Tuesday 3rd January 2017 - A Walk Around Kitley Estate

A beautiful walk with spectacular scenery on a cold and crisp winter day. A heavy frost, blue skies and no breeze. A place where none of us had walked before except for Anne who led the walk and had recced it recently.

We started from the very grand Kitley House Hotel near Yealmpton

Around and through the woods to follow the lake which was originally part of the estuary of the River Yealm.  There was a thin covering of ice on this part of the lake except over the submerged tree.

Then down to the estuary itself.

Spectacularly beautiful.

 

The piles for the old railway at Warren Point.

We then followed the course of the old railway. It originally opened in 1898, closed in 1930 due to competition from the buses, only to re-open during the war. It closed to passengers in 1947 and to goods traffic in 1960. Here is an old footbridge.

A coffee break at the ruined Quarry Cottage.

On the other side of the estuary an old quay.

Looking back.

On to the entrance to Kitley Caves, once a tourist attraction but now permanently closed. Returning to the hotel to look at the Ice House used for storing ice in the days before electric refrigeration.

Back to the hotel for lunch. They had provided us with our own dining room. All appeared to be very grand but the lunch seemed to take forever to arrive and wasn't of a particularly high standard. To be fair  they then did provide us with tea, coffee and scones to make amends.

15 on the walk today - Anne, Jon, Brenda, Peter, Sandra, Charlie, Jane, Phil, Roger, Terry, Linda, Darren and Dianne