01/09/26 - Wenlock Edge, from Rushbury

18 Miles Long

I had no idea that Wenlock Edge went on for so far. I always assumed it was hill near Much Wenlock but having spent a week in the area, I can now confirm it is a 18 mile ridge, running straight and thin all the way to Craven Arms.

Today, we have a short but beautiful walk from Rushbury. There is little to report. Rushbury has no pub. The church is austere.

But the walking is fantastic - a gentle climb out of Apedale along the flanks of agricultural fields. A long section on the Jack Mytton Way - on the edge - and back down to the village.

All I can bring you are the photos;

Wenlock Edge behind the trees

Apedale

Jack Mytton Signpost

The Wrekin in the far distant

Rushbury Church - an austere interior

This is our last day in Shropshire. Next week, I hope to bring you pubs.

Walk Details

Distance - 3.75 miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - 40 Walks in the Welsh Marches, Walk 8

01/07/26 - Kingswear, for the Seven Stars at Dartmouth

Beat The Clock

A new walk for us today. Requiring a ferry and on the other side of the Dart Estuary, it may not quite be within the South Hams that we have come to love so much.

We've a lot to pack in today. A 6 mile walk, two ferry crossings and a substantial lunch. It's pack-up day today and England KO at 5pm. We intend to be on the road back to the Midlands bang on 7pm, hopefully to contemplate quite how we will watch the next round at 1am on a Monday morning.

That's a problem for another day. First, we have to work out how to fit all this activity in when the longest of long stay car parks in Dartmouth is 4 hours. I mean, we would use the park and ride but it has 1-star reviews, my favourite complaining that there are no buses to take you park. So that's just an out-of-town "park" then, is it?

The walking is superb. Once across the estuary, we march inland first - heading up to Higher Brownstone before dropping down to the coast path at Coleton Fishacre and Pudcombe Cove. The coastline home, after dolphin and seal watching on the Mew Stone. Such a rollercoaster route - we are either walking up or down, which of course eats into our available time.

The Dart Estuary

A holloway leads to Higher Brownstone

Coast Path to the Mew Stone

Having a breather after one of the "ups"

The Mew Stone - home to dolphins and seals

Ziggy demands a swim at Mill Cove

On completion, we have an hour to spend before eviction. Fish and Chips (£36 for two, but Rockfish was in the Telegraph's best Chippers 2026) and a bench. Ziggy charged with protecting us from an ever growing number of circling seagulls.

This leaves time for a very quick pint at the new 2026 Good Beer Guide Tick. The Seven Stars advertises itself as Dartmouth's oldest pub. Probably reason enough for a visit. Perhaps not quite reaching the cuteness of last year's entry, The Cherub, but the beer was excellent. A cool Jail Ale rounding off a fine week of exploration.

The Seven Stars - Dartmouth's Oldest

Walk Details

Distance - 6.5 miles

Geocaches - 3

Walk Inspiration - 40 Walks In Devon

30/06/26 - Burgh Island from Ayrmer Cove

£2 for a plastic cup

Here I go again, on a stunning walk in the South Hams. This is an easy one, to a special place. 

Catch it right, and you can walk on a sand bar - with waves lapping at your feet to the east and to the west and visit the oldest pub in Devon, The Pilchard.

You've just got to navigate a bit of a stupid system. Beer, of below quality, is served in plastic glasses for which you pay a £2 deposit. I've got a problem with plastic glasses at the best of times, but having a system that doubles the queuing time in an oversubscribed pub is beyond ridiculous. Two sets of punters, early off season on a tuesday and it took 10 minutes for the one member of staff to stop making coffees to give provide the deposit refund. Mrs M convinced this is a ruse, with most people giving up and keeping the cup as a souvenir.

Blog ranting over - this is a simple walk from a National Trust car park. A holloway leads down to Ayrmer cove and then the coast path runs past Challaborough Caravan City to the island.

Ziggy loving the shady holloway

Ayrmer Cove

Tide looking good for a walk to Burgh Island

Despite the earlier slagging of the Pilchard, there are things in its favour. A 10am opener and a beer garden with unbeatable views. Time it when you can get inside and it's all you'd expect from a ancient, smugglers inn.

A sea tractor, should the tide be in

Ahoy there shipmates

The £2 Plastic Cup, with ropey Dartmoor Legend

A rollercoaster of ups and downs through the tiny village of Ringmore for the return.

Walk Details

Distance - 4.5 miles

Geocaches - 3

Walk Inspiration - 40 Walk in Devon 

27/04/26 - Stepper Point to the Harbour Inn, Padstow

Our Favourite Walk?

We've done this one before and I'll be surprised if we don't do it again in the future. The inland sections on most Coastal Circular walks involve cattle fields, mud and stiles. Not this one. The way to the coast is on broad tracks. Where there is a stile, its one of those Cornish quaint stand up slates jobs that are easy to vault. 

Walking around the headland also provides 3 times more coast than land.

Looking at Trevone, on easy agricultural paths

There could be endless pictures of the sea, as we move around Porthmisson, Gunver Head, Butter Hole and eventually to the tower and lookout station at Stepper Point. Where the Camel meets the seas is so spectacular they named an old beer after in. The once ubiquitous Doom Bar.

Stepper Point Tower

The Happy Couple, where the Camel meets the Sea

The only thing that changed from the previous walk is a stop at the tea shop at the Coastguard's Station and where to lunch Padstow. All things Rick Stein must be avoided. Can you believe that his chipper now charges £25 for takeaway. I mean, its not as if there are transportation costs involved are there? And for this, you have to battle seagulls, find a bench and have no other facilities.

The pub wins - a google suggests that the Golden Lion offer the best fish.

A little sign says the kitchen is closed today. Today only.

We'd not noticed the Harbour Inn before - tucked away down a little alley on the way back to Corporate Rick. If the fish and chips are as excellent as the beer range, then we will be in luck. Unusual Cornish Ales, at least one not seen before.

The Harbour Inn

It's all low ceilings and nautical nick-nacks. 

Session ready

And the Fish and Chips? £4 cheaper, served on a plate and delightfully light batter, according to Mrs M.

Walk Details

Distance - 7.5 Miles

Geocaches - 4

Walk Inspiration - 40 Walks in Cornwall

02/01/26 - St Ives Circular

At Last, the Pilchard Press is Ticked (Properly)

We're back into St Ives on the sort of train journey that would force Michael Portillo to don his most garish of trousers. It's not often travellers are demanding to sit on one particular side of the train, as they aim to maximise the views over Carbis Bay and Portminster Beach.

St Ives is the end of the line and even in bleak midwinter, it's hard to navigate the thronged streets. My favourite argument between a man and his wife, which resulted in the most disgruntled shouting "I'm not having that, I'm going to the f*cking pub". And in she went.

Plenty of choice in St Ives. Not sure any of them are "destination", mind. An Adventure Lab Cache takes us to five different pubs and I can add the Kettle N Wink and Lifeboat to the Union, Castle and Sloop Inn previously visited. Today's observations - Kettle N Wink - no one wants or needs heavy metal music at that volume.  Lifeboat..... too many tourists. And only a man from Worcestershire can say that. But Coops the Labradoodle did enjoy the "dog station", with as many free biscuits as he could snaffle.

Back in Black the most tuneful of today's tunes at the Kettle

Family and dog friendly at the Lifeboat

The walk is a simple circuit of the western headland. The holidaying masses are left behind as we climb ever upward on lanes to field tracks over Burthallen Cliffs. The footpaths disappear and have little bearing on the OS Map but eventually we part walk, part crawl through thistles and hedges to get onto the South West Coast Path proper.

Should have just aimed for the sea - instead, we went off piste

All smiles, when we can see St Ives on the SWCP

Coops the Labradoodles favourite part - Portmeor Beach

We'd deliberately timed our return for 4pm, to coincide with the opening hours (on a day they are open) of the Pilchard Press. This is my third attempt at a visit. With hindsight, I can see why it closed during covid. I am unsure whether anyone would have fancied sitting in a low ceilinged windowless room. We were also here a couple of days ago, on one of their non-opening days.

Its located down an unappealing alley, where you can determine how much vegetable oil a Thai restaurant consumes. There on the stroke of 4pm, we're not the first to enter. In fact, its not unlike a game of musical chairs - as the menfolk head to the bar and the women and children jostle for the best seating.

All beers are LocALE and on sillage. The one you are likely to have heard of is Dartmoor Legend, but even a prolific pub enthusiast like myself is in the realms of Viz's RAT Beer names.... Treens Krowser, a best bitter, barmaids name was Angela.

A Proper Pilchard Tick

If we were brave enough to visit the Three Ferrets, we could declare St Ives done. The best by a county mile is the Sloop. Especially if you can get inside and like London Prices.

With trains every half an hour, all that remains is to get the timings right on the quayside return.

Easy to get a hosing at high tide.

Go For It!

 

Walk Details

Distance - 4 Miles

Walk Inspiration - 40 Walks in Cornwall

Geocaches - 3

30/12/25 - Hayle to St Ives, Home by Train

Sloop and a Castle, No Pilchard

What a delightful day! Google tells us that our friends are just 0.6 miles from Hayle, in Lelant. This is very much only as the crow flies. They are yet to build a bridge across the estuary. 

Some road walking along the Causeway but another couple of miles on the South West Coastal Path is complete.

The Causeway

Friends Reunited at Lelant Church

Then it's an easy but time-consuming 3.5 miles or so. When you have the opportunity, you really must walk on broad golden sands. The gods demand it. And so do the dogs.

Dunes

Canine Playground

It's always wonderful arriving into a town at the end of the walk. All those possibilities for refreshments. We are both creatures of habit and cliche.

The two pubs were the same as my last visit in the heights of December 2020 lockdowns. When the Sloop Inn interpreted the Boris laws by implementing a velvet rope. Manchester People - Banned.  Worcestershire People - Sit outside. Welsh - come on in!

A fine pub - tiny inside, with tables around a circular bar. With three dogs, two large, we decided to sit outside. Watching the passers-by, ruminating on £6 (admittedly delicious) pints of Tribute. London prices to make those second homers feel at home. Double the council tax, say I.

Mappiman, warming up on NYE eve

The castle is a little less hectic. Demoted from the GBG in the years since The Great Derangement. The Betty Stogs was in poor condition, so justified. But something bad happened to Skinners in 2022, so maybe this is how it tastes now.

Regardless - it's our kind of place.

Incidentally, the only Good Beer Guide Pub in town is the Pilchard Press. One day, I will stay up late enough to enter the premises. 4pm opener on the days that it is open. Almost like they don't want customers.

You try taking a pub photo in St Ives without photobombing

Rail times checked and a last look back over heaven before the 4 mile journey. Which requires a change at St Erth and feeling of being cheated.

Our £10 for two single tickets remained locked in my Google Wallet.

Looking down on heaven

Walk Details

Distance - 6 Miles

Geocaches - 4

Walk Inspiration - 40 Walks in Cornwall

03/10/25 - Heswell Fields

Beating Storm Amy

The first named storm on the season. The rain starts at 11am, so we head out for the shortest of our planned walks. I have a feeling that tomorrow's may be unplanned and even shorter.

This has the usual motifs experienced so far - out, through a boat's graveyard on the English Coast Path. Over the Wirral Way and then to the intriguingly named "The Dungeon".

Marooned Boats

English Coast Path at Heswell

This way to the Dungeon

The Dungeon, near Heswall and Thurstaston on the Wirral, is a steep wooded ravine carved into sandstone and siltstone. It is notable as the only Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the Wirral, designated for its geological importance. The site exposes rocks of the Triassic Tarporley Siltstone Formation and Wilmslow Sandstone, showing features such as ripple bedding and salt pseudomorphs.

Mrs M at the Dungeon Waterfall

High ground, which includes the wooded area of Heswell Vale to take us back to the car park. Here, the cafe called Yot awaits. I could have brought you a photo of Victoria Sponge and flat whites but Amy has started howling. Mrs M's barnet is - by her own words - unsuitable for the Internet.

You'll have to make do with the Dee Estuary and Wales

Walk Details

Distance - 4 Miles

Geocaches - 4

Walk Inspiration - 40 Walks In Cheshire

04/06/25 - Runswick Bay to Staithes for the Cod and Lobster

Civilised Opening Hours

As fine a coastal walk as you could hope for. Lung bursting ups and downs, dramatic (and crumbling) high cliffs and a lovely little village steeped in history to explore in Staithes.

Today, is mainly this.... the shanty town of Port Mulgrave below

There's a free museum at Staithes, which no doubt tells Captain Cook's story, with a mix of fishing history and alum rock mining.

We didn't get past the uniquely named Cod and Lobster Pub. 

Unless you count Mrs M's round at the bakery.

Not sure what more you could want from a pub. Outdoor seating, where all that separates you from an always changing sea view are some railings. A small, low ceiling bar inside for cozy chats with salty sea dogs - - or perhaps tourists from Cannock -  if the weather changes . Black Sheep and Timothy Taylor Landlord available from the very civilised 10am opening hours.

The dogs get a post pint hurrah on the beach and we head for cake.

Beach side views...

... of a perfectly positioned pub

As if the walk couldn't get better, we had a change of terrain for the return leg. Shun the bus back (unless the C&L keeps you longer than expected), cross the road and drop down into the deserted dingly dell of Oakbridge Woods.

Perfect off lead walking for dogs that had previously avoided fatigue.

The next day, they slept in. To 6.10am.

Contrasting Walk

Walk Details

Distance - 7.5 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - 40 Walks in North Yorkshire

06/05/25 - Little Dartmouth and the Cherub Inn

Beams made from Ship's Timbers

A delightful final full day in the South Hams, visiting Dartmouth.

The walk is a beauty. They've all been beauties. Starting at the National Trust car park at Little Dartmouth, it's coastal walking to the where the Dart joins the sea. Mrs M proclaimed that the only way that this walk could be better would be if there was a cafe.

There is a cafe. Yet I cannot get quite as excited. My Bakewell slice was tiny, cost £3.80 and was devoured in two chomps. Mrs M told me to chomp on, as she was sick of my moaning.

Back to walking along Black Country Canals next week

Dartmouth Castle - home of the £3.80 thin slice

As is the norm for this part of the world, a lovely inland green lane takes us back to the start.

Where we use the car to reposition to the town centre. Lovely views, medieval architecture, bustling shops and a mood buoyed by free parking for two hours.

Kingswear from a parking space

Naturally enough, we make our way to the only Good Beer Guide Pub in Town. Yes, it may have the old trope about "Beams made from Ship's timbers" but it would appear to be true. This C14th merchant's house was nearly knocked down in the 1950s, where it was saved through renovation. That used reclaimed ship's timbers.

Ziggy, waiting to enter Dartmouth's oldest building

The nearby Seven Stars has the claim to be the oldest pub in town. But this is the oldest building, becoming a pub in the 1970s. A single-roomer downstairs, it's all I look for in a pub. Low ceilings, real fireplace, intimate surroundings and 50p off a pint for CAMRA members. 

Zoom in for this week's bargains - I might have to rejoin

It felt like a privilege to be able to enjoy a pint here. A lovely and fitting South Hams Devon Pride.

Walk Details

Distance - 4 Miles

Walk Inspiration - 40 Walks in Devon

Geocaches - 10