Day 27: Tiverton to Sandford 14 miles (17 for Richard)

We arrived back in Tiverton late last night. Our travels had not been without incident, a bit like the journey back from Tiverton last time. It had rained all morning yesterday and our bus from Hockering was a few minutes delayed. We needn’t have worried - the 15:00 train from Norwich was cancelled.

At the station, we were standing next to a man who had been trying to get to Diss from London since 10:30 in the morning, so our disruption was relatively minor. If you’re interested, his original train at Liverpool Street broke down, the doors failed and they had to disembark via the driver’s carriage. He then was put on a train to Ipswich, then from Ipswich to Lowestoft and from there to Norwich.

We alighted the 15:30 train, which proceeded to lose time at every juncture, though it did stop at Diss. Unfortunately, it comprised two trains coupled together, so we were unable to reach the refreshment trolley. Eventually, we arrived at Liverpool Street and crossed London fairly rapidly on the Elizabeth Line.

At Paddington, we caught a very smart GWR train to Taunton. An announcement came over the tannoy: they apologised that there was some delay and also that there was no buffet car on the train. By the time we reached Taunton, it was past 8 o’clock and the train to Tiverton Parkway was, of course, late.

Tiverton Parkway is 9 miles from the town centre and the 373 bus is timetabled to coincide with the train arrivals. The buses do not wait, however, if the trains are delayed. We missed the last bus by over ten minutes and Google helpfully advised us to get a train back to Taunton and catch a bus from there. Alternatively, it said, we could wait until 8 the next morning. Just like last time, Frankie’s Taxis were a godsend.

The Premier Inn is just by Tiverton bus station, but when we wanted to leave the town last year, the bus arrived but was taken out of service as its signage didn’t work. Talking to the locals at the stop, this sort of thing was commonplace. Frankie’s Taxis collected us that time too. Tiverton seems to be Devon’s equivalent of Hotel California.

Tiverton is a down-trodden sort of town, voted by locals as one of Britain’s five worst in a 2024 survey (Peterborough was on the list as well). I suspect having its main railway station 9 miles from town with an unreliable bus service doesn’t help. It does have a fantastic Premier Inn though and we celebrated our arrival with burgers and chips and a bottle of house Tempranillo. They also do a fabulous cooked to order veggie breakfast.

We crossed the road to an M&S food store to buy lunch and provisions. These did not include the ‘salted blond chocolate with pistachios, shortbread and cornflakes’ because why would anyone eat something that sounded like it had been made from sweepings from the floor?

We left Tiverton via the Exe Valley Way, a 45 mile route from Exford in Exmoor to the South West Coast path on the Exe estuary. We imagined that it would be relatively even surfaced and well signposted. But this is Tiverton (and you can never leave).

We walked along a pot-holed and quite busy road when the smell of excrement assaulted us. We passed a farm with a large slurry tank and pool, but afterwards the odour only intensified. ‘That doesn’t smell like slurry’ Richard declared, ‘It smells human’. A huge water treatment works soon appeared. The path passed right by it and I realised why someone had abandoned a face mask in the hedge. On the plus side, a sign on the gates explained that they were working to eradicate the widespread, invasive Himalayan Balsam.

We soon entered a field of sheep, nearly missing the uphill path as the signpost has become quite dilapidated. We climbed into a dank copse and followed a slippery, muddy path high above the river.

After some time, I noticed the crashing of water drowning out the sound of the A396 traffic and realised we were descending towards the river again. This constant up and down was to remain the pattern for our day, and one reason why we had done the South Downs Way as training. The river Exe was in spate, with boiling, caramel-coloured water careering down the valley towards the sea. We finally reached Bickleigh Mill, where we were to leave the river torrent and where coffee and cakes were available.

The sojourn at the Mill was very welcome and our mood was greatly improved by flapjack and frangipane. Having said goodbye to a cheeky Robin friend we had made, we set off feeling much more cheerful, possibly because we had left ‘Tivvy’ behind.

We crossed the ancient (and narrow) Bickleigh Bridge and left the village on a small steep (one black arrow) road. This led us to an undulating footpath that finally emerged onto a ridge route. Although there were hedges on each side, we were able to see Dartmoor beckoning in the far distance. We passed the smart Cadeleigh Court and the almost derelict Uppincott, reaching the bustling village of Cheriton Fitzpaine with a welcome bench outside the church for our lunch.

It was cool and we set off hurriedly out of the village once we had eaten, going back up a hill to Shotleigh Court. The views back across the valley were stunning and as we stopped for water, I realised with horror that I’d left one of my bottles on the church bench. Rich gallantly suggested that I mind the rucksacks while he went back to correct my error. I, meanwhile, sat down with the beautiful view and started writing this blog. The part up until we left Tiverton was all written on that hillside.

Rich returned, quicker than expected, and off we went again, up hill and down dale, at each summit Dartmoor looking nearer and clearer. We travelled on quiet roads through Prowse and East Village, where we picked up a footpath route to Upton Helions. As in Norfolk, this tiny hamlet had an impressive church but with much steeper topography. There were fields of orchards, here though reminding us we were in Devon. A further footpath took us across the river Creevy and onto the road into Sandford and the Lamb Inn, our stop for the night. It had been a short (for me) but immensely enjoyable day.

Total distance: 378 miles