RIVERS OF CORNWALL 3: The River Camel in Winter, Part 2

 This second part of our exploration of the River Camel in Winter took us from Wenford Bridge, downstream to Dunmere Bridge about a mile north of Bodmin. Here the river bends sharply northwest towards Wadebridge and Padstow.

The now very popular Camel Trail, runs from Bodmin to Padstow, following the Camel and was constructed on the old railway along the same route which was closed and dismantled in 1983. The railway had been used for freight and passengers. A branch line went from Dunmere north to Wenford Bridge and this line was used solely to carry sea-sand from the Camel Estuary to farms in the hinterland of the coast. The return journeys carried China Clay after processing at Wenford, and granite from the de Lank quarries on Bodmin Moor.

 It's this branch that we followed a few days ago. It is about 9kms long, and is now a cycling and walking track which follows the river and gives access to it at intervals.

        Camel Trail noticeboard at the Wenford Bridge end of this branch of the trail.

 Wenford Bridge looking upstream. This is a Grade 2 listed structure, one of six listed on the River Camel.

This Pottery was started in 1939 by the famous studio potter, Bernard Cardew and continued by his son Seth until he moved in 2005 and sold the premises to another pottery.  One of the reasons for this location was the access to China Clay which was processed nearby from clay extracted from the rotting granite on the moor at Stannon.

You can see the narrow yellowing path through the grass where otters take a short cut to avoid going upstream against the current when the river level is high. It's avoiding the river in flood and feeding up this little side-stream.

The next crossing and access to the river is at Poleys Bridge a mile or so downstream.

                  Poleys Bridge looking upstream. You can see the steel bars used to strengthen the bridge.

This is where the extensive China Clay works  known as Wenford Dries were built with  the railway alongside to take the clay to ships at Padstow.

The Wenford Dries when still working, until 1978.

China Clay slurry was piped over 7kms from the China Clay pits at Stannon into a series of settling ponds behind this building. When most of the water was drained off the thicker material was loaded into a long building with underfloor heating. The furnace was down the far end of the building to the right and the hot air was drawn up  below the tiled floor by the chimney on the left.

The dry china clay was then shovelled into the railway trucks alongside and taken to Padstow.

The very long building of the dries is now becoming overwhelmed by woodland and was being vandalized so it's all fenced off now.

                                       One of a series of settling ponds behind the dries.

Going downstream, the river winds between small flat meadows and wooded valley sides, We set the moth trap just here below Poleys Bridge in late summer a few years ago.

As usual in Britain, the seasons merge. We saw this clump of the late summer/autumn fungus, Sulphur Tuft, quite unscathed by the recent sharpish frosts.

Sulphur Tuft toadstool.

Ivy berries don't really ripen till well on into the winter, giving a valuable food for the thrush family and pigeons.

At the same time, signs of spring are around. The wet valley woods along the Camel have abundant clumps of snowdrops in places. These aren't native, but are long-naturalized.

and Lambs tails are always a welcome sight.

Merry Meeting is a knot of five lanes and two rivers so it's well named! This is still the Camel, but just upstream it's joined by the de Lank river, the uppermost of the three main tributaries of the Camel. This bridge is called Tresarrett Bridge.

The lane follows the course of the river nearby, going up and downhill, winding its way though a tangle of woodland.

Helligan Wood. This is private so the river, largely obscured by trees, is inaccessible apart from those with the fishing rights.

               Definitely KEEP OUT!

Next is the extensive Shell Wood, a coniferous plantation managed  by the Forestry Commission. I see now a large area on the valley-side has been clear-felled and re-planted with deciduous species. The woodland track here is another favourite moth-trapping site.

The Trail follows the river through attractive pastoral country until it reaches Helland Bridge, the first of the Camel bridges not to have been completely swept away by the great flood of 1847 (mentioned in the River Inny blog a few months ago.)

But oh dear! Time or increasingly heavy vehicles, have caught up with it and we found ROAD CLOSED and extensive repairs in progress.

                                                     Helland Bridge looking upstream.

               There's an ominous bulge on the parapet here. More work to be done yet, I think.

The trail continues sometimes fairly close to the river, sometimes further up the valley-side. There is almost unbroken oak woodland near the river but more grazing land up-slope. This branch of the trail is narrower and less-used than the main Bodmin - Wadebridge - Padstow sections.

Looking across the Camel valley as we approach the next crossing at Dunmere. The valley is densely wooded here.

Flowering as early as January, the Dog's Mercury is always a harbinger of the new season's awakening.

At Dunmere Bridge where the main A309 road runs from Bodmin to Wadebridge, the river makes a sharp turn from the SW to the NW and nearby the Wenford Railway joins the track from Bodmin to Padstow, and the Camel Trail can be followed either back to Bodmin or on down to Wadebridge and Padstow.

The Bridge at Dunmere, taking heavy traffic. We chose to finish the second stage of the walk here. All four of the stages we will do it in are very different in character, adding to its interest.