Plymouth (Jennycliff CP) - Hooe - Radford Woods - Bovisand

Dave Pawley

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There are many excellent walks to be had within the urban area of Plymouth without the need to travel far and this is one such walk. Plymouth has the classic association as a place where you can 'See the Sound and Hear the Sea'.
This walk is testament to this phrase, starting as it does from Jennycliff Car Park, which itself offers a superb vantage point looking right across Plymouth Sound, as the area of water between Plymouth Hoe and Plymouth Breakwater is known. The final leg of the walk leading from Bovisand back to Jennycliff is along the South West Coastal Path and there are magnificent views to be had, firstly looking right down on the one-mile-long breakwater from above Fort Bovisand, right out to sea. On a fine day the panoramic view outside the breakwater unfolds from Penlee Point, Rame Head, right out to the Eddystone Lighthouse and around to the Great Mewstone Rock, just beyond the now National Trust-owned land of what was HMS Cambridge Gunnery School, on the coast facing the Mewstone. The walk also offers good views of Plymouth and right across to the south western heights of Dartmoor, which open up once you have walked through the old 'village' of Hooe and up through Radford Woods to near the Staddiscombe Heights area of land, using public rights of way and still within the Plymouth City Boundary. There is a little road-walking as you pass through Hooe and another short section of a country lane to link from the public footpaths on the heights, to reach the secluded Bovisand Lane track down the valley beside a small stream, right down onto the sandy beach where you can 'take the waters' if you so wish.
It is a lovely walk and so close to the City Centre too. The West Country is rightly famous for its pasties and after the walk is your chance to enjoy a cup of tea and one of the best locally made pasties in the West Country in the Jennycliff Café, otherwise known as 'the Butcher, the Baker and the Pasty Maker'.
Enjoy the walk and the fare afterwards!! The views from within the café looking out across Plymouth Sound are definitely worth the visit. As for the pasties, many say the they are the 'Best in the West'.

England - South West England - Devon - Coast