1 December 2020
The weather forecast wasn’t great but actually it barely rained and was even sunny for a substantial part of the day. My husband had deemed his leg injury (exacerbated by the walk on 23 November) resolved so this was a route primarily on paths with relatively easy terrain.
Our car was the only one in the Newbridge car park and we headed up the narrow lane, taking a shortcut up the steep moor to reach the prominent Dr Blackall’s Drive. I headed off on a short diversion to Aish Tor – actually the cairn on top is more impressive than the rocky outcrops. It is an “emergent” tor according to the on-line database – Tors of Dartmoor – a database of both lesser and well known rocks and outcrops My husband called me away from looking for further stony outcrops as he was becoming wet in the worse rain of the day (well actually little more than drizzle).
I did have Hockinston Tor on my list but saw that it would take some careful scrambling and pushing through undergrowth on a steep hillside, so I agreed to leave that for another day.
Mel Tor near the end of Dr Blackall’s Drive was the next and obvious objective; my husband accompanied me to the summit. From there I pointed out Bel Tor – an obvious one and nearby but unfortunately “out of bounds” on private land.
We descended to a narrow road and branched off left on a small deviation to Sharp Tor. It was a steep climb but up a grassy path; even my husband agreed that this was a tor that was pleasing to the eye and accessible. Once at the top we were rewarded by seeing two ends of a rainbow, although not the central part of the arc. We were fortunate that we missed the rain, normally the downside of seeing a rainbow.
Back to the road and then we continued on a path that passed the grounds of an uninhabited cottage and down its overgrown track to another road junction. There were good views on to Corndon Down to the west. We took one of the small roads towards Ponsworthy, crossing a small ford and then walking to Leusdon past the small church, where we paused to look at the noticeboard in the porch. Across the valley, we could also see the tower of Buckland in the Moor church. We turned off the road on to a track and through a gate on to some Devon Wildlife Trust land. Here there were two outcrops to visit – Blackadon Tor and Logwell Rock. A helpful local dog walker told us the best way to get to the top of Blackadon Tor, although she explained that the gorse together with an oak tree obstruct much of the view which was visible in the past. However we spotted the characteristic tall tower of Widecombe in the Moor church. In this delightful and peaceful spot, in the lee of the tor, we stopped for lunch, sitting on some convenient moss covered (but remarkably dry) rocks.
We proceeded along some quiet lanes and well marked paths through a pleasant part of rural Dartmoor, passing the extensive grounds of Spitchwick Manor and its Lower Lodge. This coincided with a brief rain shower seconds after my husband had decided to stop to take off his waterproof jacket, so he ended up keeping it on. Meanwhile, I hadn’t even put on my waterproofs all day, although I was helped by my windproof top having some water resistance too.
I turned off to ascend the hill to Leigh Tor – an extensive and impressive line of rocks. Some climbers (real rock climbers with helmets and ropes) were ascending one of the largest and steepest outcrops. I went back down again on a different path where I just had to cross the road to take a picturesque grassy path along the bank of the River Dart. I detoured slightly to look at the Pound – not as impressive as Grimspound of course but I could make out stones forming part of the curve of a circle (given I knew it was there). My husband had omitted the ascent to Leigh Tor and was waiting for me and looking at the River.
This was a pleasant easy walk visiting what are probably some less frequented parts of the moor. It included open moorland as well as paths and quiet lanes through the remote farming community. I had also bagged a further six tors!
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