Chudaw two

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

Very good route
Safe easy and accessible.

Very pleasant walk.
Bridleway was very accessible and not over grown as previously stated.
Crossing the roundabout to get on to the minor road signposted Ashcombe was easy and not a problem.
Would definitely walk this route again.

The walk has been divided into 11 stages. The cumulative distances for the end of each stage are shown were the walk to be completed with no deviation or hesitation and therefore should be taken as approximations. Your phone/device may tend to register slightly further.

Stage 1. Cumulative Distance 460m
Take the largely pedestrianised Clifford Street to Millstream Meadow (Lawn Drive). Turn left and almost immediately right through a metal cycle barrier (avoidable by small detour) to cross the footbridge over Kate Brook.

Stage 2. Cumulative Distance 2.1k
Take the level gravel path running north east along the east bank of the brook. This includes a shallow ford with a railed bridge (narrowest width <50cms) (Photo 1.) Join, and continue along, a narrow, level, metalled lane, passing through Brimley Corner and then climbing the gentle but more apparent gradient to Waddon.

Stage 3. Cumulative Distance 3.0k
On passing “Waddon Thatch” turn left on a minor road for 300m and, after the entrance to “Waddon House”, take the signposted “Bridleway” off right. Pass through a 5 barred gate and straight ahead – be aware the bridleway enters the tree tunnel (Photo 2.). To your left is pasture sharing a “porous” boundary with the bridleway and it is possible to encounter cattle. The track width is initially >5m with a very rough, loose, scattered stone surface but narrows and degenerates after passing through a further 5 barred gate narrowing in parts to <1m and becoming a somewhat overgrown stone path.

Stage 4. Cumulative Distance 3.6k
Continue to the “T” junction with another signposted “Bridleway”. Turn right and follow through two further 5 barred gates to Beggars Bush. (Photo 3.) This stretch is grass with foliage including nettles intruding from hedges either side and was somewhat overgrown when walked in June 2021 following a spell of wet and then warm weather. (Photo 4.) Exit on the minor road from Chudleigh opposite the drive leading to Higher Dunscombe Farm.

Stage 5. Cumulative Distance 5.3k
Turn left and climb briefly before taking the signposted “Ashcombe [A380] Torquay” road and immediately entering Waddon Brakes, the woodland now on your left, through the first entry point. (Photo 5.)
You can roam freely through the Forestry Commission land but need to exit at the main entrance to Waddon Brakes at the Ashcombe Cross (A380) junction. Recommended is either a smaller track which keeps close to the road but does become rather overgrown and difficult as it approaches Ashcombe Cross, or, as shown on the GPX track, an attractive loop along a stone track before cutting through the trees on a small, less obvious path over pine needles to join the broad stone track (turn right). Both terminate at the main entrance to Waddon Brakes on a slip road to the Ashcombe Cross Junction.
Be aware that the main access gate is padlocked and the adjacent pedestrian entry narrow and designed to prevent access by wheels – sadly measures made necessary following inappropriate use of the area. (Photo 6.)
Turn right on leaving the Waddon Brakes approach road to cross the road bridge over the A380.

Stage 6. Cumulative Distance 6.9k
Cross the roundabout and take the minor road signposted “Ashcombe”. The woodland on both sides is privately owned by the Ashcombe Estate and “hedged” by barbed wire and signs discouraging trespass! Keep to the minor road which drops steeply, past the “12th century” (actually consecrated in 1259 and largely 13th and 15th century) parish church of St Nectan’s, to a signposted junction with the Dawlish Road.

Stage 7. Cumulative Distance 8.6k
Keep to the signposted Mamhead Road which climbs quite steeply for approximately 700m. It is crossed by two signposted footpaths. Ignore Roger’s Path to the left and turn right onto a narrow (<2m) but well-maintained permitted way. This is occasionally uneven and rutted but a very attractive, woodland path dropping down (quite steeply) between Oak Park Wood and farmland, to exit by the Ashcombe War Memorial. (Photo 7.)
This stage can be by-passed to avoid the two gradients by taking the Dawlish Road to the War Memorial but at a sad loss.

Stage 8. Cumulative Distance 9.6k
On re-joining the Dawlish Road, turn left (signposted Dawlish). Follow for 200m and take the signposted “Public Footpath” left which links with Long Lane. This stretch has a style at either end and is a rough, uneven and slightly overgrown mud path. (Photo 8.)

Stage 9. Cumulative Distance 12.5k
Long Lane is a >3m wide rough, largely level, mud track little changed from when it was a major artery before the days of the stage coach let alone steam or the internal combustion engine, typical of many unmetalled Devon byways.
Turn right along the first stretch (mud surface but drains well) to Five Ways junction. Continue straight on (signposted “Leading to Long Lane”), climbing a metalled stretch for 200m before branching left past several modern houses and again name-plated “Long Lane”. The surface quickly deteriorates to a tractor-width mud track with stretches subject to extensive puddling following heavy rain. Continue until it merges with the metalled Langdon Lane.

Stage 10. Cumulative Distance 13.4k
The final stretch before entering Dawlish is across pasture. Dogs should be kept on a lead as cattle may be present.
Continue along the metalled Langdon Lane for 100m before taking the signposted “Public Footpath” left past “Seven Oaks”. Through a padlocked metal five-barred gate (pedestrian access is via an unlocked, separate, inset, small gate (Photo 9.) The designated path (Photo 10) keeps to the right border of the field before making a left and then a right turn to navigate neighbouring field borders and passing through a metal kissing gate (Photo 11.) Here the track splits. Ignore the path cutting left across the middle of the sloping field, and keep to the right hand border, climbing to a further metal kissing gate, before dropping down the left border of the next field. Besides three benches, on a clear, sunny day, this location offers one of the finest panoramas in South Devon (Photo 12.) Exit through a final kissing gate to a narrow track which itself exits onto metalled and lit urban roads.

Stage 11. Cumulative Distance 14.2k
Finally, take Wallace Avenue (becomes East Cliff Road) until it joins the A379 (Exeter Road). Cross to the shared cycle/pedestrian way and turn right towards Dawlish centre. Immediately past the arch a pedestrian only way (signposted “Town Centre Station Alternative Route for Pedestrians”) drops down, past Lanhearne and then via sloping steps and Richmond Place to Dawlish Station.

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