Goliath lay at ease in Churston station, lazily jetting steam and curls of smoke into the cloudless blue South Devon sky.
First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window
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We stood watching – Jane, her sister Susan and I – mesmerised by the sounds and smells of childhood. ‘She’ll stay there till she’s ready to go,’ was the Zen-like observation of the man on the bridge. When the little black tank engine finally moved off, chuffing and clanking, her place at the platform was taken by Lydham Manor, resplendent in Great Western Railway green, simmering like a kettle and emitting mournful hoots like an owl on the boil.
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Out beyond the village we found stony Combe Lane rising gently, a hollow way through unseen fields. Buildings, cars and the trains of the Dart Valley Railway had all been whisked out of sight and earshot in a fold of the landscape, and we walked in a tunnel of blackthorn bushes and coarse-leaved elm suckers bursting with finch song. It wasn’t until we were standing tiptoe on the fence at the crest of the hill like inquisitive kids (it must have been the Goliath effect) that we caught our first glimpse of the Dart estuary, a blue gleam between wooded hills, a scatter of yachts, a sprinkle of civilisation around Torbay, and the jagged granite vertebrae of Haytor sticking out of the back of Dartmoor on the northern horizon a dozen miles off.
Beyond Higher Greenway and tree-cloaked Oakham Hill we followed a permissive path near the narrow estuary, south along a hillside where Long Wood clung steeply above the river. A hoot and a rapid panting from down by the Dart betrayed Goliath’s progress along the waterside line. A gap in the trees allowed a peep over the river, a jade-green snake between dark woods and fields of deep red Devon soil. ‘I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can!’ fussed invisible Goliath.
Down and out of the woods, descending paths to emerge on the River Dart opposite the Royal Naval College, huge in red brick, all towers and ranks of windows on its hill. Trundling ferries churned the estuary between Kingswear and Dartmouth, opposing nests of tight-packed houses, blue, pink, white, yellow on the steep, as pretty as a picture. As we walked between river and railway towards Kingswear, Lydham Manor came hissing past in a cloud of pungent coal smoke, every carriage window filled with faces, an escapist grin across every one.
Start: Churston station, Dart Valley Railway TQ5 0LL (OS ref. SX 894563)
Finish: Kingswear station TQ6 0AA (OS ref SX 881510)
Getting there: Train (www.thetrainline.com; www.railcard.co.uk) to Paignton; Dart Valley Railway (01803-555872; www.dartmouthrailriver.co.uk) to Churston.
Road: A379 Paignton-Dartmouth; Churston station signed in Galmpton.
Walk (5 miles, moderate, OS Explorer OL20): Leaving Churston station, left across railway; left down Greenway Road. In ⅓ mile, left past Manor Inn. Up hill; left along Kennel Lane; cross railway; right along Combe Lane (‘Greenway Walk’/GW). In ⅔ mile at top of rise among trees, right (blue arrow, GW) along hedged lane. Cross stile; follow hedge/fence for ⅓ mile. Just before gate of Higher Greenway, left (‘permissive path’; Dart Valley Trail/DVT) into Long Wood. Steeply downhill; follow track (white, blue arrows). Where DVT turns steeply downhill to right by wooden frame, keep ahead. In 1 mile path hairpins right; descend to bear left across stream (DVT). Follow DVT for ½ mile to cross A379; on along roadway; in 400m, right (DVT) down path; cross road and railway; left along estuary to Kingswear station.
NB – Online maps, more walks: www.christophersomerville.co.uk
Lunch: Royal Dart Inn (01803-752213), Ship Inn (01803-752348; www.shipinnforecast.com), Kingswear
More info: Dartmouth TIC (01803-834224; www.discoverdartmouth.com)
www.ramblers.org.uk www.satmap.com www.LogMyTrip.co.uk
Llanelli Festival of Walks, Carmarthenshire: 27–30 May 2011