8.0 km along the coast and 6.1 km inland. Part of section 49 in the SWCPA handbook.
As we were staying in Newton Ferrers it was possible to start from the house and walk through the village, to Bridgend, the first crossing point of the Newton Creek at high tide. There is then a straight, but also quite steep footpath that leads almost all the way to Stoke.
We re-joined the Coastal Path here at the top of the road down to Stoke Beach. Most of this section follows the carriage drive, variously attributed to Lady Baring and Lord Revelstoke. Nine miles of fairly level and quite wide pathway that was built in the 1880’s for the Lord to entertain his guests, who included King Edward VII.
We passed “Warren Cottage” which we discovered later was used as a lunch stop for guests using the carriage drive. We found a much humbler place with a little shelter from the wind, what I think must have been a Shepard’s hut, quite a sturdy little stone building, that had had a fireplace, but still had a roof, though no windows and doors. However, it did have splendid views across the Yealm estuary to Wembury.
As we rounded the headland, we began to get more shelter and although there had been a little drizzle at times it didn’t amount to much.
The Coastal Path leaves the carriage drive after a footpath to Cellar Beach and descends to what is shown on the OS map as Ferry Cottage, though the sign on the house said Ferrymans Cottage, where we were able to walk down onto the small beach for lunch on the rocks.
It was now only a short distance to where the “seasonal” ferry runs between here, Wembury and Newton Ferrers. The “season” does not seem to start here until either Easter or 12th April, so we walked on to Noss Mayo.
This is a fascinating little village built around a small creek, we stopped for a beer at the Ship Inn, where the car-park, and access for deliveries, seemed to be the beach of the tidal creek. We also walked up to the Church, built also in the 1880’s to replace the one we had visited the day before at Stoke Beach.
As it was low tide, we were able to walk back across to Newton Ferrers on the “Voss” a hard path across the tidal creek. The villagers of Newton and Noss Mayo must get used to planning their daily life around the tides.
