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| Just over 13 miles (click to enlarge) |
20150426
13 miles
20150421
1952
It was the year Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne (the coronation was the following year). The year the Big Bang theory was first proposed. It was not long after the transistor was invented, the precursor to all modern electronics. The first roll-on deoderant. And it was the year I was born.
How I loved that old van. It was purchased for building work, but every summer my parents would clean it out and my father would build beds and fold up tables and it would take us to our holiday destination and house us whilst there. There was a shiny round button on the floor, about an inch in diameter, that operated the starter motor. It had a removable skylight and we children would stand on a chair with our heads out of the skylight whilst my father drove. Such activity would be classed as horribly dangerous now-a-days. But we did not die. Rather, we enjoyed it oh, so much. I remember a standard meal of tinned ham, tinned peas and tinned potatoes. And tea with evaporated milk in. At night whilst my father was still driving, I remember lying in bed watching, out of the rear windows, the lights of passing cars. And sitting on the tailgate whilst my mother would tell Isobelle and Dizzibelle stories. They lived with their father Lord Longnose in a castle in the centre of a dark forest. Doubtless they had a mother too but I cannot remember her name.
So what, you say? For me I don't remember much before 1952 but everything from that time on seems to me to be "recent". In one sense I do not feel any different to how I was back then. Although tonight we had some outside games for the youngsters - I run several times a week so I figured I would try my luck running a 100 metres with the others. I found it slightly distressing that I came in last and huffing and puffing to boot.
Why am I saying all this? Because I am a siderodromomaniac and thus noticed evidence of the two branch railways haling from Willand where I was staying for a few days. The second map below probably postdates my birth and the third pre-dates it. But even the second map is so different to how Willand is today. There are of course traces of the branch lines but precious little is left.
The railway to the west was the GWR broad-gauge branch to Tiverton that I mentioned recently. At the Tiverton end it joined the Exe valley railway, but today the A396 inner bypass follows and thus obliterates the course of the railway. You have to look very hard to see any evidence "on the ground". And yet Beeching closed the branch line to passenger traffic only in 1964 and goods traffic continued until 1967. I was the grand old age of 15 then - hardly any time ago - and yet physical evidence suggests it was eons ago.
The line to the west of Willand was the Culm Valley Light Railway terminating at Hemyock. It was a financial disaster from the start and its only saving grace was the United Dairies factory at Hemyock. The last passenger service was in 1963 but the dairy continued using it until October 1975. We were married in October 1975 and it seems but yesterday. We may have aged a bit and yet virtually nothing remains of the railway - a short "railway footpath" in Uffculme is perhaps the most tangible.
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| Our family's coronation display |
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| Our old van kitted up for the procession |
How I loved that old van. It was purchased for building work, but every summer my parents would clean it out and my father would build beds and fold up tables and it would take us to our holiday destination and house us whilst there. There was a shiny round button on the floor, about an inch in diameter, that operated the starter motor. It had a removable skylight and we children would stand on a chair with our heads out of the skylight whilst my father drove. Such activity would be classed as horribly dangerous now-a-days. But we did not die. Rather, we enjoyed it oh, so much. I remember a standard meal of tinned ham, tinned peas and tinned potatoes. And tea with evaporated milk in. At night whilst my father was still driving, I remember lying in bed watching, out of the rear windows, the lights of passing cars. And sitting on the tailgate whilst my mother would tell Isobelle and Dizzibelle stories. They lived with their father Lord Longnose in a castle in the centre of a dark forest. Doubtless they had a mother too but I cannot remember her name.
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| They say that's me beside my sister |
So what, you say? For me I don't remember much before 1952 but everything from that time on seems to me to be "recent". In one sense I do not feel any different to how I was back then. Although tonight we had some outside games for the youngsters - I run several times a week so I figured I would try my luck running a 100 metres with the others. I found it slightly distressing that I came in last and huffing and puffing to boot.
Why am I saying all this? Because I am a siderodromomaniac and thus noticed evidence of the two branch railways haling from Willand where I was staying for a few days. The second map below probably postdates my birth and the third pre-dates it. But even the second map is so different to how Willand is today. There are of course traces of the branch lines but precious little is left.
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| Willand today, course of disused railways highlighted in green |
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| Tiverton Junction, Ordnance Survey 1:63,360 series |
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| Tiverton Junction 6" to the mile |
The railway to the west was the GWR broad-gauge branch to Tiverton that I mentioned recently. At the Tiverton end it joined the Exe valley railway, but today the A396 inner bypass follows and thus obliterates the course of the railway. You have to look very hard to see any evidence "on the ground". And yet Beeching closed the branch line to passenger traffic only in 1964 and goods traffic continued until 1967. I was the grand old age of 15 then - hardly any time ago - and yet physical evidence suggests it was eons ago.
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| Tiverton today, path of railways highlighted in green |
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| Tiverton soon after I was born |
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| Historic Tiverton |
The line to the west of Willand was the Culm Valley Light Railway terminating at Hemyock. It was a financial disaster from the start and its only saving grace was the United Dairies factory at Hemyock. The last passenger service was in 1963 but the dairy continued using it until October 1975. We were married in October 1975 and it seems but yesterday. We may have aged a bit and yet virtually nothing remains of the railway - a short "railway footpath" in Uffculme is perhaps the most tangible.
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| Uffculme today, course of railway highlighted in green |
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| Uffculme sometime after I was born |
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| Uffculme probably before I was born |
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| and on through Culmstock... |
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| ...to the end of the line at Hemyock |
Baltyboys lake run
I did this route yesterday and so enjoyed it that I decided to repeat today and take my camera. Running past the entrance to Tulfarris hotel, I turn left down a track to the lake and then follow the lakeshore past Baltyboys house and all the way to the Valleymount bridge.
"Horseshoe Bay" is my name - the water is usually calmer here and I consider it a safe place to swim (though officially no part of the reservoir is safe for swimming). So I did but soon got out as it is still rather cold.
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| Where the track meets the lake |
Before they flooded the valley to make the Blessington Reservoir this track continued on and the tree stumps in my picture would have been trees beside the road. The map below is a composite of the current state and a historic 25" map courtesy of OSI. The red cross marks where I took my photo.
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| Ordnance Survey Ireland map |
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| Recent weather has deposited a barefoot friendly sandy moraine |
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| Baltyboys house from the rear |
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| Baltyboys bridge |
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| Moanbane and Silsean in the distance |
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| Meg dog loves the water |
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| This stretch has a wide sandy area |
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| The boat club in the distance |
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| Approaching Horseshoe bay |
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| Looking back at Horseshoe bay |
"Horseshoe Bay" is my name - the water is usually calmer here and I consider it a safe place to swim (though officially no part of the reservoir is safe for swimming). So I did but soon got out as it is still rather cold.
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| Spring is here! |
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| A neighbour's farmyard |
20150420
Around Rural Willand 5
Mornings at Ali's mum's house are free time for me. Ali's mum does not surface until about 10 a.m. and Ali likes to stay in bed. I wake naturally when it gets light which is about 6 a.m. and whilst lying half-awake under the bed-clothes is nice for maybe half an hour, after that I am raring to go. Even after a longish run there is still free time so I started listening to Bruckner's 5th by Celibidache. Wow! sums it up. I mention this here because it reminded me of running. The beauty of the countryside flows past me much as does Bruckner's music. A bit like Grieg's Morgenstemning doing good justice to a real sun-rise or Rossini's Overture to Guillaume Tell to a real storm although those examples are too specific whilst with Bruckner it is more generic.
I left the house at my usual 06:30 to find the earth shrouded in mist. But that was not going to stop me because, having once tasted the Culm water meadows, this my last run had to extend the experience. So I exited Willand via the Bradfield corridor turning left at Stenhill (just to ring the changes) - a mistake: this road is single track at best and full of potholes and random stones. Not only that but the local farmer appears to use it as a cattle trail and furthermore it passes a cattle slurry pit that oozes across the road.
I took the footpath down to the river: another mistake as it passes between the river and the Uffculme sewage treatment plant. But, having put that behind me and having wiped my feet on clean grass, the rest was bliss. The first stretch of river was a repeat of the previous run.
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| Culm water meadows east of Uffculme |
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| This is what I mean by a path |
Even though the mist persisted, running on this stuff is pure heaven. The grass is soft and wet, the ground under is not smooth, and there are no fences to hem you in.
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| A bend in the river |
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| Hunkin wood where I turned back towards Uffculme |
Hunkin Wood aka Five Fords is on the edge of my map. Here I spied a large dog and its human baring my way forward but, in any case, I had kind of decided to turn back at this point, following the road back into Uffculme and thence home. Later on the dog passed me along this road, riding on the front passenger seat whilst its human drove. Did it have a seat-belt on? Pity I wasn't quick enough to snap a picture.
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| Uffculme village square |
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| "Uffculme Straight", nearing home |
Should I get to visit Willand again, my intention is to follow the river further, perhaps as far as Culmstock.
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| The path continues to Culmstock and beyond |
20150419
Around Rural Willand 4
The last time I was staying in Willand I was running via Uffculme and noticed the walk along the river, so this visit I determined to investigate.
There are several satisfactory barefoot-running corridors from Willand: the road to Halberton, the road across the Culm to Bradfield, the "Uffculme Straight" (B3440) and the cycle-way to Tiverton Parkway station. Whereas the road to Waterloo Cross and the M5 is too busy for comfort and the main road the Cullompton is stony and almost as bad.
So this time I took the cycle-way (I saw not a single cyclist) which terminates at the station foot-bridge.
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| Tiverton Parkway railway station |
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| The footbridge |
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| The footpath to Appledore |
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| Looking back from same |
The footpath from Waterloo Cross to Appledore goes across fields - smooth going to start with but becoming rather stony under-foot and not at all clear exactly where the path is meant to go. The footpath from Appledore to Uffculme is a stony track and thus harder going.
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| The footpath from Appledore to Uffculme |
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| River Culm at Uffculme |
Once in Uffculme I dropped down to the river and followed the much-sought-after river path. The right-of-way follows the river through grassy meadows and one meets owners taking their dogs or families with children. I imagine it an ideal place for a picnic in warmer weather.
At this point the sun breaks through the clouds and I am grateful for its warmth. The ground is heavenly under barefoot, and the outlook euphoric.
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| Weir |
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| Looking back at the weir |
This weir is a complex affair with sluice-gate and crosses the river at an angle. I suppose it directs water to nearby Coldharbour Mill. I wanted to pick my way across the weir but there were onlookers and I am afraid of what they might think of a 60 year old playing child.
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| Dogs and their humans |
By now the morning clouds have fully lifted and my euphoria is heightened - I want to go on and on running beside this river forever. Sadly the footpath ends at the next road-bridge where I turn right through ColdHarbour and back along the "Uffculme Straight".
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| Another weir, this time no mill-race |
20150418
Around Rural Willand 3
This run was more satisfactory than my last. I do not mind roads if quiet and not too stony, but the goal is to find barefoot-friendly paths and this run satisfied. I started out towards Cullompton then turned right through Brithem Bottom - a splendid name, I wonder who Brithem was? The path was the right-of-way over Turley Down and took me right through the middle of fields. Great for me, but it must be a trial for the farmer.
I love England for its right-of-ways. Or should one say rights-of-way? Since moving to Ireland we have seen the instigation of several way-marked longer walks like the Wicklow Way, but nothing like the vast network in England. Besides, the right-of-way law is different here in Ireland and in the favour of the land-owner. And most land-owners here don't want folk walking over their land.
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| Ascending Turley Down |
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| and down the far side |
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| looking back, having reached the road |
Heading north I had to divert to investigate the aqueduct where the Grand Weston Canal crosses the course of the broad-gauge branch of the Bristol and Exeter railway. Running gives time for pondering - I wondered which came first, canal or railway? Wikipedia reckons this section of the canal was opened in 1814, whereas the railway was built 34 years later. It must have been quite a challenge building an aqueduct in retrospect, but back in those days they thrived on challenges.
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| The Aqueduct and course of the railway |
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| Looking North |
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| It actually has a name! |
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| The railway bed from the aqueduct |
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| Looking South |
Eleven miles of the canal starting at Tiverton are still navigable as the house boats testify in the picture above. Sadly the broad gauge railway no longer exists although there is "the last remaining" broad gauge locomotive on view in the South Devon Railway museum .
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| Halberton parish church |
The next port of call was the village of Halberton where I took a short-cut through the church-yard and by the village pond. All English villages of any repute have a duck-pond and I have to say that this one is above average. It even had ducks.
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| Halberton village pond |
And then back along the busier road from Halberton to Willand for a much deserved breakfast.
Total distance 8.35 miles, average speed 4.83 m.p.h.
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