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This 4.5 mile walk along the banks of the River Avon starts and finishes at the Gara Bridge Campsite. It includes a stretch of quiet country lane which you could find a spot along to park and start the circuit from. Most of it follows the banks of the quiet Avon and dismantled Primrose Railway line, brimming with wildlife.
1.
Start from the northern end of the campsite, by Gara Bridge Cottages. There is a bridle path through the front drive of the house by the river. Take this and follow it up the river. On this part there are plenty of opportunities to take different paths through the woods, up onto the dismantled railway and right up to the river. These routes all amalgamate into a gravel track leading to farm buildings at Broadley. Here the path is signposted as an "Unmetalled Road", even though it is metalled from Broadley onwards.
2.
Where this lane meets the quiet public road, turn left and follow it back to the River, crossing over the ancient stone Bickham stone bridge and on up the road.
Just over the old railway bridge, turn left and follow this road down stream.
Road bridge over River Avon. Probably circa C16 or early C17. Slate rubble with dressed slate arches. 2-span bridge with round arches having recessed arch rings, the outer ring is chamfered and the arches spring from chamfered imports. Curators on the central pier on both the upstream and the downstream sides have triangular refuges in the parapets. The parapets are made of dressed vertical slates with deep lacing slates at intervals. The parapets splay out at either end over the abutments. The carriageway over the bridge is about 3.5 metres wide. Henderson and Jervoise and the former provisional list erroneously state that the bridge has 3 spans. Bickham Bridge is situated on the parish boundary and partly within North Huish parish before the recent boundary changes. It is now entirely within Diptford. Source: Henderson, C. and Jervoise, E - Old Devon Bridges pp 26 and 27
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1108342
3.
Follow the road along the edge of the River Avon until you spy a footpath on the left. Take this and follow it back to Gara Bridge.
Wild garlic along the path in May 2021
Road bridge over the river Avon. Probably C17 and widened in c18 or early C19. Slate rubble with dressed slate arches. One large single span (about 8 metres) segmental arch with double arch rings, the inner ring recessed, the outer ring chamfered on the north upstream side. The parapets appear to have been raised or rebuilt and the abutments are splayed out. The bridge was originally a very narrow packhorse bridge that has been widened on the downstream south side. The straight masonry joint is clearly visible on the intrados of the arch. That the bridge was widened on the south side is indicated by the chamfered arch ring on the north side and this view is supported by Jervoise and Henderson. If this is true the original bridge was narrower than the width of the addition. The bridge would have been so narrow that it would only have been a footbridge but with a considerable span. Situated partly in North Huish Parish. Source: Henderson, C. and Jervoise, E. - Old Devon Bridges, page 27.
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1211243
2021-05-01 Gara Bridge.pdfPage updated
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