Ermington to Yealmpton - 4 miles in 3 hours

Yesterday, on foot, by a very circuitous route. We started from the centre of Ermington village, having inspected the crooked spire of its Church, back down Town Hill and onto the main road before going over a stile to join the Erme-Plym trail, which could have taken us all the way to Laira Bridge in Plymouth, had we wished. The first part of the walk follows the river, which Ty found very exciting, and even Jake swam. Much of the rest of the part we followed goes through the Flete estate, through fields and woods. It's very well signposted but seems little used - we didn't meet any other walkers at all, and the path was overgrown in places. And in one place the signpost had been vandalised, so the finger pointing in the direction we wanted to go wasn't there! Luckily Ian had a map... When we reached the outskirts of Dunstone we decided we had lots of time to spare before lunch, so went off the trail and followed Ian's map along some very well marked public footpaths, reaching the Rose and Crown in Yealmpton just in time for our lunch booking at 1.30.

We were lucky with the weather - on the Cornish side of the Tamar they had some tremendous downpours, but we only had one short sharp shower. Fortuitously, it started just as we were passing an enormous storybook spreading chestnut tree in the middle of an open field, so we didn't even get wet! It was windy, it was cloudy, it was glorious sunshine; typical 'four seasons' summer weather. Quite warm though, and pleasant walking. This part of the South Hams is some of the best farming land around, and this was reflected in the fields we passed through. There were proper ginger Devon cattle, newly sheared sheep with fat lambs, fields of oats, barley, wheat, maize, all looking very healthy and almost ready to eat. The footpaths were well waymarked and modern stiles provided everywhere. Some of them were a little difficult to manage - one of the dogs had to be lifted over one of them - and some were a little OTT. As we walked down the side of one field of maize, for instance, we were directed through the hedge to walk down the side of another. There were three stiles - a modern wooden one, an old upright slab of stone and another modern wooden one - all to be negotiated with about a three foot clearance above them before the hedge closed in on all sides. Slowly and carefully all safely through - seven people and three dogs - we continued down the edge of field two, only to find within the space of ten yards a tractor width gap in the hedge!

The Rose and Crown at Yealmpton isn't really a hikers' pub - wildhaired and a bit muddy we contrasted with their other Sunday Best customers - but they put us in a private room to eat. The food was both pretty and tasty, with some unusual combinations.

Altogether a most enjoyable day out.