These are two circular walks close to the Devon border near Launceston. The walks are in the region between the River Ottery and the Tamar which was moved into the county of Devon when the Normans redrew the borders - prior to this, the parishes were in Cornwall which is reflected in their more ancient history from the Dark Ages. In the 1960s, the River Tamar was re-instated as the border between Devon and Cornwall. The River Tamar rises so close to the North Cornish coast that the strip of Cornwall which is not separated from Devon by the River Tamar is only around 3.5 miles wide.
The walk passes the far end of the Bude Canal at Druxton Wharf. The soils in the Launceston area are composed of heavy clay, on a geological formation known as the Culm Measures, that easily become waterlogged. The result of decaying vegetation is that the soils become acidic, and many plants used for crops are unable to absorb nitrogen effectively in acidic soils. In addition, the soils are low in potassium which is also essential for healthy plants. The result was sickly plants and poor yields. Fortunately, the solution to Launceston's problems was lying on a beach in Bude (which you could argue is still the case!). The sand along the North Cornish coast is composed of tiny fragments of seashell, and the creatures that live in these are able to absorb calcium from seawater to create what is essentially a thin piece of limestone around themselves. Seaweed, also washed up on the beaches, contains a significant amount of potassium and is also rich in trace elements needed by plants. Therefore the Bude canal was built to ship the lime-rich sand and potassium-rich seaweed inland for use as fertiliser.
The walk at North Petherwin is a relatively short one that starts from the church. The route passes the Holy Well which was lost for a while but rediscovered and restored in the 1990s. The walk also passes through the Barton Millenium Woods which are maturing nicely and produce some pretty Autumn colour. Along the route, there are some good conker trees, the harvest from which succeeded for a while in displacing the XBox as a form of teenage entertainment. There are also lots of Beech trees and the kernels from those substituted nicely for pine kernels to make some fresh pesto.
Both walks are available as guided walks for Apple and Android as well as the iwalknorthcornwall site. There are also a couple of other circular walks in the Launceston area available via the apps, listed on the iwalknorthcornwall website, and also collected on a pinboard on Pinterest for easy re-pinning.