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.