a circular walk

along allaleigh

monday, 12TH MAY 2025

Start location: Higher Dinnicombe (SX 81945 53190)

End point: Higher Dinnicombe (SX 81945 53190)

Map: Explorer OL20

Although there is a bit of rain around this week and it’s a gloomy start to the day the weather should be OK today.

I won’t be anywhere near the sea today but :-

Dartmouth low tide 12:44

Dartmouth high tide 06:46, 19:05

I leave our holiday cottage, Higher Dinnicombe, and walk up the lane towards Dartmouth Golf Course admiring all of the spring flowers in the verges.

I walk along the golf course before climbing over a stile which takes me into farmland. I walk across three fields where the skylarks are singing their hearts out.

I come across a lot of clover which I’ve never seen before and turns out to be crimson clover.

I leave the farmland via a gate and join a minor road which takes me towards Cornworthy. There are lots of wildflowers in the hedges and plenty of butterflies flittering around.

I manage to photograph a painted lady, an orange tip and a red admiral.

I follow the road which comes to a junction where a sign is telling me that Cornworthy is a mile away.

I turn left and continue along the road. At Lower Tideford Farm I come across a field full of sheep. One of the sheep has got its head stuck between the railings and some wire and seems to have been stuck there a while.

I wander down the track towards the farmhouse to let the farmer know about the sheep. As I head back up the track to the gateway a woman drives up armed with a pair of wirecutters and rescues the sheep from its predicament. The sheep runs off bleating in relief.

I continue on my way and turn right at a signpost and then enter the village of Cornworthy.

I pass the village church where the clock is telling me that it is a quarter to eleven, and then pass the village hall.

I pass the telephone box which has a notice on it saying that BT are proposing to remove the phone box.

I stop at the wisteria covered Hunters Lodge Inn. The inn was closed when I first passed it six years ago but is now open with newish tenants Grahame and Sue Nutt.

I enter the garden at the back of the pub to admire the Alice in Wonderland mural. It’s rather sad to see that the larger of the walls has been painted over.

I pass through the rest of the village passing more wisteria covered houses.

The Dart Valley Trail heads off to my right but I continue straight on through the village.

I pass the ruins of Cornworthy Priory, standing alone in the middle of a field. The gatehouse is all that remains of the 13th century priory. The convent was abandoned in 1539 when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.

I continue along the road leaving Cornworthy behind me and at Edgecombe Barn come across a a large patch of early purple orchids on top of a bank by the side of the road. There are a lot more orchids here than the last time I passed here four years ago.

I leave the road at Coomery and wander along the ancient track, Allaleigh, which was once important for transporting timber. Nowadays it is just a muddy, rutted track.

It is now a pleasant amble along Allaleigh where I enjoy the wildflowers.

I pass by the Green Lanes Centre, set up in 1984, an education centre where young and old can learn about the local heritage, wildlife and ecology.

Towards the end of Allaleigh I pass a group of ruined buildings where a chapel once stood. It now seems to be a home for swallows.

I leave Allaleigh and head up a minor road before turning right and heading along the road which takes me back to the golf course and Higher Dinnicombe.

FLORA AND FAUNA

Flora and fauna encountered on the walk today includes :-

herb bennet
primroses
red campion
shuttlecock fern
bluebells
celandines
greater stitchworth
hart’s-tongue fern
rhododendron
common dog-violet
herb robert
cow parsley
hawthorn
canada geese
foxglove
garlic mustard
crimson clover
cuckoo flower
devil’s-bit scabious
painted lady butterfly
orange tip butterfly
red admiral butterfly
skylarks
germander speedwell
honesty
aqualegia
red valerian
wild garlic
alexanders
dead nettle
green alkanet
wisteria
woodspurge
early purple orchid
bastard balm
swallows

PODCAST

The podcast of today's walk is now available. You can subscribe via Apple Podcasts or listen using the player below.

MARKS OUT OF TEN?

According to my phone I've walked 5.4 miles which amounts to 14066 steps. It has taken me 2 and a half hours. A short walk today but thoroughly enjoyable. Ten out of ten!

higher dinnicombe to higher dinnicombe