AROUND 50 local people gathered at the playing field to walk the boundary of Sticklepath parish recently.

The event on Saturday, September 25 was the fourth time the boundary had been beaten since Sticklepath parish was created in the late 1980s.

The true boundary follows routes which aren’t designed for walking on —?? such as the centre of the river Taw, the central reservation of the A30 and the centre of the main road from Whitehouse Services to Sticklepath. Therefore, a slightly alternative route was followed which stuck as close to the boundary as possible.

Community-spirited landowners gave permission for the walk to cross their land which added an element of adventure to the event — fences were climbed, streams crossed, banks scaled, emus encountered and, as is traditional for Sticklepath, ’flying hedgehogs’ were spotted in their protected habitat.

The walk finished at the playing field where volunteers provided walkers with burgers, a bar and hot drinks. The younger members of the walk had enough energy to take part in a welly-wanging contest while the adults enjoyed recounting tales from the walk.

Mike and Libby Watson kindly lent their album containing photos from the first Sticklepath Beating the Bounds walk in the year 2000 - which brought back memories for several people who had also attended that walk.

Sticklepath Parish Council would like to thank those landowners who granted permission for the walk to cross their land and to the volunteers who helped run the event. The next Sticklepath Beating the Bounds is scheduled to take place in 2028.