Section 4 - Ivybridge to Noss Mayo
Start: Ivybridge Library, Watermark Centre, Ivybridge Grid Ref: SX 63639 516167, what3words: ears.crystal.trembles
End: Bridgend (end of Newton Creek), Noss Mayo Grid Ref: SX 55556 48200 what3words: posts.palettes.cafe
Distance: 11.9 miles / 19.2 kilometres
Ascent / descent: (estimated) 991ft/302m / 1178ft/359m
Difficulty: Moderate
OS Map: Explorer OL20
Terrain: Footpaths, fields, roads, country lanes, gravel tracks, woodland
Parking: Ivybridge, Ermington (limited), Yealmpton, Noss Mayo
Refreshments: Ivybridge, Ermington, Yealmpton, Noss Mayo
Toilets: Ivybridge, Ermington, Noss Mayo
Public transport: Devon Public Transport Map
These directions are provided for guidance only. Weather, path closures and other factors may affect the route. Please take extra care when crossing roads and follow The Countryside Code at all times Download Countryside_Code_A5. All maps ©OpenStreetMap
Ivybridge to Saw Mill
This section follows the Erme-Plym Trail, part of the Devon Coast to Coast route, as far as Yealmpton. Erme-Plym Trail
1. Start from the Watermark Centre and follow signposts for the Erme Plym Trail. Walk through car parks, keeping the River Erme on your right and Ivybridge Leisure Centre on your left. The path proceeds through parkland by the river and under three bridges. After passing under the third bridge, go straight on, keeping the river on your right. Follow the footpath around tennis courts and alongside a sports ground.
2. At the end of the sports ground, the footpath leads to a gate onto a road where you turn right. Use a path that runs beside the road until the road bends sharp left. Join the lane straight ahead (signposted Yeo Farm 120 yds). The lane becomes a track that leads to a stile into a field. Go straight ahead - there is a choice of path but the left option is often waterlogged so keep right on the grassy part. Continue ahead, still with the river on your right, until you reach a road, passing Weir Cottage on the left.
3. Turn left onto the road. You will see a VR post box in a wall opposite. After about 300yds, turn right onto a lane, signposted Penquit ½ . About 200yds along, on a left hand bend in the road, go straight on through a gate into a field. Go straight ahead and follow the footpath for about 0.5 mile, through several fields, until you reach a kissing gate onto a road. Turn right.
4. Go straight on at West Strode Cross where you have a view of Ermington (Crooked Spire) Church and Ermington village from a field gate on the right. Proceed along the lane for about 0.75 mile until reaching the main A3121 road. Ermington
The South Hams Way route avoids the village of Ermington by following the Erme-Plym Trail on the east bank of the river. If you wish to visit the village - a short diversion - turn right at the point where you reach the A3121, over the river bridge and immediately right through a gate into a playing field. The village is ahead of you.
5. Turn left and cross the main road with care. In about 25yds (this turning is very easy to miss), before Fawns Farm, turn right down some steps and onto a narrow footpath. Follow the public footpath sign through a gate and past stables on your right, then take a farm track straight on alongside the river. In about 250yds, head uphill on a footpath enclosed by wire fences towards a conifer wood. Go through a metal gate, then cross a field, staying parallel to the field edge on your right, to a another metal pedestrian gate. Walk diagonally down a field to a gate at the edge of a wood. Follow the path through a short stretch of woodland. On exiting the wood into a field, bear left along the side of the wood. When the wood ends, go straight on, with the river on the right, until you reach the main A379 road at Sequer’s Bridge. At Sequer’s Bridge (on the main A379 road) turn right over the bridge, taking great care because this is a busy and narrow main road.
6. From Sequers Bridge, turn right onto a footpath that runs parallel to the road. For a view of Flete Castle, turn right here briefly into a field and look across the road and parkland then return to the main route. When it ends, cross the main road via a pedestrian refuge and follow the lane opposite, to the right of the elegant entrance to Flete Estate. After about 100yds, turn left onto a track and then immediately right over a stile. Follow a footpath across the field and then turn left onto a track that climbs uphill. Continue along this track; you may spot the turrets of Flete Castle across the fields on your left. Go straight on when the track becomes a footpath, with fields on either side. Eventually walk under a bridge and on to where the path becomes an access track. Continue straight on uphill until you reach a junction where a lane leads to the right.
7. Turn right along the lane and follow it along the top edge of Flete Wood. At a crossroads continue straight ahead until you reach a road. Turn left to continue the Erme Plym Trail and South Hams Way.
Saw Mill to Noss Mayo
1. Walk along the road in a south-westerly direction, past a small industrial complex on the right. After ¼ mile turn right onto a public footpath (no. 12), following the Erme-Plym Trail signs. Walk uphill, keeping the field hedge on your right. Cross a wooden stile and head straight across a field. Look for a white marker post in the far hedgerow. Head left along the field edge. Go through a metal gate. Where the fence turns downhill to the right, keep straight on across the field towards a hedge, then turn right downhill, keeping the hedge on your left until you reach a metal gate in the hedge. Go through it and follow the hedge on your right.
2. Head for and go straight on through another metal gate. Then go straight on across the field towards a large metal gate and go through that. Walk down to a wooden gate and stile. Go over the stile and turn right onto a lane. Walk down the lane, ignoring a footpath turning on the left, and into the small village of Dunstone. At a white fingerpost at a road junction in the village, continue downhill (signposted Yealmpton and Plymouth) along the road.
3. Before you reach the main A379, turn left on the Erme-Plym Trail (public footpath no. 31). Ignore a public footpath sign immediately on the right. Follow the footpath for about 250yds, across an access drive and around a fenced yard/depot, through a short stretch of woodland. Exit the woodland via a wooden stile into a field. Cross the field in a south-westerly direction. Cross over a wooden stile and footbridge. Continue along the footpath for about 150yds then follow public footpath signs into a field on the right over a stone and wooden stile complex.
4. Follow the path along the left hand edge of the field (parallel to the footpath you just left). Leave the field briefly, back into the main footpath, then back into the next field via a stone and wooden stile. Continue along the left hand edge of the field, dipping back into the footpath once more before immediately entering another field on the right. Follow signs for footpath no.19. Proceed north-westerly, diagonally across the field towards the far corner where you cross a wooden stile. Follow the right hand field edge to a wood and exit the field at another wooden stile.
5. Follow the fence on your right hand side, turning sharp right as the fence does. Enter a housing estate. Turn right and cross an access drive. Bear right into woodland and follow a path that eventually runs alongside the Yealm river. Walk for about 400yds until you reach a pedestrian gateway alongside a road bridge. From the gateway, the route continues along Boldventure Road opposite.
The village of Yealmpton (200yds to the right) lies on the main road (A379) between Plymouth and Kingsbridge. It has shops, pubs and accommodation and is on a regular bus route. Parking is available in the village and along the roadside at New Road.
From here the South Hams Way takes a different route to the Erme-Plym Trail.
6. Boldventure Road is residential. A short stretch is subject to mild flooding. An alternative pathway on top of flood-defence bank is provided. Continue straight on along route (ignore a public footpath sign pointing left) to where the path enters woodland and runs parallel to the river again. Pass a gap on your left between the walls of an old railway bridge; go straight on. Continue along the path for a short distance until the path splits. Take the left fork and soon bear right onto a gravel drive.
7. After 250yds the route becomes a narrow footpath, directly ahead. Enter a field and follow the right hand edge for 200yds. When the hedge pulls away, maintain the line (south-westerly) until it intersects a facing hedge at a stile onto a country road. Warning! The stile has a wooden first part followed closely by an old stone part. There are no hand-holds, and it exits directly onto a country road, so care is needed at all times, especially when wet.
8. Cross the road and follow the narrow stony track uphill opposite (Ashcombe Hill). The track is steep with loose stones and vehicle ruts. It may be tricky to walk on especially when muddy and slippery. At the end of Ashcombe Hill is a crossroads (Gala Cross) where the busy B3186 crosses our route. Continue straight on along the quieter country road opposite.
9. At the next crossroads (Lolesbury Cross), continue ahead for about 25yds. Enter a field on the right at the stone stile with a public footpath sign. Walk across the field diagonally. A gap in the hedge with another stone stile will become visible as you progress. Go over the stile and enter a field. Follow the right hand hedge for 75yds. Cross (or walk around) an unused wooden stile to your right. This is the highpoint of this section; behind you to the north there are fine views towards Dartmoor on the horizon, and Kit Hill with its chimney to the northwest.
10. Follow a farmer's track diagonally in a south-westerly direction across a field, to and through a field gate. There is a wood on your left. Descend into the valley on the same line. Cross the stream and enter woodland through a stile complex involving a gate, two short wooden bridges and a stone stile. Follow the path uphill through the woodland. Exit at a step-through stile. Cross a field on a pathway between barbed-wire fences. Exit at the metal pedestrian gateway straight ahead.
11. Enter a field and walk diagonally across it to a wooden stile and field gate in the opposite hedge. Cross the stile and turn right onto a country road. In 10yds/metres turn left and follow a road towards Preston. Follow the road down, then uphill. Follow a metalled road, passing fields and properties for 0.6 mile / 1 km till you arrive at Membland. The estate was purchased in 1877 by Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke (1828–1897). Membland Hall became derelict after World War I and was demolished in 1927. Revelstoke Drive, which forms the coast path around the headland from Noss Mayo, is attributed to Baron Revelstoke.
12. Turn right onto a country road and follow it for about 1 mile / 1.6 kmto Bridgend. This is a wide, straight, clear, tree-lined, country road with no footpath and modest traffic.
16 August 2025