Walking Your Way to Fitness and Health After the Festivities

Gentle Winter Walks Across the West Country

Walking your way to fitness and health after the festivities is one of the most enjoyable and invigorating things you can do during that dreary time of the year otherwise known as the second-half of winter.

Some people take post-festive fitness very seriously, signing up for gym regimes and diets that would cause a serious athlete to lose sleep. Inevitably, all to many realise they are living a fantasy. You can only eat raw carrots and workout endlessly for a limited period before your body or mind finds a way of escaping the tyranny.

Perhaps good intentions should be as pleasurable as possible – it is, after all, how they teach rats to perform tricks in laboratories. If body and mind receive pleasurable sensations, then there’s a chance you’ll continue - and many would agree that the best way to increase fitness easily is by walking. Particularly in times when we’re all feeling the pinch - strolling through lovely countryside is the best free deal there is.

Medical evidence shows that even a modest amount of extra walking brings significant health benefits. Various governments have lauded the benefits down the years - there’s even an official definition of a “health walk”, which is: “a purposeful, brisk walk undertaken on a regular basis.”

“It is the relative intensity of the walk for the individual and the regularity of participation that can really have an impact on heart health,” says a government blurb sent to me back in 2006. “With regard to cardiovascular health, the walk should be purposeful and 'brisk' - in other words more than just a stroll.”

Following last week’s suggestions across the South West, here are some more routes that act as a good introduction to country walking. Once again, I am dotting them around the Westcountry peninsula so you won’t have to travel too far – and, being just a few miles each in length, they should help instil a sense of achievement while allowing you to enjoy wonderful scenery just about every step of the way.

Cornwall Walks: Frenchman’s Creek (Helford River)

Pure romanticism is the theme of this short walk. Frenchman’s Creek has more of a novel's atmosphere than any other literary location - it allows you to mentally plunge into the derring-deeds of Daphne du Maurier's brilliant tale.

Ferry at Helford passage

I recommend taking the foot-ferry across from Helford Passage. There’s something special about arriving at a walk by boat and anyway, the hamlet on the north side of the river-mouth is much easier to reach than negotiating the tortuous lanes of the Lizard peninsula.

In the tiny village of Helford, a lane leads along the creek, past the (excellent) pub, and eventually crosses a stream at a point close to where a footpath sign points to Manaccan. We take the track through the trees until a junction allows us to turn right into Under Wood - then climb the hill towards Kestle, an ancient farm situated on the ridge that divides Helford from Frenchman's Creek.

Hesp rows a boat up Frenchman’s Creek

A track leads west from Kestle, down the hill and into the trees. This is how Du Maurier describes it:

“The trees were thinning, she was coming to the bank - and there, suddenly before her for the first time, was the creek, still and soundless, shrouded by the trees, hidden from the eyes of men.”

The National Trust owns the eastern bank of the creek and there’s a path along the waterside so that walkers can enjoy its hidden delights.

After a while this path departs the waterside and climbs to meet the drive to a hidden house. Turn right here and follow it to a junction and take another right to follow the road another few hundred yards until you see a public footpath sign upon your left. This takes you through yet more Trust-owned property - until you reach Penarvon Cove. Now it’s simply a matter of taking the track to the right which will lead you the quarter-mile or so back to the ferry landing.

Entrance to Frenchman's Creek

Dartmoor Walks: Fernworthy Reservoir Circular

A simple three-and-a-half-mile walk around a lake – and, being situated in the centre of Dartmoor - a very lovely lake it is too.

To find Fernworthy follow the signs from Chagford, or from the Moretonhampstead-Princeton road. Either way is narrow and full of bends, but don't be put off - Fernworthy is a wonderful place to visit both in a watery and an arboreal sense.

Fernworthy Reservoir between the trees

There's a visitor car park for those who simply wish to admire the view - or there's a choice of walks. The round-the-lake hike is probably easiest and most desirable.

There seems little point in telling you where to go:
a) because a large illustrated map adorns the interpretation board at the car park, and
b) because the circumnavigation is obvious.

All you have to do is make up your mind whether you want to walk clockwise or anti-clockwise – and enjoy.

North Devon Walks: Lynton and Lynmouth Circular

Within a mile of the twin communities there are vertiginous cliffs, rock stacks, deep valleys and woodlands, tumbling streams – all with the mighty backdrop of an ocean… No wonder Robert Southey described the epicentre of all this as:

Valley of Rocks, Lynton

“The palace of pre-Adamite kings”

– adding that the Valley of Rocks contained,

“the very bones and skeleton of the earth.”

We start at the bottom, by which I mean the seaside car park just beyond the Lyn Cliff Railway. After mid-February you have a choice of letting the funicular take you the 500-foot up to Lynton, but while it’s still closed for its annual winter refurbishment you must follow the footpath up.

Lyn Funicular car during winter refurbishment

The higher you go, the more grandiose the whole scene becomes, which is not surprising given that the tallest cliffs in England are just across the bay.

At the top we head towards Lynton’s main street but, as soon as we reach it, there’s a footpath to the right which takes us west out to the Valley of Rocks on the perpendicular seaward side of the hill.

Sufferers of vertigo might want to avoid this path, although it is paved and quite safe. It eventually enters the Valley of Rocks at one of the two places where the great defile spills into the sea.

View over Lynmouth Bay

Directly in front of us stands dramatic Castle Rock - a detour up this craggy pyramid is highly recommended. Inland, you’ll see the Devil’s Cheese-ring – a rock-stack said to have been home to legendary Mother Meldrum. If you’re feeling fit there is a route up past the rock-stack to the footpath which runs along the very brink of South Cleave. By turning left along this path you can make your way back down to the heart of Lynton.

If you don’t fancy the near vertical 300 foot climb, simply walk back up the Valley of Rocks, passing the picturesque cricket pitch as you go.

Then it’s simply a matter of making your way back down to the town centre. The shops will be on the right and St Mary’s church and the Valley of Rocks Hotel on your left. A path passes between the graveyard and the hotel and leads to the zig-zag path that takes us back down to Lynmouth.

Castle Rock looms above the sea

Somerset Walks: Will’s Neck Circular, Quantock Hills

A steep clamber around the highest point of the Quantocks - exhausting in places but the views are among the most magnificent in the region.

Quantock ridge with Wills Neck in distance

The hike starts at Triscombe and runs along the side of the hills to Little Quantock Farm, then it’s up on to the high ridge where we swing south east to ascend the AONB’s highest summit, Will’s Neck, before returning down a very steep track.

To find all this scenic glory, drive 20 minutes out of Taunton on the Minehead road. After about seven miles turn right, follow signposts to Triscombe, and within a mile you will be in one of the loveliest hamlets in Somerset – tucked under the main Quantock ridge. Tucked, also, under one of the area’s largest quarries. Its red aggregate was used in all manner of famous places - I believe the red road outside Buckingham Palace was made of the stuff. Thankfully, the quarry is quiet nowadays.

Ridgeway near Will’s Neck

There’s not much at Triscombe save for a handful of pretty cottages and picturesque pub (the Blue Ball, which opens some days of the week - if it’s closed try the excellent Farmers’ Arms a mile away on the Taunton road).

Find the footpath to Crowcombe and follow it to Little Quantock Combe. Now the hard work comes in: the walk to the top is steep, but well-worth it because the ridge of the Quantocks offers spectacular views in all directions. On a clear day you’ll see the whole of North Somerset, including The Levels and even the new Severn Bridge spanning the upper limits of the Bristol Channel.

Now it’s a two mile jaunt south past Great Hill on the ancient drovers’ road. Just after you pass Triscombe Stone a path ascends gently uphill to the right. This is the way up to Will’s Neck – the highest point on the Quantocks. After that it’s simply a matter of descending the extremely steep path back to the hamlet.

Central & North Somerset Walks: The Polden Way

There’s a six-mile walking trail in Somerset that offers some of the best hiking in the region - at least, that’s the conclusion I came to after walking just a section of the Polden Way.

Poldens above Compton Dundon

The Polden Hills form a ten-mile ridge dividing the north and south Somerset Levels, offering wide panoramas across the flat landscapes. While the western end near the M5 is slim and capped by the A39, the south-eastern end near Compton Dundon is broader and more scenic.

Here we find the Polden Way, linking Walton and Hurcot through beautiful areas which previously lacked public access, such as King’s Wood. While the full linear route is tempting—requiring two cars or a bus plan—we opted for a circular hike starting at Compton Dundon.

Admiral Hood Monument

The climb up Windmill Hill took us to the impressive Admiral Hood Monument. Thickets have been cleared here or there, opening up dramatic views of the southerly Levels. You can also see Glastonbury Tor to the north. The path winds south-east across Hatch Hill—where the large blue butterfly now thrives—towards the managed woodland of Combe Hill Wood. The trail continues through Great Breach Wood to Hurcot - we, however, descend the steep Combe Hollow Lane back to Compton Dundon, which concludes our a steep but spectacular Somerset stroll.

Looking down on Compton Dundon