Parking
Start at the Cadover Bridge car park (SX554645); the loop returns here. There are no toilets.
Overview
About Cadover Bridge and Dewerstone Rock Circular Walk
Why go
- Follows the Plym through woodland before the Dewerstone crags.
- The full loop returns over Wigford Down and Cadover Cross.
Heads up
- Steep, rocky scramble after Shaugh Bridge.
- Wet stiles, steps and muddy paths can be slippery.
Map & elevation
The route
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
2 active Dartmoor alerts
- CautionDartmoor military firing restricts accessDo not cross the Okehampton, Willsworthy or Merrivale training-range boundaries when warning signals are displayed.Official details
- CautionAccess restriction at Huccaby FarmAccess to CROW Access Land at Huccaby Farm in the West Dart River Valley is subject to a current restriction notice.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Dartmoor Tour Guide
Your drive to Cadover Bridge and Dewerstone Rock Circular Walk, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Dartmoor National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Cadover Bridge and the Plym Valley0:00 / 0:25
“You're coming up on Cadover Bridge, a good place to leave the road for the River Plym and open moor. I'd stop for a short riverside wander; the bridge itself is modest, but the valley is the draw.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Dartmoor Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Honey That Holds Its Shape
- Sarawak in a Dartmoor Churchyard
- The Brick Tunnel at Shaugh Bridge
- Shaugh Bridge and the Two Rivers
- 298 audio storiesacross Dartmoor’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Western Roe Deer, Red Fox, European Rabbit, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 54 trails, 59 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Cadover Bridge and Dewerstone Rock Circular Walk
What the loop asks of youCadover Bridge and Dewerstone Rock Circular Walk is a 3.
Cadover Bridge and Dewerstone Rock Circular Walk is a 3.9-mile loop from Cadover Bridge, following the River Plym to Shaugh Bridge before climbing to Dewerstone Rock and returning over Wigford Down. Allow about 2½ to 3 hours. You get a real change of scene: low riverside paths, old oak woodland, a steep rocky climb, then a broad grassy ridge. Choose it if you are comfortable with a scramble and want the crag-and-valley view; the climb is the price of that payoff.
River, woods, and the first viewFrom the car park, follow a rocky, sometimes muddy path through the willow plantation beside…
From the car park, follow a rocky, sometimes muddy path through the willow plantation beside the Plym. Gates and a footbridge lead into North Wood, where the route follows a large pipe through mixed oak and birch. A stile opens onto West Down, with the river far below and Dewerstone across the valley. After a ruined building, take the right fork; the path then twists downhill through trees toward Shaugh Bridge, past old china-clay settling tanks and steps into the car park. Wet stiles and steps can be slippery.
The climb and the way backCross the wooden footbridge at Shaugh into Goodameavy.
Cross the wooden footbridge at Shaugh into Goodameavy. The climb starts steeply on a rocky track above the river, then becomes a scramble as you leave the woods. At Dewerstone Rock, gray granite stacks rise above the wooded valley; the crag has more than 100 climbing routes. Local folklore gives the rock a darker namesake: “Dewer,” the devil, and phantom hounds said to drive travellers over the cliffs. From the crag the loop crosses open moorland along a broad ridge by Oxen Tor and Wigford Down. Look back at the granite with the Plym Valley below, then descend past Cadover Cross with the china-clay workings beyond.
Start, footing, and rulesUse the Cadover Bridge car park at SX554645; the loop returns to the same start, and there are…
Use the Cadover Bridge car park at SX554645; the loop returns to the same start, and there are no toilets. Expect uneven rock, roots, gates, stiles and mud, plus the steep uphill scramble from Shaugh. Dogs are allowed but should stay close around livestock and on a lead from 1 April to 31 July. At Dewerstone, include a strip of the path or wooded valley below the granite in your photo so the crag’s scale reads.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Dartmoor
32 sightingsWestern Roe DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
10 sightingsRed FoxMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
37 sightingsEuropean RabbitMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
19 sightingsGrey HeronMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
34 sightingsGreat Spotted WoodpeckerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
20 sightingsCommon RavenMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Dartmoor. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
