Sharpitor and Great Staple Tor

Tuesday 1st September 2020

After a lovely, cold night in the valley of the young River Plum I woke to another gorgeous day in Dartmoor. On my previous visits to Dartmoor, particularly the first in 2007, the weather was poor, but now I was being blessed with fabulous weather and I felt so fortunate. After breakfast I put my tent away and retraced my steps past Gutter Tor back to the car park near Sheepstor where I made a course across Yellowmead Down towards the hill that lends its name to the village. Faint paths through the moorland took me past stone circles and up to the top of Sheeps Tor where the views were extensive but dominating the view was Burrator Reservoir at the foot of the hill and was where I now headed descending the rocky, bracken-covered western slopes. Turning right along a bridle path I passed around the foot of Sheeps Tor skirting the edge of a plantation until I reached the road that goes around the reservoir.

After a short walk around the road to the northern side of Burrator Reservoir I set off up a delightful path that climbs through the wood to Devonport Leat, an artificial water channel that diverts water from the heart of Dartmoor into the reservoir. Although there is no path marked on my map on the ground I found a path that continues the climb up the hill, but soon became lost amongst bracken and boulders leaving me on my own to work out a route slowly scrambling up to the top of the hill. With great satisfaction I finally reached the top where there is a tall ridge of rocks, Leather Tor, that demanded to be climbed. Although requiring a bit of scrambling I reached the top of what had looked like a sharp peak from the south only to find that it is a ridge, and I couldn’t be more excited. I was reminded of mountain tops in the Highlands as I slowly made my way along this rocky ridge negotiating the undulations until triumphantly I reached the end of the ridge where a relatively easy, though steep, descent brought me back down to the bottom. In a year when I have been unable to go to Scotland this ridge was a little compensation. The actual summit of the hill is a short distance away up a grassy slope to the top of Sharpitor whose rocks were ridiculously easy to summit in comparison.

Coming back down the other side I crossed a road and climbed the hill opposite but ignored the two meagre sets of rocks at the top of Leeden Tor before descending once again. Ahead of me were some stunning views of my onward route, but the skies over Dartmoor were becoming overcast and I was now becoming rather weary as the strenuous walking of the last three days was beginning to take its toll on me, including blisters. On reaching the course of a disused railway I turned along it to contour around the disused Sharpitor Quarries and King’s Tor not having the energy or will to climb to the top. Stopping for lunch while looking out at the sunny, western views revived me a little, but I stayed on the old railway until I was the other side of King’s Tor where I descended to cross a stream and over a hill covered in the remains of ancient settlements. Descending from there brought me to a road and the small settlement of Merrivale where I crossed the bridge and passed the Merrivale Dartmoor Inn and then tried to find the path up the hill.

This was not easy to find and I suspected the faint path I climbed after the last house was not the correct one as it was nothing like the route marked on my map, however I now realise my map is out of date and quarrying has forced a redirection of the old path, which I came across half way up the hill where I could now continue up the much clearer path. Dark clouds were now covering the centre of Dartmoor, but on the western edge of the National Park I was enjoying lovely sunshine, which was the complete opposite to the situation I had the day before. The sun felt very hot and draining as I slowly climbed to the top and made me think I wouldn’t have the energy to visit the various tors in the area, however once the gradient eased, although I ignored Middle Staple Tor, I made my way to Great Staple Tor, climbing to the top. On the other side, a short distance away, was another rocky-topped hill and now I felt I couldn't ignore it as I made my way to the top of Roos Tor where a red flag was flying to designate that the nearby Merrivale Range was in active use.

Similar flags were flying at the top of the nearby hills of White Tor and Great Mis Tor that I had visited the day before. Then I had been able to enter the firing range because it wasn't active, but now it was so I turned around and headed back down skirting the northern slopes of Great Staple Tor to cross over to Cox Tor and my last hill on my holiday in Dartmoor. The weather, on this western edge of the park, was still sunny as I looked out at the extensive views west before dropping down the grassy slopes to cross the valley and return to the small car park where I had left my car the morning of the previous day. Although it was only mid-afternoon I had a long drive ahead of me so appreciated the early end. This was a good walk in good weather over some of the tors on the western edge of Dartmoor, but was marred by blisters and fatigue. I have not been able to do as much walking this year as I would normally do so these four days in Dartmoor were greatly appreciated, but they were very tiring. It had been a long time since I'd last been to Dartmoor so hopefully I won't leave it so long next time.

Great Mis Tor and the Jobber's Road

Monday 31st August 2020

At the end of my walk on the day before this I drove from the village of Belstone to a car park near the Dartmoor Inn and from there set off into the hills camping beside the young River Lyd. I had found a delightful valley in blissful surroundings full of gorse and heather and the following morning, after a cold night, the ground was saturated with dew, which was definitely not from rain as there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. After eating my breakfast I tried to shake off as much of the water from my tent as possible before packing it away and returning to the car park drove down the A386 road to a small car park near the tiny village of Peter Tavy. A track took me onto the moor, but I couldn’t resist soon branching off to reach the rocks of Boulters Tor before resuming my trek along the track onto the moor eventually veering north toward White Tor passing the remains of ancient settlements. Looking at the view west I thought this must have been an amazing place to live while I made my way up the rocky terrain to reach the army flag pole that sits at the top. The edge of Merrivale Range is a short distance away from the top of White Tor and a red flag flies from the top when the range is active, but not on this day so I kept going east to enter the firing range.

Soon I turned off the track at a standing stone to take a faint path through the grass across Petertavy Great Common until I reached a stream that is marked on my Ordnance Survey map as Dead Lake, where I turned south into the valley of the young River Walkham. This would make a wonderful spot for a wild camp, but it was the wrong time of day, so I crossed the river and climbed the steep slopes of Greena Ball contouring around to leave Merrivale Range and reach the top of Great Mis Tor. The top of this hill is littered with rocks and tors creating a fabulous landscape and in the good weather the views to the west were superb especially across the Tamar Estuary with the sea in the distance. As I sat near the summit looking out at the view while having my lunch I tried to decide what to do next. My walks on this holiday had not been planned in advance so I was making them up as I went and since I wanted to do another wild camp the last thing I wanted to do was head back towards my car, so I turned south. After a diversion to visit Little Mis Tor I joined a sometimes wet footpath that follows a fence to the B357 road at Rundlestone.

After my hike across the wild moor during the morning this was quite a rude intrusion of civilisation, but worse was to come as I climbed the hill past the scattered rocks of Rundlestone Tor and up to the top of North Hessary Tor where there is a transmission station with a 196 metre high mast. A trig point sits at the top of the tor, but I was unable to visit it because it was occupied by a family of small children so I continued along the path down the hill towards the village of Princetown, though its famous prison was not in sight. The village was packed with bank holiday visitors so I carefully made my way around them until I could take a heavily constructed footpath that seems to have suffered erosion from heavy rain, so perhaps it hasn’t been very well maintained, or simply wasn’t designed to cope with the enormous amounts of rain that we have had in the last twelve months. The good track is known as Jobber’s Road and is part of the Abbott’s Way that links abbeys on either side of Dartmoor. It continues for a considerable distance and provided me with easy walking across the moor past South Hessary Tor. Sadly the path was the most interesting feature in the landscape as all was bleak grassy moor with nothing to see.

Dark clouds began to cover the sky to match the bleakness of the terrain as I continued heading south passing Siward’s (or Nun’s) Cross to climb around Eylesbarrow on a deteriorating surface. As I gradually started descending I passed the remains of Eylesbarrow Tin Mine and with the terrain and path improving so did the weather until I reached a car park at the end of a road near Sheepstor. I still wasn’t sure where I was going but the excellence of the path had prompted me to keep following it as far as it went and this car park was where it had brought me. Near the car park is Gutter Tor so I climbed the steep bracken-covered slopes past the outcrops of Gutter Tor to the trig point at the highest point on the hill. Returning to the rocks of Gutter Tor I looked at my map to decide where to go next, but since it was now four o’clock I really needed to decide where I was going to camp. There are not any paths much further south to warrant continuing, though there is a good track that goes from the car park into the valley of the young River Plym so I descended the hill and took this track into the valley.

Turning east I headed up the Plym valley until I found a delightful spot beside a stream that comes out of Drizzle Combe and there I stopped to make camp. This was an interesting walk with lots of varied walking from the open moor around the River Walkham to Great Mis Tor before following an easy footpath from Princetown to Sheepstor. The weather was fantastic, except early afternoon when it clouded over, but I’ve never had such good weather in Dartmoor so I really appreciated the chance to experience the delights of a part of Dartmoor that I’d never visited before and in fabulous weather.

Cut Hill and Great links Tor

Sunday 30th August 2020

At the start of this day I got out of my tent to gorgeous blue skies and cold northerly winds. I had camped near the top of the East Dart River, right in the middle of nowhere and with no sign of civilisation anywhere. After having my breakfast I crossed the river and battled through long tussocky grass as I slowly climbed the slopes of Black Hill veering south to the col with Cut Hill with the aim of reaching the top. Cut Hill is the joint third highest hill in Dartmoor after Yes Tor and High Willhays and is the same height as Hangingstone Hill, all of which I had visited the day before. After a boggy traverse I found a neat pile of stones at the summit with an animal skull perched on top. There are no outcrops on Cut Hill, but a short distance west is Fur Tor, which is littered with rocks, so as if they were drawing me on I headed in that direction passing a line of red and white posts that mark the boundary between Merrivale Range and Okehampton Range. Fortunately the firing ranges were not active at this time so I was safely able to cross the hillside and reach these impressive rocks. I had seen them the day before as I descended into the valley and was keen to make a closer acquaintance.

The rocks at the top of Fur Tor are immense and it was really difficult to find a way up to the highest point, but despite this I circled around until I found a spot where I thought I could make an ascent and finally succeeded. Feeling pleased with myself I looked around at the tremendous views in the sunny weather and decided my next target would be the rather distant Hare Tor, which was the other side of the River Tavy. First, I needed to negotiate the complex array of rocks that defends Fur Tor before crossing boggy ground as I slowly descended into the valley to the meeting point of Amicombe Brook and Fur Tor Brook where the map indicates is Sandy Ford. However, I could not see an easy crossing of the river so it was only with difficult that I eventually managed to get across and followed the north shore passing through a mix of good, firm ground and more boggy ground to veer into the side valley of Rattle Brook.

Crossing the stream I found a trace of a path and some heather that was flowering delightfully, but it is a shame the plant is not more widespread across Dartmoor. Slowly I climbed up the hill to reach Hare Tor where I could see extensive views across the countryside to the west of Dartmoor and Sharp Tor followed soon after passing around some cattle and visiting an ancient cairn on the way. After having my lunch I ignored the large collection of rocks on Great Links Tor and instead followed almost non-existent paths over Rattlebrook Hill passing Chat Tor and across boggy ground to Higher and Lower Dunna Goat, which are also rock outcrops. Not far from there is Green Tor and the ruins of Bleak House, which must have been an amazing place with an awesome setting amongst the hills and tors. Turning my back on it I finally made my way across to Great Links Tor, which is the next highest hill in Dartmoor after Cut Hill and to celebrate I climbed to the top as I had done on all the previous hills on this walk, however once I had got to the top I saw there was another large rock tor across a gap and this was inaccessible. On the far side of that, perched on a low shelf, is a trig point, and if that is good enough for the Ordnance Survey it is good enough for me.

I visited this hill in 2007 in considerably worse weather, but despite a few clouds at lunch the good weather had continued so I made my way down to Little Links Tor, which I found to be easily accessible and soon climbed to the top. Turning around I crossed the slopes of Great Links Tor to reach a clear track that I had used in ascent in 2007 to take me gradually back down the hill. I assume this clear track was originally a tramway to serve the mine at the top of Rattle Brook and provided me with an easy descent before branching off to reach the trig point at the top of Sourton Tors. Returning to the track I started trying to find my way back to the village of Belstone where I had left my car, though this would require several hours of walking across the northern slopes of the Dartmoor upland, but initially I had to descend into the valley of the West Okement River. When I reached the bottom of the deep valley I found a delightful place with wooded surroundings such as are not found in the vast, open Dartmoor so was more appreciated than would usually be.

Unfortunately I then needed to climb steeply back out of the valley, though with good views across Meldon Reservoir below, and soon I had no path to follow as I passed over Homerton Hill and up Longstone Hill. With military tracks now appearing I was able to follow these over Black Down, which greatly eased my walking as I passed below Yes Tor and the other peaks I had climbed the day before until eventually I returned to Belstone. This was a great, epic walk around the hills in the north-west corner of Dartmoor and was really satisfying as I took in many of the rocky tors in the area. On my previous visits I hadn’t enjoyed good weather, particularly in 2007, but now I was benefiting from some awesome weather and the walk was consequently blessed.

Yes Tor and Hangingstone Hill

Saturday 29th August 2020

I plan my walks a long way in advance so in March this year I already had plans to go to the Cairngorms at the end of May and to spend two weeks in the Lake District at the end of August while all my accommodation and trains were booked for a week at Easter in Scotland walking from the Trossachs through Glasgow to the Falls of Clyde. However, these plans all fell apart as a result of the global pandemic that forced me to stay at home and once I was able to go for walks I was unable to go any further than day walks in the Peak District. Youth Hostels have opened only for private rooms which makes it prohibitively expensive for someone on their own. Eventually I realised my only realistic option was to camp and that was when the idea of going to Dartmoor came to my mind. Although wild camping is legal without permission throughout Scotland the only place in England where this is possible is in Dartmoor, but I had never taken advantage of this before and I had not even been to Dartmoor since 2008. After a frustrating delay, partly thanks to poor weather, I eventually left the East Midlands for the first time this year and drove to the West Country stopping in the village of Belstone near the northern edge of Dartmoor where I, luckily, managed to find a space in the packed car park.

The bank holiday weekend and good weather had drawn many people to the area, although a brisk, cold wind made the day’s walking more bracing than it could have been. Setting off through the village and up Watchett Hill I stayed on the track for some relatively easy walking rather heading through rocky ground towards Belstone Tor. Initially, I was walking through pleasant scenery beside heather and gorse, both in flower, but after crossing the East Oakmount River the terrain deteriorated into dreary grass, typical of Dartmoor, as I followed the maze of tracks eventually coming off to reach the top of Rowtor and, after that, West Mill Tor, which I had, hopefully, thought was Yes Tor, but once I was there it was obvious that Yes Tor was the next hill so I continued my slog along the northern edge of Dartmoor until, finally, I reached the prominent peak of Yes Tor. The views north throughout this traverse had been stunning thanks to the good weather which had also brought many other people out, including those who had driven their cars as far as they could go up onto the moor, which doesn’t seem right to me, though there was limited parking lower down and I had been lucky to have found a parking space in Belstone.

The top of Yes Tor was very windy, but it had been even worse when I first climbed Yes Tor in 2007, though the weather was better the following year when I climbed Yes Tor at the start of a traverse of Dartmoor. I have always climbed Yes Tor when in Dartmoor, partly because it is so prominent, but mainly because it is right next to the highest point, High Willhays, and used to be considered the highest point itself. High Willhays is a short walk across a wide ridge and the highest point is at the southern end of the ridge so I made my way along the ridge passing the fine cairn that marks the summit. There are no tracks south of High Willhays, but I could see a faint path through the grass heading towards the small Dinger Tor where I found a track that heads back north. As the weather deteriorated with overcast skies I followed this track until I reached a junction where I turned right as I resolutely followed these tracks rather than heading straight across the tussocky grass as I had done in 2008. Much of the northern part of Dartmoor is a live firing range and these tracks owe their existence to the army, who were not using the range in August so I was easily able to make my way to Okement Hill.

Continuing along the track I crossed the young River Taw and up to the top of Hangingstone Hill where the track finally reduced to a path. As I neared the top I realised I had been repeating my route of 2008 without deliberately doing so, probably because I didn’t really have a destination in mind and was just blindly heading south. The map indicates a path on Hangingstone Hill goes around the boggy top so I followed this rather than heading straight across as I had done in 2008 and this was better ending with a climb up a peat pass to a memorial stone on the southern top. I was so pleased at spotting this I tried to locate another one, marked on the map, further south on Whitehorse Hill, but despite repeated searching I was unable to find it. All I had achieved was losing the path and leaving me in the middle of a tussocky, boggy plain with no idea where I was going. As it was now late in the afternoon I drifted into the valley of the young East Dart River where I found a place to camp not far from the remains of the first tinner’s hut in the valley. With the weather clearing once more I had a lovely evening on my own, miles from anyone else surrounded by the vast open moor beside the stream.

The appeal of Dartmoor is the rocky tors that sit upon the peaks and the best walking involves exploring these tors if you can avoid the bogs. The main problem with this walk was that I had nothing really planned before I started, except a starting point, so I had wandered aimlessly around and went up Yes Tor simply because that is where I always go. However, it was enough for me to finally be able to get away and go on holiday with the actual walk being less important than the satisfaction of being out there.

The Eastern Edges of the Peak District

Monday 24th August 2020

For my holiday at the end of August I had planned to head off to the West Country, but events intervened and I had to stay at home, but at the beginning of the week the weather was so good I couldn’t stay indoors and drove up to the Peak District parking at the Curbar Gap car park. I have used this car park several times in the past including on my first walking holiday back in 1998 and on this occasion set off onto Big Moor walking along a path beside the rather shallow White Edge. I walked along White Edge in 1998 and again in 2004 on a walk that I have never written up and I don’t have any pictures so all I’ve got is my vague memory, though I seem to recall I had a young lady with me, but those days are long gone! The weather on this walk was fantastic, however there was a stiff, cold breeze at first that had prompted me to put on my cagoule, but it wasn’t long before this came off. It was lovely walking in the sunny weather beside the rocky edge with a gently descending terrain to my left and the purple flowers of the heather moor to my right.

Passing the 365 metre trig point I continued along White Edge until I reached a road junction where I crossed over and entered the National Trust’s Longshaw Estate under a continuation of the rocky edge following a wide track towards Longshaw Lodge. These edges run along the whole eastern side of the Peak District with the River Derwent to the west and open moorland eastwards, and I was following them north on a walk similar to the one I took in 2004. From my vantage point on this track I had great views down the Derwent Valley with the two peaks of Win Hill and Lose Hill clearly to be seen and Kinder Scout behind them in the distance as I remembered the walks that I had done just a couple of weeks earlier. Where the track enters a wood I veered off around the visitor centre to avoid the crowds and walk along the edge of the wood before finally entering to take a course not far from a main road. Eventually crossing the road I took a path that climbs onto another rocky edge heading towards Burbage Rocks on a great path that was fun to ascend as any rocky path is and always immensely enjoyable.

With great views across the valley of Burbage Brook and towards the rocks on Carl Wark I made my way around a sharp turn in the path and across a depression to climb up to Burbage Rocks with the vast Burbage Moor to my right. Finally I reached the road at Upper Burbage Bridge where my friend and I had started our walk in 2004 having driven over from Sheffield. Instead of turning south to copy that walk my eye had been attracted to the rocks at the southern end of Stanage Edge, which I thought would make a good place to have lunch, so I headed across the moor up to the rocks and stopped near the trig point on the unnamed 457 metre top. The highest point on Stanage Edge, High Neb, is almost as high at 458 metres, so perhaps you could call this South Neb or Low Neb? I had my lunch there gazing out over the stunning scenery before setting off across the moor, over a couple of roads before climbing to the top of Higger Tor where the crowds were immense. There had been loads of people all day brought out by the good weather, but now they seemed to have grown to overwhelming numbers that detracted from the enjoyment of the walk.

Doing my best to avoid everyone and keep a distance I came down off Higger Tor and made my way across to Carl Wark and then to Toad’s Mouth, whatever that is, and down to Burbage Brook. Walking along the path beside the stream was really tricky as it was packed with people, mostly families enjoying the weather. As the terrain steepened the stream drops through the stunning Padley Gorge and the woodland scenery became quite spectacular. Some of my colleagues from work had found a website that listed the ten best walks in the Peak District and Padley Gorge was number one even though I had never heard of it let alone walked through it before. Unfortunately there were too many people around for me to appreciate the surroundings and the path doesn’t afford any good views up the darkly wooded gorge. Eventually I crossed the Burbage Brook and climbed up into Yanncliff Wood heading south through Hay Wood on a path that couldn’t compete with the open vistas of the eastern edges, but at least I was now away from the crowds. After crossing a main road I took a path that climbs up towards Froggatt Edge and now my fun could start again.

There is stunning walking along this edge that I have visited many times in the past including that first walking holiday in 1998 and I enjoy it every time keeping to the rocks along Curbar Edge as I slowly made my way south taking many pictures as I went until eventually I reached the car park at Curbar Gap. This was a fabulous walk with stunning weather and was really enjoyable especially when climbing on a rocky path. It was disappointing that I was unable to do the originally planned holiday, but I hoped that I would eventually be able to get away and until then this was great compensation as I enjoyed some great weather and some of the best walking that the Peak District has to offer.