Week 4: Plymouth to Torquay
In a change from previous weeks’ segments of this virtual run, which have often hugged the coastline, this week’s run from the port city of Plymouth to Torquay, the resort town along the “English Riviera,” was mostly overland. Google Street View served up images of tree-lined country byways up and down rolling green hills.
As I made my way in a mostly straight line from west to east, on my right was the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a region of rugged coastlines, quiet estuaries, and lots of trails, including sixty miles of the very scenic South West Coast Path, one of the National Trails of the U.K.
On the left (north), was Dartmoor National Park, a protected area of open moorlands and deep river valleys, with numerous rock formations and a variety of habitats. Because the area has never been subjected to intensive agriculture, now that the land is protected it has become a haven for wildlife, including extremely rare species like the Blue Ground Beetle, so rare it was once thought to be extinct! Christi and I are also big fans of bats, and so I was excited to see that Dartmoor is home to almost every one of the sixteen bat species found in the U.K., including the rare Barbastelle Bat and the Greater & Lesser Horseshoe Bats, so named because of their distinctive horseshoe-shaped noses. I love that in answer to Africa’s “big five” of wildlife (lions, elephants, buffalo, leopards and rhinoceros) the team at Dartmoor came up with the idea of Dartmoor’s “little five” of the Blue Ground Beetle, the Marsh Fritillary butterfly, the cuckoo, the otter, and the Ash Black Slug, since so many other species depend on these tinier beings.
The rare Blue Ground Beetle
The Barbastelle Bat
The Ash-black Slug, one of Dartmoor’s “little five.” They can grow to be 25 centimeters (nearly ten inches) long!
Hedgehogs also make their home at Dartmoor National Park.
Otters, whose numbers have plummeted due to hunting, habitat loss and pollution, have survived at Dartmoor.
Other scenes from along the road this week are…
Dartmoor National Park (I’m imagining otters frolicking in that stream!)
Scorhill Stone Circle, at Dartmoor National Park
The River Dart. Its seasonal propensity toward flash flooding led locals to write the couplet: "River of Dart, Oh River of Dart / Every year thou claimest a heart."
Paignton, another lovely holiday town on the “English Riviera.”
Torquay is also the birthplace of Dame Agatha Christie, the Queen of Crime and bestselling fiction writer of all time. Christie tours abound in the region, and each September, to celebrate her September 15, 1890 birthday, Torquay hosts the International Agatha Christie Festival.
Fancy a pint?
Unlike the Naylor brothers, who pledged to “abstain from all intoxicating drink” during their 1871 walk on this route, I’m not at all opposed to popping into interesting-looking pubs along the way. Here are a few along this stretch of the journey:
The Warren House Inn in Dartmoor is situated on an isolated uplift within Dartmoor National Park. At 1425 feet above sea level, it is the highest inn in southern England. Originally built to serve the busy local tin mining community, after the last mine closed in 1930, the Inn shifted to serving tourists.
Given its remote location, the Warren House Inn is totally off grid. Electricity comes from diesel generators, and water is gravity fed from an underground spring. This self sufficiency is wise, given that the weather can be extreme. In 1963, the Inn was cut off by heavy snow drifts for 12 weeks and supplies had to be flown in by helicopter. Such snow-ins happen from time to time, but the Inn stays cozy: the fire is said to have been burning continuously since 1845.
The Bridge Inn dates from the sixteenth century, though the Domesday Book lists a dwelling having been present on this site, on the bank of the River Clyst since 1086. Stonemasons who built the Exeter Cathedral may have been lodged here.
In 2018, the Queen herself stopped in at the Bridge. Although she didn’t have a drink while she visited, she took home a case of anniversary ale.
The Bridge Inn, Topsham
The Hole in the Wall, the oldest pub in Torquay.
The oldest pub in Torquay is the Hole in the Wall, founded around 1540. Featuring local beer and cider, the Hole in the Wall also offers live music. Its historic setting, with cobbled floors and low-beamed ceilings, have seen centuries of travelers, smugglers, fishermen, and other locals.
Sustenance for the Hungry Vegan
Bianca e Massimo, a vegetarian Italian restaurant in Totnes, was founded in 2018 so that Massimo and Bianca could share their vision of handcrafted cuisine with the world. As they explain, “We personally choose all our products and ingredients. They come from enchanted hills on a volcanic lake, from a local organic farm, or even from small orchards in the South of Italy. We have visited all these places, and we have touched the plants from which our ingredients grow.”
If the reviews are to be believed, this attention to detail and careful personal touch pays off in deliciousness.
Just outside Brixham, in the Railway Inn, the Weary Ploughman offers an all-vegan menu alongside its traditional menu, which features locally sourced ingredients. The vegan menu is every bit as creative as the omnivore version; word has it that the chef is vegetarian herself.
The Inn markets itself to walkers and birdwatchers, given its proximity to the South West Coast Path and the wildlife-rich Berry Head National Nature Reserve.
In Torquay, Las Iguanas has a plant-focused Latin American inspired menu, with ample vegan options. The cocktails look delicious too, and the outdoor patio would have been wonderful to visit this past week.
