Stokeinteignhead & Maidencombe

(S/E) From The Labrador Bay car park entrance, turn right and walk carefully along the vergeless main road (A379) for 250 yards. Cross and take the first left, a narrow lane (Commons Lane) that ascends quite steeply.

(1) At the top of the hill, turn left onto a rough track (Butterfly Lane) that leads past a concrete trig point. After 250 yards, turn left at a fork and follow a similar track that descends with super views of Stokeinteignhead appearing in the distance.

Beyond some farm buildings, the track becomes a metalled lane and descends to meet another road (Deane Road). Turn right and walk into Stokeinteignhead village.

(2) Turn right at the Church House Inn and village shop. Keep straight on at the crossroads at the bottom of Forches Hill. Bear left past The Grange and follow the road (Ivy Tree Hill) as it climbs out of the valley.

(3) At a road junction, turn left then almost immediately left again into a track (Ridge Lane); keep left at the entrance to Oaklands. Follow the stony track uphill and keep right by a wooden farm building. About 1⁄2 a mile from the road, ignore a track leading off downhill on the left and continue to emerge at a junction with a roughly surfaced lane (Ridge Road).

(4) Turn right into another shaded and sunken byway, which climbs a little before bearing left, narrowing and starting to descend. The byway bends right and zig-zags steeply down to the road at Higher Rocombe Barton.

(5) Turn left and walk through the hamlet. At the end of some stone barns, turn right (Newton Hill). Just after a road joins from the right, turn left into another lane which gradually bears left and climbs quite steeply. At a T-junction, turn left towards the transmitter mast on Great Hill.

After a short distance, turn right through a wooden kissing gate, joining the waymarked John Musgrave Heritage Trail (JMHT), and bear left to the corner of a field. Walk along the bottom of the field then head diagonally up the hill towards the mast. Beyond a gap in the fence, turn right and follow the field boundary to a track.

(6) Turn left then follow the track round to the right as it skirts the covered reservoir and trig point on Great Hill to pass a metal gate. Just before a second gate across the track, turn right through a kissing gate onto a footpath that winds down through woodland, with steps, before passing behind gardens to emerge on a suburban street.

(7) Turn left into Seymour Drive. After 100 yards, turn right between two low brick gateposts into a path that leads shortly to a metal stile and across a grassy slope and then into woodland. Turn left up some steps and follow the woodland path as it bears to the right. By a bench, keep to the upper, left-hand path. Ignore a path leading up steps on your left then, at a JMHT waymark, turn right, downhill.

(8) Ignore a path off to the right, then turn right down a narrow meadow, still following the JMHT waymarks, to the wooden sculptures known as Brunel’s Dance. Beyond, follow the path left and right and through a gate into Brunel Avenue. Turn left then, after 75 yards, right.

(9) At the bottom of the road, turn left past a school. At the main road (A379), cross and walk down Watcombe Beach Road. Unless visiting the beach, turn left after 200 yards and walk across the car park to a squeeze stile next to a gate and bin.

Follow the path beyond below high red sandstone cliffs on your left. At a waymark labelled “Valley of the Rocks” bear left, still following the JMHT and joining the Southwest Coast Path. After initially descending, the path climbs steps to a bench and viewpoint.

(10) Turn right, waymarked “Coast Path Maidencombe”, and descend sharply through trees. Bear left down steps and cross a grassy valley before climbing more steps. At a path junction with a “Welcome to Maidencombe” board, turn right, ignoring a stile into the field on your left.

The coast path skirts below fields before descending to a kissing gate into a lane, where you turn left through the car park.

(11) Beyond the car park hut and height-restricted entrance, turn right into a gravelly driveway. Keep left at a property entrance and pass behind the house, following the coast path along the bottom of a field and then into more wooded country with views of the cliffs.

The path continues above the cliffs, descending and ascending with more steps, to a bench with a path off to the left and another “Welcome to Maidencombe” board. Continue in similar vein for a third of a mile, passing a stile on the left (with a red waymark) and then an RSPB noticeboard by a hand-gate.

The path then climbs steeply through fields to a kissing gate, before descending and ascending again through bracken, with another kissing gate and more steps.

(12) Ignoring a path off to the left, the coast path winds steeply downhill through trees before returning to a grassy field and embarking on the final steep climb. At the top of the field, bear left to a kissing gate (next to a metal field gate). Turn left along the hedged footpath, away from the sea, which turns left to a final gate leading into The Labrador Bay car park. (S/E)

The coastal section includes numerous ascents and descents and some rocky ground, and some sections may be muddy after rain.

Car park : The walk starts at Labrador Bay car park.

Pdf file : http://walksfromthedoor.co.uk/i/walks/De...

Cockhaven Arms
Bishopsteignton, Devon
TQ14 9RF
Tel 01626 77 52 52
Email contact@cockhavenarms.co.uk
Web www.cockhavenarms.co.uk

• The main remnant of the Bishop’s Palace, in use from the 13th to 16th centuries, is the former chapel, now incorporated into farm buildings.

• Ness Beach near Shaldon is excitingly approached via the Smugglers’ Tunnel; in reality, it was probably built to transport lime from the beach or as private access for a local aristocrat.

• The pretty village of Stokeinteignhead repays exploration.

• Wildlife: The Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus) is a rare relative of the Yellowhammer and a speciality of South Devon, where much work has been done to boost the population. Listen out for its rattling song from bushes and hedges around Labrador Bay and Stokeinteignhead.