DISCOVER THE DART

From the coast to its source on wild moorland, Ben Lerwill journeys up the delightful River Dart, by boat, train and finally on foot

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Dartmouth is a fine place to linger on a May morning. I'm sitting in Bayard's Cove, watching the River Dart rolling out towards the open sea. Gulls are circling above the rooftops, tugs are chugging across the water, halyards are slapping against off-duty masts. Back in 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers put in here for a week before crossing the wilds of the Atlantic, and even today, as yawning holidaymakers amble the quay with takeaway coffees, it's easy to see the hill-ringed harbour as a place to pause and replenish.

I'm in town for a journey of my own, but my goal lies inland, 47 sinuous miles upriver, where the Dart first burbles to life among the peaty soils of Dartmoor. By literally going against the flow, I'm following the river back to the place it begins, and in the process looking to know it that much better, this lovely waterway that tumbles and turns through southern Devon. It says plenty that when the makers of 1970s TV drama The Onedin Line needed a river to double on screen as the Amazon, they came here. You don't see many jaguars, but still.

Time is ticking, so I wander through Dartmouth's timbered centre to reach the little ferry pontoon. The town crier is at the dockside in regalia and tricorn hat, waving to newcomers. "I was supposed to be at a fête today," he informs me, "but they called it off without telling me."

Before long the ferry appears, a small craft with a cheery skipper, and I settle on board as we putter into the current and steer upstream. This 25-minute sailing to Dittisham is the first part of my journey, but three riverside days and nights lie ahead.