Thirteen of us gathered at Bere Alston station on a special day as Charlie was walking for the first time since his hip replacement, and Michael joined us too.
We set off
in cloudy weather, making our way through straggling housing, then through
woods down to Tuckermarsh Quay. This had been the final walk before lockdown in
March 2020, led by Amber and Colin – we weren’t sure whether we were in a
better position now! Michael also revealed we’d done the same walk on almost
the same day four years - a coincidence!
After our
first coffee stop, the sun came out and we hugged the river bank, under the
viaduct, with good views of Calstock,
Danescombe (and the fabulous ex-hotel there), and Cotehele Quay. Then we started to climb
slowly back up, stopping for coffee and cake at the picnic tables by South Ward
farm, before making our way through open fields where Jane whooped with joy as
she hit her target of 1,000 kilometres for the year – with a month to spare –
impressive!
Back at the
station, people were kind enough to say they had enjoyed the walk – the
autumnal colours were superb and there was much banter. Most of us then went on
to The Ship at Morwellham for soup, sandwiches (and of course, chips). We were
very conscious of the following day being Terry’s funeral, so we toasted his
memory and hoped that all would go well – in fact, it was an incredibly
impressive event with a great turnout, testimony to the man and a life well
lived, bless him.
Liz
