This 22km walk takes you through the quiet countryside north of Exeter crossing from the Exe Valley into the Creedy Valley via the picturesque villages of Bramford Speke, Stoke Canon and Upton Pyne. Once off the main road out of Exeter it is a mixture of well marked paths, farm tracks and quiet roads. All information was correct as of the 23rd of April 2020. These instructions are for guidance only and do not replace an up to date map and the ability to navigate by it. Walkers choose to follow them at their own risk.
The walk can be started anywhere in the centre of Exeter. The main road north – the A377 – should be followed as far as Cowley Bridge using the high pavement above the road to the right hand side. At Cowley Bridge turn left at a roundabout to cross a series of rail and river bridges. Be warned, the pavement on the first bridge and the road between them is on the right hand side and quite narrow. The most dangerous section is the final bridge where there is no pavement and the bridge is arched obscuring the view of oncoming traffic. Vehicles do come quickly around the bend ahead and the bridge is some 50 metres long. A rapid transit keeping eyes and ears open is required.
Keeping to the now pavemented right hand side of the road it is not long before the turn off to Bramford Speke is encountered on the right. Take this road and follow it until a small lodge house on a sharp left hand bend. Take the signposted track to the right and follow it, keeping to the right of the fork entrance to Pyne House. Shortly after, the path leaves the track and goes left to avoid some farm buildings before turning right and right again, emerging back left onto a narrow path along a hedgerow above the Exe valley to your right. Continue along this path, through a small wood and emerge onto another wide track in the valley.
Turn left and walk along the track until reaching a signpost offering four ways. Take the way ahead up the side of a grassy hill where the path is very indistinct. However, at the top of the hill the way obviously heads through a tiny stile, across the farm track and another stile into the field opposite. A short walk through the field and the path exists onto a farm track by a couple of barns. Turn right.
Following this, avoiding all side paths the route arrives at the road into Bramford Speke. Turn right, over the bridge and up the hill into the village centre. Note the path to Upton Pyne on the left just before a series of houses. This is the path to follow on the return part of the journey, but can be taken now if you wish to shorten the walk.
On reaching the signed road on the right that approaches the church, turn into it and then take one of the paths through the churchyard, round the back of the church where it exists into a narrow alley. Follow this until its end at a covered lytch gate. Turn sharp right down a steep metalled path to a footbridge over the River Exe. Cross the bridge and follow the obvious path ahead, ignoring other paths coming in from the right.
Soon signs ahead indicate private land, requiring a right turn to enter a broad field. Here, after a gate, it is possible to turn sharp left to reach a riverside path and the remains of an old railway bridge that used to cross the river here. However, before long this route requires a return walk along the other side of the field away again from the river. An alternative to this, albeit missing the bridge and picturesque river bank, is to take the path immediately ahead along the hedgerow.
The path now follows the river until emerging on a track where you turn left. Follow this track around a dog leg bend until coming to an obvious turn right. The track continues straight until it reaches a junction with a minor road where you turn right. This is the road to Stoke Canon, half way along which is an ancient stone cross at a tee junction, a pleasant lunch stop.
Continuing along the road, past some renovated new houses leads to a level crossing on the left over the main Exeter to London railway line on the outskirts of Stoke Canon. Turning left here you can find a pub and a small shop. However, the path goes right through a small gate and along the old branch line embankment towards Bramford Speke, whose church tower can be seen on the ridge ahead.
The path is easy to follow as it continues towards the village, crossing a small stream and ending up back at the footbridge over the Exe crossed previously. Retrace your steps into the village and find your way left along the main road through it towards the path to Upton Pyne noted earlier. Take this path which winds along the ridge above a stream, at one point turning left towards the small valley bottom. There are a few gates, stiles and bridges to negotiate before the path emerges alongside a large cultivated field via a final stile. Turn left here and follow the field edge before the path becomes a track and junctions with a tarmac road.
Turn left up the hill on this road into the village of Upton Pyne. The route now sticks to this road through the village, past initially old houses and the church and then newer buildings. Crest the rise and descend the other side of the hill, ignoring the road coming in from the left, until a signpost indicates a path on the right. This path cuts off the corner by hugging the edge of a field with a large tree in the middle of it. Although indistinct, there is a small path off the edge of the field before it ends, descending on the right, through a gate in a hedgerow and down to the railway line below.
Cross the line carefully, obeying the ‘stop, look, listen’ sign and turn left at the other side. The path now follows the river on your right before climbing some stairs to reach the side road just before a large bridge over the river Creedy. Turn right here to regain the main A377 ahead where by turning left you will be able to retrace your route back into Exeter.
An alternative to the busy and rather dangerous crossing of the river bridge referred to earlier, is to cross the main road at the crest of the hill ahead and take the narrow road on the right where there is a church on the junction. This is the back road into Exeter, running parallel to the A377 on the opposite side of the river bank. It is reasonably quiet although care should be taken as it is narrow, windy and has no footpaths. After a while, and immediately past a large mill on the left, it is possible to cut left into a grassy recreation area with playing fields. Otherwise the road, now footpathed on the left, heads towards a junction. Turn left, cross first the bridges over the flood channel and river, then the trainline (this time with operated barriers) and regain the A377. Turn right to return to the centre of Exeter.