DARTMOOR WAY - STAGE FIVE

ASHBURTON TO SCORRITON

Having departed from the Dartmoor Lodge Hotel after a hearty breakfast it was back up to Knowles Cross to re-join the Dartmoor Way which then continued via the Lavender House Hotel and then down a track passing Summerhill. Above was the view back across to the hill west of Ashburton which had been traversed the previous day.

Above is the track as it climbed to Summerhill before beginning a gradual descent to the old road down in the valley running along the west side of the River Ashburn.

 

 After a short section along the main road it was right and climbing west back up another minor lane again to Priestaford House and then south west until the entrance to Blackmoor Farm where the route continues along the lovely footpath pictured above between hedges right back down to the main road again.

 Before reaching the main road there was the tantalising view of the top of Buckfast Abbey

 The route then follows the main road until the crossing of the Dart Bridge over the River Dart  and above is the view upstream from the bridge.

 The route turns north to visit the Abbey and its grounds and this the main church of St Mary's. https://www.buckfast.org.uk/ Entry is free but donations are appreciated.

 This is the museum and shop

 This is the Lavender Garden which is a collection of numerous species.

 Sheltered behind high hedges there are also a Physics Garden and a Sensory Garden (picture above and the two below).

 

 

 This is the view down the nave inside the church a remarkable testimony to the skills of the stone masons.

 This is a large mural in the Grange Restaurant in the grounds where mid-morning refreshment was taken.

 Leaving the Abbey grounds going back the road taken early the route then leaves the road after 500 metres along a fence and climbs steeply up to the ruins of Holy Trinity Church all that is left after an arson attack in 1992 https://www.achurchnearyou.com/buckfastleigh-holy-trinity/

 From the churchyard you get the fine view above back down to Buckfast Abbey. 

 This is a building erected over the tomb of Richard Cabell a seventeenth-century squire who was reputedly so evil he was buried under a large stone slab and a building was erected over it to ensure he could not escape. The stories associated with him served as an inspiration for SirAthur Conan Doyle's - The Hound of the Baskervilles https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1292829

 The route descends into Buckfastleigh and along Fore Street passing the Kings Arms in the picture above on the left. On the right just out of view is the Valient Soldier a museum created out of a pub that closed in the 1950's http://www.devonmuseums.net/The-Valiant-Soldier,-Buckfastleigh/Devon-Museums/

 Above is another shot of Fore Street further up the hill. Right at the end of the street can just be made out the The Globe Public House the destination for a late pub lunch. http://www.theglobebuckfastleigh.co.uk/

 Above a saying that seemed worth remembering and appropriate to a hiker. 

 The route out of Ashburton from the Globe PH is along Chapel Street and then Jordan Street on the west side of the valley containing the River Mardle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Mardle Six hundred metres from the urban edge the Dartmoor Way goes down a footpath to cross the River Mardle and climb up the other side to follow the road on the other side in the same north west direction through an agricultural area called Hockmoor. 

 After Hockmoor the route is down a bridleway through Burchett's Wood descending to follow the valley containing Holy Brook which rather naturally goes downstream in the opposite direction to Buckfast Abbey. See -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Brook,_Devon Above is a picture of the descending bridleway.

 Just before reaching the road at the other end the bridleway crosses the Holy Brook where fortunately there is a footbridge for pedestrians featured above. 

 

At the lane it is right and a short climb up to the farm at Mill Leat where the route is left off the road to follow a path on the north side of the Holy Brook valley. See picture above where Scorriton can be seen in the background.  It comes out on a lane and then it is left downhill to a nice white house in the bottom. The route leaves the lane going right for Langaford Cottage and goes anti-clockwise around the white house climbing to  a lane. The Dartmoor Way (and the Two Moors Way) is uphill along the lane to the right but the destination for an overnight stay was the hamlet of Scorriton. Across the lane was another path which again kept above the Holy Brook until reaching another lane. Then it was down to cross the Holy Brook and up to Scorriton.

 At the top of the hill is the Tradesman's Arms http://www.thetradesmansarms.co.uk/ and this is the view from one of the rooms at the back. The white house referred to above can be seen in the back left. 

 This is another view from the back looking across the valley of the Holy Brook towards the village of Holne in the top left.

Below The Tradesman's Arms