Swincombe Bridge (Swincombe Fairy Bridge/Swincombe Ford Bridge), Hexworthy, Dartmoor National Park
The River Swincombe rises on the edge of Dartmoor's south plateau. It flows into Foxtor Mires where it meets Strane River at Headweir Ford. From there, it picks up speed and tumbles through a very pretty valley to a reservoir. Downstream of the reservoir, by the ruined buildings at Swincombe, is the Swincombe Bridge (Swincombe Fairy Bridge/Swincombe Ford Bridge).
Whilst you can cross the River Swincombe near its headwater, Swincombe Bridge (Swincombe Fairy Bridge/Swincombe Ford Bridge) is the only real *safe* crossing point on the river before Sherberton. It's also on the ancient Tavistock to Ashburton Packhorse Track.
The bridge is new and replaced the old bridge that was battered by the winter 2014 storms. There's a ford and stepping stones by the bridge. There was once a model fairy at the bridge, hence the name. We were unable to photograph this.
We've positioned Swincombe Bridge (Swincombe Fairy Bridge/Swincombe Ford Bridge) on Google maps so zoom in on the 'Satellite' setting to see its location.
The easiest way to visit is via Hexworthy. There's parking off the road that runs between Hexworthy and Sherberton. A path runs down to the bridge.
Note that there are other sets of stepping stones downstream of Swincombe including, arguably, the most impressive on Dartmoor at Sherberton West Dart River Stepping Stones.
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