Photo: Hertzsprung, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsFollowing the rivers Yeo and Taw through mid Devon's farmland, named after Henry Williamson's otter, to Barnstaple and the Tarka Trail.
The Tarka Line leaves Exeter through Cowley Bridge Junction and runs north-west up the Yeo valley to Crediton, where the line becomes single track. Beyond Yeoford it crosses the watershed at Copplestone and drops down the Taw valley through Morchard Road, Lapford, Eggesford, King's Nympton, Portsmouth Arms, Umberleigh and Chapelton, every station a small halt in deep farmland.
The Taw widens on the final approach and the train arrives at Barnstaple, once a junction for Ilfracombe, Bideford and Torrington and now the terminus. The trackbeds of those lines form the Tarka Trail, a long-distance cycle and walking path that starts at the station.
GWR uses Class 150 and 158 units. Eggesford, with its inn and woodland walks, and Umberleigh are quiet stops; Barnstaple connects with buses to Ilfracombe, Bideford and Lynton.
The line crosses the Yeo and the Taw many times, so the river switches sides throughout.
Sides are given facing the direction of travel. Miles are approximate from the start of the journey.
From Tarka the Otter, the 1927 novel set on the Taw and Torridge rivers.
Yes; several of the small halts between Crediton and Barnstaple are request stops.
Yes; bikes can be hired near the station for the traffic-free ride to Bideford and Torrington.
Scenic lineBrunel's railway along the Exe estuary and the open sea at Dawlish and Teignmouth, the most photographed stretch of main line in Britain.
Scenic lineFour miles along the cliffs above Carbis Bay and Porthminster beach to St Ives, widely rated the most beautiful branch line in England.
Scenic lineA twisting single-track branch that reverses at Coombe Junction and follows the tidal East Looe river down a wooded valley to the fishing port of Looe.