Teign Gorge Circular walk and Artwork

My mum and I decided that we needed some inspiration for our artwork so we looked up some woodland walks which were at most a 30 minute drive from Exeter. Having read some walking reviews we decided to try the Teign Gorge Circular Walk (Fingle Bridge to Castle Drogo). We parked at Fingle Bridge where there was plenty of parking spaces.

Fingle Bridge Pub

Not having the best sense of direction or being a great map reader we started off walking in the wrong direction along the river towards Dunsford. This was very pretty but not our aim of the day so luckily a friendly passer by pointed in the right direction. The first beauty spot we came to was a rocky dam which led to a small island in the middle of the river (I made a mental note to bring my son here as it looked like a great place to play).

View of the river near Fingle Bridge

The walk along the river from here was very pleasant and we took many photos of fungi, flowers and trees. Eventually we came upon a dry stone wall alongside which the steep path led up to a style. This took us to a beautiful wooden bridge over the weir which was a great spot for photography.

View from the bridge at Teign Gorge Weir

We walked over to a small metal pontoon and I decided to go for a quick swim. It was absolutely freezing but very refreshing! Mum sensibly decided to paddle.

Wild swimming in the Teign Gorge Weir

The walk then went up quite a steep hill towards the National Trust's Castle Drogo. Once up at the top of the hill the walk completely changed from a dark woodland track to a winding open ridge-top with spectacular views of the valley at several viewpoints.

View of Teign Gorge from Fingle Bridge to Castle Drogo Circular walk

The gravel lined path then slowly descended back into woodland towards Fingle Bridge. Mum spotted a small snake on the path and was just about to take a photo of it when I realised it was an adder and it was rearing its head at her. Luckily the snake decided to escape into the hedge rather than bite her! I decided to include this adder in my artwork. We finally made it back to the car but sadly due to the earlier hold ups we didn't have time for a coffee.

We each decided to make mixed media pieces which showed our experience of the walk and this is what we came up with:

Teign Gorge Weir Mixed Media artwork by Francesca Dawson

Teign Circular Walk mixed media painting on canvas by Liz Maiden