#Exeter Canal and where you live.

It is a funny thing. Have you ever noticed that guests or visitors to your town or country sometimes get to do or see things in your area that you have never got round to doing or seeing despite the fact you have lived there for years.

This weekend I returned to Exeter to see my family. I was brought up in the Exeter area - lived there for over 20 years and return regularly.

As part of a day out we cycled the length of the Exeter Canal. It was something I had done before but maybe not for 35 years. There was a time when the Exeter Canal and River Exe running parallel were a bit of a playground for us boys growing up - especially for course fishing. I look back fondly to memories of casting light float tackle with the tiniest of hook baited with live maggots. We caught perch and dace and very very occasionally the larger bream. It makes me smile now thinking of the laughs we had - gear all tangled up in a bush or snagged up on the bottom or trying to deal with scary eels unfortunately hooked! But all that was many years ago.

It was only in the last few days I realised I knew very little about the Exeter Canal - now I know its proper name is Exeter Ship Canal. So as a visitor I dragged brother Rob for a bike ride along the Canal. He was slightly puzzled when I suggested it - not least because it is on his relative doorstep and he hasn't been on the tow path for light years either! The bike ride prompted me to do a bit of research. For some crazy reasons that I cannot explain I now feel especially well disposed to the Exeter Canal. It feels a bit like an old relative that I knew little about, but now that I do, am proud to have in my family. An illogical affection!

So what have I recently found out about it? Well - surprisingly in is one of the oldest artificial waterways in the whole of the UK and built long before the canal building "mania" of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In fact the Exeter Canal was started at the beginning of 1564 and finished at the beginning of 1567. It runs for about 5 miles from the Canal Basin in the heart of Exeter to Turf where it joins the wide Exe Estuary. Why was the canal built? Simple answer - the port of Exeter was served by the River Exe. This was a very important link and relied on the tide - which reaches up as far as Exeter. Unfortunately the Countess of Devon decided to build a wear downstream of Exeter across the Exe. She did this to power her mills. The port of Exeter was cut off. The family also got much much richer because they created a port to serve Exeter at one of my favourite places - Topsham. Eventually Parliament gave permission for the Canal to be built and to run parallel to the river, to once again make Exeter a port. The canal was successful and served Exeter well. I remember the Esso petrol tanker coming in and the large sludge ship Countess Wear only stopped in the mid 1990's.

Now the canal is used for leisure only - boating, fishing or walking or cycling on the tow path. Our initial intention yesterday was to cycle the length of the canal on the tow path.

However a cycle route has been established - Sutrans. It means much of the tow path is signed for walkers only. The cycle route runs closely parallel but often below the canal bank, which can be a touch frustrating. The views and countryside remain lovely however and it is a flat easy ride. The Sutrans route carries on to Dawlish which is what we did. On route along the west side of the Exe estuary you pass the unspoilt grounds of the Earl of Devon estate - Powderham - complete with deer and castle, scenic Cockwood, Starcross ( the pier used to be our favourite hotspot for plaice and flounder fishing - and Starcross is famous for Brunel's Atmospheric Railway ) and Dawlish Warren. There are great views across the expansive estuary to Lympstone, Woodbury Common rising above and Exmouth on the east mouth where the Exe joins the sea. Dawlish Warren is a smallish holiday resort - very commercial now at the land end it seems - but we remember it as kids when we had fantastic beach times on the sand spits golden beach. Our parents used to take us cockling on the back of the Warren which was made up of alluvial mud. Happy days.

Dawlish itself is a proper little holiday town. We had a pint at lunchtime and a leisurely ride back. It became a much changed scene as the tide up and the light gradually fading. Quiet and lovely. Inevitably we finished with a beer at the excellent Double Locks pub to reminisce some more.

It was a great day out. Not a sunny day - overcast in fact - but still and not cold. The ride brought back many happy childhood and adolescent memories indeed. Thank you Exeter Canal and the Exe Estuary and all the places on route for the pleasure you gave us a youngsters and can continue to give now we know you even better.