Skaigh Woods Tarka Bridge, Sticklepath, Dartmoor National Park
Below the hamlet Skaigh, in the middle of the valley cut by the River Taw between Belstone and Sticklepath, is Skaigh Woods Tarka Bridge. The bridge is named after Henry Williamson's 'Tarka the Otter' and is on the Tarka Trail.
It's called Tarka Bridge because a short excerpt taken from Williamson's novel has been carved into the bridge's railings.
South handrail
'By pools and waterfalls and rillets the river Taw grew, flowing under steep hills that towered high above. The river hurried round the base of the cleave on whose slopes stunted trees grew,'
North handrail
'amid rocks and scree that in falling had smashed the trunks and torn out the roots of willow, thorns, and hollies. It wanders away from the moor, a proper river, with bridges, brooks, islands and mills. Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson.'
We've positioned Skaigh Woods Tarka Bridge on Google maps so zoom in on the 'Satellite' setting to see its location. Walk the Tarka Trail on Dartmoor to see the bridge. If time's short, there's a car parking area on a track by the moorland road below Skaigh. Follow the track west and very shortly you'll see the bridge on a big bend in the River Taw to your left. It's just visible on some versions of Google's satellite imagery and is marked FB below Skaigh on the Ordnance Survey Explorer OL28 'Dartmoor' map.
Photo Gallery
