Day: 108 5/4/94 Cawsand to St John

Weather: Cold and showers   Distance:  15km (9.3 miles)    Total Distance: 1362 miles

 

 

My wife kindly dropped me off in the car park which is on the hill above the village of Cawsand.  Margaret then went down the beach with Sean to make sand-castles.  I walked through the narrow streets of Cawsand and Kingsand and then found the path into Mount Edgcombe Country Park.  The paths at this stage were very good but a little muddy.  A couple of children hiding up a tree had me well fooled.  They were making animal noises and I stood there for a while peering up into the branches looking for an unusual animal.  The park is open to the public.  The first part of the walk necessitated some detours inland.  A minor road ran to the seawards side of the path but access to it was difficult and it was obvious that pedestrians were encouraged to keep to the path so I complied.
 

At the Cremyll end of the park, there was a series of landscaped gardens littered with the ruins of old fortifications.  The path came out in the main entrance to the park by a tea room in an orangery and a gatehouse converted into a tourist centre.  This is where the passenger ferry from Plymouth drops people off.  The city of Plymouth looked very close at this point but it was quite a few days walk until I would be on the opposite bank.  The path then went along the banks of the river and was muddy in parts.  The walk up to Millbrook was then along a narrow road with some nice cottages overlooking the estuary.  It was bin day and I shadowed a bin lorry for a couple of miles, not out of choice, walking at the same pace as they worked.

                                             

At Millbrook, there was a bridge over the river which led to the football ground.  There was a footpath marked on the map but I had to climb over a fence to gain access to it and then along the river past a couple of boat yards.  I cut back onto the main road at Southdown through a field.  The road then led back into the village of Millbrook, past a scruffy housing estate and then onto a hilly country road all the way to St John.

 

Margaret drove past me on the road; she had had trouble in finding the middle of the village of St John because of the lack of signposts.  Just after she drove past me again driving back into the village, it started to pour with rain, but it was only a short walk into the village by then. We parked the car and went into the quiet pub, the St John Inn, in the village for a drink.

 

In the afternoon we went back to Mount Edgcombe Country Park for afternoon tea until Sean started to get a bit bored and then a chase around the trees and huts in the gardens to tire him out a bit.  Back at Rowan Lodge, Sean spent time playing with their granddaughter before we were served with roast lamb for tea followed by an evenings conversation with Trev and Ken.