I was staying a short walk from the village of Starcross, on the river Exe. This has a train stop on the rail route that runs from Exeter, down along the side of the Exe Estuary, sometimes right on the very edge – more to come on that! Above the Class 166 DMU no 207 (I’m getting good at this!!) departs Exeter St Thomas where I left the train for a day out around Exeter. I started with a river walk. The River Exe flows right through the city, there still stands the remains of the medieval bridge, I started my walk a little further downstream from this, at Exeter St. Thomas station and walked the few yards up onto the river bank.
Warehouses along this stretch are testament to the large amount of trade that the river once brought. At suitable tides it was navigable right into the city. That was, until Countess Weir was built across it, and later Trews Weir, effectively cut it off. A book could be written about that, I’ll just say here that this lead to the construction of the Exeter Ship Canal, it’s “end basin” below was the terminus.
Just downstream from here is a centre for, what in my school days, was known as “outdoor pursuits”, namely Kayaking and climbing. The climbing tower certainly cuts and odd shape!
Just past this tower, a lock between the river and the canal is my point to to the far side of the canal. A short walk on, I cross the Trews Weir Suspension Bridge, it’s a foot bridge, complete with a slight wobble.
I walked back up the other side of the river, almost back to my starting point, but ended up on the city centre side of the river. More about that in the next post….
Chatter: Canon EOS 30 with 40mm STM, HP5 developed in D23
S.H.O.U.T. 