A walk around the South Hooe Peninsular

 For this walk, we visited the Bere Peninsular just over the Tamar into Devon. Parts of this we have done a few times before, indeed we first walked some of the paths when we lived here between 1972 and 1974. We even walked passed our 'old' bungalow and admired the new wall that someone had built around the garden. A key reason for our return was to check out a new permissive footpath around the peninsular at South Hooe. Read on for details.

We started in the centre of Bere Alston and the walk came in at just over 7 miles, and I put some of that down to a detour to the cafe at the Weir Quay Boatyard. Some but not all! I'd grade it, the walk, at a definite moderate as, typically for this part of the world, there were quite a few ups and downs. 

Our first panoramic view, and there were lots of them on this walk, looking towards Bodmin Moor in the distance with the Tamar just visible on the left.

A shady path, the first of many on this walk. All unique in their way as the leafy canopy filters the light in different ways. And all with a purpose as all these old paths went somewhere. Perhaps to a farm, perhaps to a mine, a church, a hamlet or whatever. Sometimes you'll come across something that will remind you of past travellers - an apple tree growing in a strange place, perhaps coming from a core discarded by someone trudging along to work. Always something to ponder on and, when a reflective mood, to be reminded on your own mortality.

Looking over the Tamar into Cornwall. Directly in front is Bohetherick and, to the right at the top of the meander, is the cluster of buildings that comprise Cotehele Quay

A walking scene - a gate, a dog (Dora), a walking pole and a hat. And, yes, this part was pretty steep but that comes with the territory. Lots of ups and downs. More of the former than the latter.

The very attractive blue flower of Wild Chickory. Presumably part of a wild seed mix used to populate this meadow with wild flowers. For those who like foraging, the flowers, leaves and roots of this plant can be used for culinary and medicinal purposes. 

An impressively complex wild life tower on the South Hooe Cottage Farm Nature Trail. There is provision for bats, owls and kestrels, with various sized holes drilled into the frame for insects. It hasn't been in place for long so it's probably too early to assess how successful it is, over and above impressing me!

Looking across the Tamar again, this time towards Halton Quay, with the old St Indract's Chapel featuring as the white building on the river's edge. The quay has been disused for many years but, once upon a time, was a bustling place. as the local area was important for the soft fruit grown there and the river was the major transport route for the produce. Just to the left of the chapel, there are a couple of old lime kilns. The chapel itself was once the office for the Clerk of Works, who managed all the shipping to and from Plymouth (apparently you could buy a transatlantic ticket here at one time). The ground floor was used to store salmon fishermen's nets. This building, which had become disused, was consecrated as St Indract's Chapel in 1959. A plaque on the chapel wall states that in 689AD St Indract and his sister St Dominica, both of Irish royal blood, landed near this spot. St Dominica gave her name to the nearby village of St Dominick.

Walking through one of the wild flower meadows at the newly established farm walk at South Hooe Cottage. The 2.4 km Trail is part of a wider programme of landscape and habitat improvements, funded by the National Grid’s Landscape Enhancement Initiative. The route provides excellent viewing of the four hectares of new freshwater wetland and pools created on the site in collaboration with the Environment Agency and a further 14 hectares of inter-tidal habitat which is due to be completed in autumn 2023. It's a rather delightful walk and one that deserves return visits at different times of the year. At the moment, it is only open to the public on Saturdays but we had special permission to visit on the Thursday.

The buildings shown here are part of the Pentillie Estate, with the boathouse to the right. The house is featured in the TV series 'Beyond Paradise'. I know they are filming Series 2 and I wondered if the white vans were connected with this. As an aside, the boathouse is a very popular wedding venue, not that I'm in the market.

An eclectic  collection of bits and pieces on the quay at South Hooe. Can you spot the rusty hoe blade?

A tranquil scene now but that belies how busy it would have been in the heydays of the mining in this area. This quay would have serviced the mines and North and South Hooe. Across the way were the mines near Weir Quay, some dating back to the 1300s.

A rather unexpected find: the Tamar Valley Vineyard. It produces a white wine of some repute from the Madeleine Angevine grape, plus a few cider varieties from their apples. 

Interesting wayside signs: Part 1: Houseowners trying to tempt walkers to go around their property rather than stick to the footpath which runs straight through their garden. We elected to follow the footpath because we weren't too sure where the diversion would lead. But, having done it and seen how close it runs to their backdoor, I think we could all see why they wanted a diversion.

The Merganser was being used as a houseboat when we lived in the area in the early 1970s. It's in a very sorry state now and it has a fascinating history which is well worth detailing. And I have a sneaky admiration for John Hall chopping it in half with a chainsaw. A Herculean task.

Merganser was a 68ft long cutter-rigged yacht designed by Benjamin Nicholson and built by the Camper and Nicholsons yard at Gosport in Hampshire in 1887. The yacht was built for Hugh Leyborne Popham of Hungerford and she was registered in Plymouth, he owned the vessel for 33 years and would take part in yacht races and regattas with himself as skipper. Merganser seems to be well-known in the area; in one account of a storm in 1899 she was referred to as 'Mr Popham's yacht Merganser' reporting that she fell over on her side while beached at Mount Batten. Merganser was also registered as a fishing boat as PH37, records show that she was registered as a trawler with a crew of five people from 1887 to 1896 while also registered as a yacht. The cutter rig was altered to a ketch rig in 1906 and provided with a new set of sails by Hoopel in 1908. It has been suggested that her copper sheathing was stripped for munitions during the Great War and never replaced, but fragments of sheathing can still be seen on the foreshore around the hulk so she may have been re-coppered after the war.

Plymouth sailmaker Samuel Boon Harvey bought the yacht in 1920 then Robert Dell bought her in 1924, Dell was listed on the bill of sale as a 'commissioned gunner, Royal Navy', a warrant officer. Dell moved her to her current location and converted Merganser into a houseboat while living at Tamar View in Holes Hole. George Evans, a stove and grate merchant of Plymouth, then bought the yacht in 1930 and his daughter and son-in-law lived aboard for some years. Harry John Hall took ownership in 1947 using her as the family home and only finally leaving in the 1970s. By now the hull was collapsing at the stern on her mud berth and most of her upper fastenings had been removed. The Parish Council ordered the hulk to be demolished but the National Maritime Museum got involved to see if she could be saved but she was considered too unsafe to move.

In 1975, a local craftsman called Charlie Hingston was employed by new owners Eric and Alison Paice to restore Merganser to her former glory. The hull was rebuilt to the original shape but sadly this work was not completed and the half-restored boat was sold to a local resident in 1986. Later, the partly-restored hull was cut in half by John Hall using a chainsaw, and the stern section removed to prevent the yacht being occupied by squatters.

Interesting wayside signs: Part 2: I'm not sure what more I can say about this one. It made us laugh.

A post box from the Victorian era. It was in the wall of a rather isolated cottage and I suspect that, when it was installed, there were a few more people around because of the agricultural and mining activities. I'm not sure how old this one is but roadside wall boxes appeared in 1857 as a cheaper alternative to pillar boxes, especially in rural areas.

Almost our last stretch under the canopy of a green lane, this one leading from Cotts to Furzehill. Probably this track serviced a couple of local mines in the 1800s or was, perhaps, a route down to the river at Weir Quay.