YELVERTON to CLEARBROOK

After a heavy overnight frost we woke to strong sunlight streaming through our windows, the ideal weather for walking. Our meeting place today for the last walk of the year was outside St Paul’s Church at Yelverton in . It is not an ancient church having only been completed in 1912 and containing rows of chairs instead of long pews. The 65 feet tower was damaged during the Second World War in 1944 when an RAF pilot, Jack (Paddy) Pringle from 263 Squadron clipped the tower in his Typhoon and lost his life. There is a plaque on the church door in his memory. It is believed that around 200 other pilots stationed at Harrowbeer aerodrome lost their lives during WW2 and many are buried in the churchyard at the rear of St Pauls. The coming of the airfield brought great changes to Yelverton. A number of houses were demolished and the main road was diverted onto its present route, effectively splitting the Village in two, with the old road forming part of a runway. The Rock Inn at the other end of the car park dates to Elizabethan times when it was thought to have been part of a farm. During the 1850's it became a Hotel and it was well patronised as such right up until the 1960's, when the Hotel was converted to flats.

Yelverton, located 5 miles north of and on 's doorstep is now a scattered village, with the ever-popular Drakes trail passing through it between and Plymouth. This is where our walk began today and Drake’s Leat (a.k.a. Plymouth Leat) accompanied us for approximately a mile over to our left. Much remains of this now empty water channel despite its having been constructed as long ago as the 16th century to supply the city of Plymouth with clean drinking water. The same cannot be said of the which soon appeared on our right hand side, a shallow trench is all that remains of much of this leat despite its having been built almost two centuries after. The last time we walked along this trail a few of Dartmoor’s iconic Ponies were foraging there.

Another feature of this walk is evidence of the Plymouth and Dartmoor Tramway built in 1823 as some granite setts can still be seen amongst the grass a bit further along the Drake’s Trail to one side of the path. These old granite sleepers have paired holes in the top that would have once had iron rails attached. Independent carriers operated wagons like these and paid the company a toll to use the tramway. Two horses would then pull the wagons, each carrying one large granite slab which had been quarried up at . In due course these would become part of the Breakwater in Plymouth Sound. From about 1820, the stables from the Rock Inn were used by horses working on this tramway. As we continued onwards along Drake’s Trail there were fine views to be seen on our left hand side across the valley of the to Dartmoor with its rugged tors on the horizon.

Shortly we left the Drake’s Trail via a granite slab positioned across Drake’s Leat and we walked downhill on springy grass towards the hamlet of Clearwater. Continuing onwards on the road, everyone filed past a row of white-

painted cottages and the Skylark Inn. The sunlight was so bright after the shaded trail and it was a joy to be walking on such a day. Ahead of us three Buzzards were circling around on a thermal, obviously enjoying the weather as much as we were.

Eventually we arrived at the pretty hamlet of Hoo Meavy with its attractive 18th century stone bridge, the half way point and time for a short break at the water’s edge before heading back uphill through a small woodland.

As we ambled along on the second half of today’s walk, the River Meavy flowed peacefully beside us for a while but upon reaching a rusty white-painted gate we began our gradual climb. The temperature dropped considerably now we were back in the shade and we longed for the sun to warm our bodies as it had earlier, but instead we left through another rusty gate, walked beneath a railway bridge and up through a farm where two piglets were dozing beyond the fence. Finally, we arrived back on Drake’s Trail to complete the final leg of this relaxing walk.