Teign Valley, Fisherman/ Hunters Path

Short Walk in the Teign Valley

On The 15th of May, whilst on one of my many visits to my folks, I decided to drag my father out for a river walk on the edge of Dartmoor. The weather was changeable so tried to encompass parts of two walks, the Hunters paths and the Fishermans path by Fingle Bridge to make it a less hilly but circular route.

The Walk is roughly 3 1/2 miles with only a few steep stepped ascents, mainly on the North side of the river. Just a word for the nervous driver the roads to Fingle Bridge and around Dresteignton are very narrow, one car fits all affair with high hedges, so care needs to be taken getting there, There is a large free car park by Fingle Bridge which has an excellent pub for liquid refreshments (I cannot comment on the food as we never had any) pre and post walk and very friendly locals and staff. I the weather was better it would have been an ideal spot for relaxing with a great view of the old bridge and River Teign as it bubbles past the outside seating area.

A great view from the Fingle Bridge Inn

From the pub, cross over the bridge and turn right to follow the path along the river (the Fishermans Path), we were greeted by carpets of bluebells at the start of this walk and the views down the valley were lovely with the virgin fresh growth of the trees just emerging from their branches was a beautiful sight.

View of the valley in its emerging glory

We followed the path along the river Teign passed endless pool riffles in the river and always listening out for the next sequence of rapids which kept us eager and spurred us on to the next turn in the path. The water here was a clear trout brown, which excited my father who was trying to capture a glimpse of the river's elusive trout or salmon, no luck though.

The path we followed acted as a dividing line between the two types of forest, on the left was coniferous, dark and mysterious and the valley on the right, deciduous, bright and green, a great contrast bringing a wide variety of wildlife this walk as it encompassed many niches for them to exploit, my favourite being the Dipper , which constantly bobbed up and down like a nervous meerkat.

Dense Coniferous Woodland

Green and bright deciduous woodland

One of the many fast flowing rapids on the Teign

When the valley sides start to get lower you will know that you are nearing the end of the Fishermans Path part of the walk. You will come across a really solid wall made out of the local stone, it looked as though some giant had made it, the rocks that made it up were huge, no idea how they built it. The whole area was covered in lichens and the gnarled, stunted, aged trees gave the feel of something out of Fangorn Forest from the Lord of the Rings, a very haunting place.

The wall of the giants.

From here you could hear the roar of the river, The wall ensuring the cause of the noise was kept secret. This always spurs me on and so the pace quickened until we came to the suspension bridge, quite an unusual one made of wood.  This was where we left the Fishermans Path and picked up the Hunters Path. We followed the trail right as we crossed the bridge, you can go left for a more harder trek up to Castle Drogo but we were limited to time so chose just to follow the river back.

There was a kind if manmade lake and weir which was a fly fisherman's paradise, a deep dark, still dark pool. The weir  was magnificent and the source of the roar of which the stone wall hid.

Source or the roaring water.

After admiring the force and beauty of the water and a quick refreshment, we headed along the Hunters Path towards the Hunters Inn. The path here had a few steep inclines and a few areas that may be dangerous when wet. The views were lovely and the sun kept trying to say hello too, making the walk quite hot and humid and now wished we did not bring coats.

The Flowing Teign.

After looking for more trout, we arrived back at the Hunters Inn, and sat down and said to ourselves "what a wonderful walk" which indeed it was, a short simple walk with local splendour, perfect for an afternoon stroll and a pint, could not think of a better way to while away a few hours rather than sit in and watch the same repeats on TV.

If you want a shortish, simple river valley walk with charm and splendour, I would recommend this one, just don't stand still too long in certain places as my father found out, as he stood on a termites mound, which made him jump a bit.