I didn’t think I was going to fit in any further visits in 2019 but I gratefully piggybacked on a friend’s day-trip to Plymouth and managed to add another two to the ‘out tray’. Lydford Gorge, the first of these, was not even on my list until recently, but while creating a regional summary of my remaining properties, I saw that it is now marked with a ‘Buildings & Gardens’ tag in the handbook (and has been since 2017) so under my broad criteria, it warranted a visit.
While my trip to Devon might have been fortuitous, the timing wasn’t as it coincided with Halloween season and the Spooky Trail designed for families. There are two car parks and sets of visitor facilities at Lydford, one at each end of the Gorge, and we had planned to do the Waterfall end first and then relocate a mile down the road to see the Devil’s Cauldron. Unfortunately, the second part of this plan was a big FAIL as the Devil’s Cauldron part of the Gorge – with its more significant visitor facilities – was the focus for all the Spooky Trailers: by the time we got down there, the car park was effectively closed, with an attendant blocking any further arrivals and a number of cars already abandoned along the roadside. As the Gorge was only a last-minute addition to the list, I didn’t feel too lax in missing out the second of its main highlights, so we left the Trailers to their spooks and headed off without stopping.
I am delighted that Lydford Gorge made it onto the list, however, as the White Lady Waterfall alone was ample compensation for the aborted second stage. After two days of solid rain, it was certainly something to witness. We took the long route down to the fall, wandering through the cutting of the old GWR railway line with its dripping moss- and fern-covered walls and popping in at the Bird Hide to see what we could spot (not much, in all honesty!). It was a nice sunny day for October, but we wouldn’t have known it once we got down into the Gorge, with the shadow of the tree canopy and the constant drip and splash of water creating a slightly gloomy but oddly calming and peaceful atmosphere… until we got closer to the waterfall when the sound of the water crashing onto the rocks served to build the anticipation long before we rounded the corner and the White Lady came into view.
The waterfall is almost 30 metres high and is said to be a ‘gentle cascade’ at most times, but after persistent rainfall of the kind Dartmoor experienced on Friday and Saturday, it had become the ‘raging torrent’ that the visitor leaflet described as the alternative. As an enthusiastic lover of nature at its wildest, mightiest and most dramatic, it was the perfect time for me to visit. While it might not have had the size or impact of some of the waterfalls I saw in Iceland a few years ago, the sight, sound and feel (spray!) of the White Lady made me forget everyday life for a few moments and was also a reminder that Britain has many of its own natural and accessible wonders.
To act as a visitor information guide for a moment, I would point out that the Gorge can be walked in its entirety from one end to the other and back, following a one-way route along the river and then back on a top path, a circuit of about three miles in total. This would also take you past the Tunnel Falls, a series of smaller cascades and no doubt other sights along the way. On our own much shorter walk, we stumbled across the entrance to an old horizontal mine shaft in the wall of the Gorge, which it is believed was once explored for possible veins of copper ore, but which is now a safe and discreet spot for hibernating bats.
There was no sign of a guidebook at the Waterfall entrance and I didn’t ask as I didn’t think there would be one… silly me. On reading my visitor leaflet when I got home, I saw that I was encouraged to buy a guidebook for more ‘information about the history, geology and wildlife of the Gorge’ so I have rectified my mistake and have ordered one online for future reading. It may be that its facts and photos will inspire me to go back one day and look at the Devil’s Cauldron as well. Just not at Halloween.
Highlights: White Lady Waterfall
Refreshments: Cheese, onion and tomato melt with salad leaves
Purchase(s): None
Companion(s): Alan
National Trust Challenge 