struck up a
conversation with me after i double checked with her about the bus time . She
was from London and was about to start a weeks treck across Dartmoor, Solo,
camping for part of the trip. I said i was impressed and told her i was
thinking of camping that night in
ivybridge however the conversation didnt go much further she wished me a good
trip and i wished her the same.
I decided to go back that night to Redruth as i felt i needed a few more
things with me for wildcamping eg torch
, knife/saw , tarpaulin but i have some new ideas about using clingfilm
to do wildcamping as its only £2 for 25
metres in costcutters . Bushcrafters on youtube use clingfilm in various ways
eg on benders and teepees . I am thinking cover one of the picnic tables in the wooldland park with
clingfilm and sleep under it or make several triangular panels using straight
branches/cut saplings as the framework
and wrap each panel with clingfilm. then join three or four of the panels into
kind of pyramid and hey presto a tent .
The trip home was fairly uneventful i meditated on Gods awesomeness ..
especially as there were very good cloud formations and nice red orange and
pink colours due to the sunset as we travelled through Cornwall . Very High up were beach ripple type clouds
with more solid clouds lower .... all lit up by the sunset . I also mediated on
Gods greatness in creating Zander fish, Mackerel , Oak trees Spruce and pine
trees , various bird species and so on . I saw a lovely deer run across a field
somehere around liskeard i think .
