London and I have never really got on. I find the capital loud and overcrowded, expensive and grubby. London, in return, is utterly indifferent to my very existence. So we share little common ground, it’s fair to say. But there is one corner of England’s cocky, choked capital that I am always happy to revisit.

For the dedicated car-free walker, this leg of the Two Moors Way route requires planning over spontaneity and on this occasion, a degree of dedication over reason. It being half term, I had freed myself of mid-week parental responsibilities to be able to make use of the once a week bus service from Buckfastleigh towards Widecombe in the Moor.

It was hard not to feel a little blessed as I waited for opening time at The Watermark in Ivybridge. It was the first day of October, I had a day off work during the week and had been lucky enough to choose one in the calm before the first of the season's proper named storms. With a coffee in hand, I had time to take a look at the map properly