Sheepwash Chronicle Spring 2016

The Bluebell Walk
24
"And like a skylit water stood
The bluebells in the azured wood"
AE Housman wasn't the only poet to have
been inspired by the beautiful but brief
display of these oh-so-pretty blue flowers,
massed together in dappled woodland shade.
The breathtaking blue glades that appear in
May inspire Simon and I to make an annual
pilgrimage to the bluebell woods near
Meldon reservoir.
This relatively short walk - just over an hour -
also rewards with fine views of Dartmoor
and, sometimes, the mesmerising vision of
hundreds of tons of water cascading over
Meldon dam.
Leave your car at Meldon Reservoir car park.
It's not far off the A30. Join at Sourton
heading towards Exeter and then take the
next exit. Turn right at the T-Junction and
follow signs to Meldon, then signs to the
reservoir car park. There is plenty of space
here, and some well-maintained toilets.
Once you're booted and suited, climb the
steps out of the car park and turn left. Turn
left again immediately and go through a gate
into a field, following the signposted bridlepath towards Meldon Viaduct. Walk down along the edge of the
field and through a thick copse of trees. The track brings you alongside the West Okement river on your
right and a steep-sided pool on your left. Keep following the path, go through a five bar gate, and then
continue to climb.
Along here, you'll pass under the huge wrought and cast iron structure of Meldon viaduct. At its highest
point it rises an impressive151 feet
above the valley floor. Built in 1871
to carry the railway, it now forms
part of the Granite Way, and
carries bikes instead - see last
year’s Harvest Special Chronicle
(edition 111) for details of a great
ride along this route. In 1927 the
speed limit across the viaduct was
20mph. Today, there are plenty of
enthusiastic pedallers who can
easily exceed that!
After a spell admiring the trusses,
continue up the track. Then, before
you reach a second five bar gate,
just by a telegraph pole, look for a
narrow path that drops away to
your right. Follow this path down
through the woods. Here, the ground is covered in a lovely seasonal show of primroses, violets, wood
anemones, and the first sightings of our native bluebells.