Walkers beware
Jan. 17th, 2012 10:39 pmWe went to the pub in Horsebridge, the Royal Inn, tonight (had a lovely meal too. Scallops. Mmmmm). Horsebridge is only just up the Tamar from where we live, but to get there by car you have to take a rather circuitous route up onto the hills, so when we got back I thought I'd have a look and see how far it was as the crow flies, and indeed if there was a walking route along the river valley. I used this thing to measure the route.
So, if I were a crow, I found, it would be 1.6 miles
If I walked via Latchley and Luckett, along paths that I mostly know already, but hadn't followed all the way: 3.58miles (sadly this is too far for Mollydog nowadays on her ricketty legs).
Then I saw an alternative route that goes across the river, that would be just 2.64 miles. That's odd, I thought. I don't think there is a bridge there, but the map thinks there is. So I went to Google maps and confirmed what I thought I saw last time I walked that way:

Yup, you can cut almost a mile off the walk if you swim the river. Or, I suppose, carry a canoe on your back, or perhaps whittle yourself a coracle from twigs as you walk through the woods... I wonder if in the summer the river shallows enough at that point that you can ford it? I must remember to go and look.
So, if I were a crow, I found, it would be 1.6 miles
If I walked via Latchley and Luckett, along paths that I mostly know already, but hadn't followed all the way: 3.58miles (sadly this is too far for Mollydog nowadays on her ricketty legs).
Then I saw an alternative route that goes across the river, that would be just 2.64 miles. That's odd, I thought. I don't think there is a bridge there, but the map thinks there is. So I went to Google maps and confirmed what I thought I saw last time I walked that way:
Yup, you can cut almost a mile off the walk if you swim the river. Or, I suppose, carry a canoe on your back, or perhaps whittle yourself a coracle from twigs as you walk through the woods... I wonder if in the summer the river shallows enough at that point that you can ford it? I must remember to go and look.