Amenities: Parking at several sites around the lake, but main car park is near the activity centre. There is a parking charge (only in cash – about £4 a day). Cafe and public toilets here and plenty of space for picnics or barbecues.
Distance: 9 miles
Terrain: mainly fairly level with a couple of moderate hills. The path section between the activity centre and the dam is accessible for bikes and probably wheelchairs too but beyond this it is very uneven and narrow in places.
Last Sunday, we walked the perimeter of Wimbleball Lake, a local (-ish) lake that we have visited many times over the years, and even camped there when the boys were younger. It is a great local attraction where you can walk, cycle and hire a rowing boat. We have never walked further than the dam before, and this is one of those walks that I put on my “40 things to do before I am 50” list.
We decided to start the walk from the cafe/main car park and walk anti-clockwise – psychologically I needed that dog leg or the Upton Arm out of the way! We arrived at the car park at 9:00 on a Sunday morning and were the first car there – by the time we completed the walk 3 hours later, it was really busy, so it seemed a good time to start.
The track between the main car park and the dam has a couple of bird hides and it is actually a great place to stop and take in nature. We saw lots of swallows darting down to the lake and back. After the dam you take a left in order to walk right next to the lake, or you will end up on the not so picturesque cycle path. The lakeside path is very gnarled, narrow and uneven though. We were surprised to be overtaken by some runners along this stretch – how they didn’t trip I have no idea!
As you come back down the Upton Arm you have the choice of taking the summer route down to the lake or continuing on round – we chose the latter as it isn’t summer and I wasn’t really sure why it was unsuitable in other seasons!
A lovely spot for lunch at Cowmoor Bay, perched on some grass and tucking in to an egg mayo roll – just the ticket. It was warm in the sun, but only 2 degrees when we had set out! We could see some fishermen in small boats and in the distance some paddle boarders.
There is quite a boggy area after Cowmoor Bay which is dealt with in the main with a bit of boardwalk. It has been relatively dry here in the South West for weeks now so I can imagine in Winter you would want some long boots to do this walk.
The stretch between the bay and Bessom Bridge, and actually just after the bridge has many anglers who didn’t seem too bothered that there were walkers behind them when they were casting their lines. And then on to the final leg back to the car park, which by this point (3 hours later) was fairly busy.
A lovely walk and glad to have ticked it off my list!
mrs jones walks 