Lowery Cross to Walkhampton and back via Routrundle

A lovely day for a walk and this one fitted the bill very nicely. A mix of quiet lanes, an ancient church, open moorland and a disused railway track. And a few more Bluebells.

We started this walk just north of Burrator at Lowery Cross. From there we descended to Walkhampton, ascended to Walkhampton Church, descended again to Eggworthy, ascended yet again to Routrundle and then had a level couple of miles back to the starting point. My GPS clocked it as 6.5 miles. The weather was good but not warm enough to make it uncomfortable. One worth doing again.

The view from our starting point. Brentor can be seen in the distance and we were heading in that rough direction. Very rough, in fact. So rough that we went absolutely nowhere near it.

After a reasonably energetic hill climb, the church came into view.

St Mary’s Church Walkhampton lies half-a-mile north of Walkhampton village on a lofty elevation (700 feet). Occupying an ancient site, it was built long before the village began in the river valley below; hence the unusual distance from 'civilisation'.. Another curious feature is that it faces north-east, the point of sunrise on the longest day, rather than due east. This alignment also points exactly to Gipsy Rock, possibly the meeting place of the Saxon Walkhampton Hundred. Design? Coincidence? A builder‘s error? Who knows?

 For 400 years until 1985, the church had no dedication and was known simply as "Walkhampton Church", but in that year it was dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. Research has  since indicated that it may have been originally dedicated to St Dionisius of Walkynton.

The current church has been here since about 1450, but records show that there was a church here in about 1341 because an Archdeacon wrote and said 'It's falling down. Please do something about it.'" There was probably something on the site well before that as well.

Although St Mary the Virgin isn't about to fall down, an extensive reordering project has been completed in recent years. The works included the installation of glass screen doors, the restoration of an old wooden screen, a new kitchen, drainage, and a spiral staircase ascending to halfway up the church tower. It all looks very welcoming, especially the engrave screen doors which are the first feature that greets you when you enter. They are decorated with local scenes of Dartmoor - ponies, tors, wayside crosses etc. Very impressive and well worth visiting in their own right.

There's some very nice stained glass in Walkhampton Church and I particularly liked this window from the 20th Century.

A detail from the above. Stained glass can be so expressive.

For those who like sleeping in cold, damp buildings, 'champing' in St Mary's might be just the thing to go for. Another income stream, utilising what assets the building has. There is a toilet and kitchen and they do provide a table and chairs. There's also good broadband from a receiver on the church tower - installed as a community facility a while back and serving the farming community in the vicinity.

The CWGC headstone for Stoker First Class Silas William Chapple, who was 49 when he died. He served at HMS Drake, the main naval barracks at Devonport and an RN accounting base. Given this and his age, I'm assuming that he either died of ill health or of an accident at the base. He was a local lad and seemed to have been born, raised and married in Walkhampton. For completeness, he was the son of George and Rose Chapple and husband of Ella Helena Chapple, all of Walkhampton. 

At this time of year, practically every dandelion 'clock' must be photographed by someone or other.

Except, probably, most of these. We walked through several such meadows filled with them and the flowers of later flowering varieties of dandelion. Plus a few buttercups.

Looking down and towards the valley through which the nascent River Waltham runs. Lots of fresh growth on the trees with some tors in the distance.

Eggworthy Farm - an eggcellent place to get your eggs? Not really. £1.50 per 1/2 dozen? We only pay £1 for ours down the road.

We came from Eggworthy and headed towards Criptor. In the background, Pew Tor can just be made out.

Looking towards Ingra Tor. One of the Dartmoor tors with an associated granite quarry. Not on our route today but it’s an interesting place to scramble around and look for quarrying artefacts. When the railway was operational, there was a small station or halt at Ingra Tor. How busy would it be with walkers if it were still in existence?

Four tors on the skyline - from the left they are Pew Tor, Cox Tor, Great Staple Tor and Great Mis Tor. We’ve climbed all of them at one time or another.

The trackbed of the old Yelverton to Princetown railway is very popular for walkers and cyclists alike. It offers easy access to some wild parts of the moor and can get quite busy 'in season'. But at this time of the year, it's nice and quiet. We never walk the entire route but bits and pieces of it feature on several of the walks we do around here.

Almost at the end of the walk and the panorama looking to the north-west. In the distance Kit Hill is visible and in the mid-ground to the right is Walkhampton Church. 

And did someone mentions Bluebells? There were plenty of them still around. The elevations of Dartmoor mean that they don't come out all at once.

Here they are by the roadside............

..........and in a glade by Eggworthy.