Drakes Trail, incl the Plym Valley Trail

Drakes Trail runs from Plymouth to the heart of Tavistock, mostly traffic-free. It’s a stunning route, with so much to offer.
Though this video can work on it’s own, it’s actually meant to supplement my Drake’s Trail route guide, over on WillCycle.com. You can access that route guide here: https://www.willcycle.com/2020/10/07/drakes-trail-2/
During the start of the video, the swing bridge on the Plymouth Barbican was out of order, so I had to cycle around Sutton Harbour.
Also, the route skirts the very edge of the Morrison’s car park in Tavistock, and I was forced to go around there, too.

[Music] hello there drake’s trail is despite the poor choice of name a wonderful route now for this route guide I started on the Plymouth Barbon and the route runs almost completely traffic-free into the heart Tisto the video plays back at four times the speed and though this video can be freestanding it’s meant to complement my Drake’s trail route guide on wilcycle.com so do go have a look at that the link to that guide is in the description this route offers the vibrancy to be found on Plymouth Barbin where there are ample cafes to choose from it offers sea views estie views a folly a few tunnels Victorian railway ingenuity plenty of viaducts rural little usually Dartmore ponies World War II history and ancient monastic ruins that’s a lot to be had in just one ride it’s 19 mi each way so it makes for a great day out provided you have the fitness level needed however if you didn’t want to ride all the way to Tavvertock you can shorten the route by turning around at Yelbertton or even at the Skyllock Pub in Clearbrook all of the route has a sealed surface but there are a few places where the surface is less than ideal you can take any bike on this route including trikes and cargo bikes but do bear in mind there are several sets of airlock type gates please ensure that all gates are closed behind you even if they were open when you found them please close them after all you wouldn’t want a Dartmouth pony to wander onto the nearby fast A386 and get run over now would you most people will tell you the route at least from around Quipull in Plymouth follows the old Princeton Railway but that’s not correct it actually follows the course of the old South Deon and Tavistock Railway but trains to Princeton use the line up to Yelbertton and speaking of Yelbertton nobody’s entirely sure where the village got its name from there’s a story that it was known as Alford Town pronounced Alphon and when the railway arrived a railway person misheard and wrote the name down as Yelvverton on old maps the name Alfred Town does appear so the story might be correct and since we’re speaking of the origin of names Plymouth got its name from the river Plum obviously the few people know that plum is a misprononunciation of plum yes the river was named after some plum trees that grew on its banks plumbridgeidge was for many centuries the bridge across the river nearest its mouth and was therefore strategically important as you cycle towards Blood Bridge you’ll see that there are a canal to the right that was used to float barges of slate down to the harbor and it was later replaced by the railway the first vioaduct is can viuctuct which 150 years ago would have been absolute hive of industrial activity the peragrine project often have telescopes on the vioduct trained on the nest of peragine falcons against the old quarry phase the vioaducts are remnants of the old railway and the next one is Riverford vioaduct then Bickley vioideuct with the last before Yelbertton being Ham Green vioaduct after Yelbertton there’s Magpby vioduct and replacing the long since demolished walkham vioduct the impressive gem bridge there are two tunnels along the route short tunnel is the first and it’s supposedly haunted don’t let that concern you one of those my next door neighbor’s best friend’s daughter’s boss once sat in a train next to someone whose brother-in-law’s best friend’s second cousin knew someone who saw a ghost there type of stories it’s amusing but it’s entirely fictitious the second tunnel is Granoff after Gem Bridge and be warned it always rains in the tunnel between Yelbertton Horror Bridge the route skirts the edge of the old RAF Harrowier which was a fighter air base during World War II in fact some buildings near where Dartmore Bakery is now were converted to singlestory to reduce risk to pilots sadly one pilot met his end when he crashed his plane into Yelbertton Church tower demolishing the tower in the process obviously it’s since been rebuilt because the old railway ran through another tunnel underneath the Albertton and because so much of the old railway line is now privately owned between Yelbertton and Horror Bridge the route doesn’t follow the old railway line now this is important railways tend to have mild gradients the route all the way from Plymouth up to Yelbertton is pretty much a constant uphill even though it’s a very mild gradient as soon as the route leaves the railway you will notice the gradient changes on the way back from Tavvertock you will encounter a hill with a 13% gradient and it’s not uncommon to see people walk their bikes up there now as for why Drake’s trail is a poor choice of name Francis Drake was a slave trader in fact he was one of the very first slave traders and he helped build that awful industry and what into what it later became and I don’t believe any slave trader deserves to be honored regardless of that it remains a fantastic route and you will thoroughly enjoy cycling it i wish you tailwinds and the very best of weather have a great ride [Music] heat heat [Music] down heat heat [Music] [Music] heat heat [Music] heat heat [Music] [Music] down hey hey [Music] heat heat [Music] [Music] heat heat [Music] heat [Music] heat heat heat [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] heat heat [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] heat hey hey hey [Music] heat heat [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey hey hey [Music] [Music] [Music] heat hey [Music] Heat [Music] heat heat [Music] [Music] heat heat [Music] [Music]