Circular walk from Mary Tavy Church, with a watery theme.

 Well, the weather forecasters got this one wrong. Our Plan A walk was to take us up onto the high moor near the Warren House Inn but, because of a dismal forecast, we switched to Plan B, which was a lower level, in altitude terms, walk from Mary Tavy church in Devon. In the event, we had blue skies almost all of the way around and no rain. It was an enjoyable walk for the eight of us who turned up. I had left my 'proper' camera at home because I didn't want to get it wet so all photographs were taken with my 'phone. And for all those who get hung up on mindfulness and connecting with their inner selves, try going for a walk.

We start in Mary Tavy and headed up onto Dartmoor, via Axna and Kingsett. From there, we dropped down through Zoar and Hill Bridge, along the leat to Horndon and back to Mary Tavy passed the Elephant's Nest. It came in at a smidgeon under 6 miles. Drier than I thought it would be but still very sloshy underfoot in parts.

Our starting point, St Mary's church at Mary Tavy - not to be confused with St Peter's church at Peter Tavy. Or St Totty's church at Totty Tavy. 

Lots of water coming down the Cholwell Brook. This runs passed Wheal Betsy and Wheal Friendship and, although some water was extracted from it to support mining activities, it was not a major source of energy. The main reason for this is that it flows below where it was needed and raising water was a big issue at the time. Hence, as we came across later, the need for leats taking water from afar and producing a head of pressure for productivity.

A rather muddy track takes us through the fields and woods to Axna, once the home of the Moorstone Brewery, which closed in 2018.

Heading up onto Kingsett Down from Kingsett Farm on the old drove road to and from the moor.

Cox Tor to the right and White Tor on the left, Roos Tor in the middle. 

Looking across Kingsett Down to Gibbet Hill. Legend has it that to deter highwaymen from attacking travellers along the road between Tavistock and Okehampton, captured highwaymen were hanged and their bodies 'displayed' in a gibbet here.

The Wheal Jewell Reservoir is situated on the top of a hill, it is constructed of concrete and earth banks and was built in 1937. The top water level of which is 1000ft (305 meters) above sea level. The reservoir holds 6½ million gallons (29,500 cubic meters) of water and provides an operating head of water of 500 feet (152 metres) for the Mary Tavy power station. This system comprises three Pelton wheel-driven generators, each of 650 kW capacities. The reservoir is fed by the Reddaford Leat which was built around 1800 to bring water to the mines at Mary Tavy. It starts from the Tavy just below Tavy Cleave and takes a circuitous route around the contours of Nat Tor, Willsworthy and Wheal Jewell. In over 4.5 miles it only drops 26 feet - quite an accomplishment. Sometimes it seems as though the leat water is running uphill - an optical illusion caused by the contours of the land. Today the leat stops at Wheal Jewell reservoir. In earlier times the leat served the mines of Wheal Betsy and Wheal Friendship before being returned to the Tavy south of Mary Tavy. It is built on what was the site of Wheal Jewell but very little of this remains to be seen.

The tors in the distance are White Tor, Nattor and Ger Tor. The side of Ger Tor drops off into the Tavy Cleave, from whence the Reddaford Leat emerges.

A verdant lane.

The River Tavy in full spate over the fish ladder by Hill Bridge. Following all of the recent rains, it was running brown with the peat washed off the moor. Because of its drop from its source/s on Dartmoor, it is one of the fastest flowing rivers in the UK. The power of its water is harnessed along its length, from the Reddaford Leat being taken off in the Tavy Cleave, the Hill Bridge/Wheal Friendship Leat, the hydroelectricity scheme at Mary Tavy, the Tavistock Canal and its associated hydroelectricity station at Morwellham and numerous mills and smaller mines. That's the way water has been always used. Will we return to it? And, if not, why not?

A verdant lane with Dora the dog.

Giant Funnel - Aspropaxillus giganteus - growing alongside the river. The photograph does not really give a good idea of their size. The one of the top left was about 8 inches across. They are edible, allegedly, although they do cause severe stomach cramps and diarrhoea in some people. Mmm, not much of an inducement there to try them.

The Hill Bridge or Wheal Friendship Leat - another example of the use of water power.The leat is taken off at a weir immediately below the bridge. at Hill Bridge. It originally served Wheal Friendship mine, about 2 miles away, to power a water wheel that drove the flat rods to Bennett's Shaft. It partly runs through a tunnel from a point south of Midlands northwards to Axna, where it emerges again and runs across the fields to the mine. The walkable stretch is about a mile long and is very pleasant, no matter what the time of year. Long after the mine was closed, the leat was re-used in the 1930s for hydro-electric generation at Mary Tavy. And there's Dora again.  

It's such a pleasant change to see a welcome sign - this one is to Creason wood, managed by the Woodland Trust. Not that there's much in the way of active management as the wood is regenerating itself naturally. It offers quite a different experience compared with walking on the nearby open moor. The leat passes above most of the wood.

It's not often that we see Brentor from this angle and it looks much steeper than it does from the other side. The church on the top is dedicated to St Michael de Rupe.

The remains of the miners' dry - the only one remaining on Dartmoor - at Wheal Friendship. It was here that miners changed and dried their clothes. There would have been some lodgings here for miners as well who lived away but stayed locally when they worked. Wheal Friendship had the reputation in the mid 1800s for being a relatively healthy place to work in compared to other mines.

And it was back to St Mary's. I was looking forward to exploring this church but, as it was when we've walked this way previously, it was closed. I always feel cheated when this happens as, to my mind, churches should remain open.

Not quite a babbling brook but don't you just love the sound of running water?