25 October 2022
After my visit to Lydford Gorge last week, I decided it was time to try to bag a few tors again. When I backpacked across the moor earlier this year (before the broken ankle), I had thought about taking a more westerly route to tick off a few tors near Peter Tavy. In the end I spent longer than expected searching for some engraved stones further south so I took a short cut with a route through Princetown and east of Great Mis Tor. However this meant that there was a group of “unbagged” tors I could walk around on a route of 10-12 miles without too much difficult terrain.
I drove on to the moor from Ashburton. There was a stunning rainbow as I reached the open moor near Sharp Tor (Teign). The end of the rainbow was really bright and tantalizingly close but of course kept moving away from me before I could reach it. I pressed on, keen to start my walk rather than to try taking photos of rainbows. The pictures always seem a bit disappointing compared with reality anyway.
Fortunately everybody was driving sensibly well within the 40mph limit and so the ponies, cows and sheep on various bits of the road over the moor were safe. There seemed to be an awful lot of animals on the road. Clearly the animals have priority and driving into an animal isn’t good for the car or the animal not to mention the expense and distress for the animal’s owner so cautious speeds and scanning the road ahead carefully are essential.
I parked in the big car park on the left side of the road about a mile after passing through Merrivale. This seemed much easier than trying to navigate the narrow lanes around Peter Tavy in my car. A track opposite the car park skirts Cox Tor, which wasn’t on my list today. After this it was a short walk up a narrow lane to take a left turn on to a bridleway and reach Sharp Tor (Peter Tavy).
After leaving the tor and regaining the bridleway (part of the Dartmoor Way) I met the first walkers of the day. They were clearly “doing” the Dartmoor Way and asked whether the tor was Cox Tor! Conversation was truncated by a rain shower but I deferred donning waterproofs and indeed the rain stopped as quickly as it had started.
I was soon at Great Combe Tor, where there were numerous ponies, many with small foals.
Somehow I “lost” the path while I was exploring Great Combe Tor. Eventually I found it again. Almost immediately it started raining once more. This time the sky looked dark and cloudy everywhere so I succumbed to pulling on my waterproofs. I crossed a very turbulent Colly Brook on a footbridge and deviated upstream to Little Combe Tor.
I turned back and followed Colly Brook downstream to Peter Tavy. I noticed that the Pit Stop was open at the Community Hall and would have stopped for some refreshment, but it seemed too early in the day. I’d never been to Peter Tavy previously. The church has a really tall tower dominating the village. However I was keen to press on along the Dartmoor Way, to reach Longtimber Tor just off the path on the banks of the River Tavy. This was a lovely spot with many mature oak trees; acorns and leaves carpeting the ground. I had already bagged four tors and it wasn’t even lunchtime!
I returned to the Dartmoor Way following the River Tavy upstream. Amazingly I saw about eight people in three different groups within a minute or two all walking the opposite way on this short stretch of path. As it happened, these were the last people I saw until I returned to my car a few hours later. I left the Dartmoor Way where the path crosses the Tavy and continued a few yards further upstream. I saw a large metal structure at the site of some old mine workings. The path left the river bank to go through a couple of fields and reach the road. I headed back towards Peter Tavy then took a smaller road towards Smeardon Down.
Rocky outcrops appeared high up to my left. I turned off the road on a good track to reach Furze Tor. This isn’t on the LDWA list but is on the Tors of Dartmoor database: https://www.torsofdartmoor.co.uk/tor-page.php?tor=furze-tor The website says it is small, ragged and disappointing but I rather liked its position and sat on a convenient stone in its shelter to eat lunch. I could see the Merrivale Range flags flying in the distance on Great Mis Tor.
There wasn’t much ascent to climb up to Boulters Tor which consists of two outcrops with a wall built over them. This is on the LDWA list. I also bagged two more tors in quick succession but not on the LDWA list – Little Boulters Tor just down from the hill summit and the scattered array of Smeardon Down Tors. At Smeardon Down Tors, I could see a distinct conical hill in the distance with what appeared to be a building on the summit. This turns out to be Brent Tor topped by a church. It looks impressive and I’ll certainly try to go there sometime even though it’s a long way from Exeter.
I headed back past Boulters Tor to Setters Tor. This is on the LDWA list. The range flags were even nearer.
I strolled down to Stephen’s Grave a few hundred metres away. The legend is recounted in the national Park Authority website: https://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/learning/dartmoor-legends/the-legend-of-stephens-grave
“Stephen’s Grave is marked by a stone and lies at the limits of the Peter Tavy Parish. George Stephens was a youth of Peter Tavy who took his own life because of the unfaithfulness of the girl to whom he was betrothed. He was buried in the usual barbarous manner for a suicide. But the legend has it that, at the moment he was being laid to rest, some linen that was hanging out to bleach at Higher Godsworthy was caught up in the air in a freak gust of wind and was never seen again.”
I headed upwards across open moorland to Little White Tor. By the time I arrived there, it was pouring with rain and I seemed to be a bit near to the range flags for comfort (especially as I heard gunshot) so I retreated back down the hill.
My final objective was Wedlake Tor. It’s not on the LDWA list so when I saw some active looking cattle surrounding it, I decided to view it in the distance. I descended to a very watery gateway where the stream, which appeared to be a minor tributary of the Colly Brook, had burst its banks. However my gaiters together with waterproof over trousers were sufficient to keep the water out of my boots as I paddled across. It was just a short walk on a good path across the moor to rejoin my outward route on the small lane and cutting a corner on a footpath to the B3357 where my car was parked on the other side of the road.
I was delighted to have walked almost twelve miles, bagging a further seven tors on the LDWA list as well as three not on the list plus Wedlake Tor where I had made a tactical retreat. No one can outrun lively cattle and certainly I wouldn’t even be able to try at the moment.
Talking of cattle, I drove home past Warren House and through Moretonhampstead for a change. It was very misty over the high moor. Just as in the morning, it was fortunate that everybody was driving carefully as there were animals on the road. The most fascinating were the highland cattle – one of the cows had decided that the middle of the road was a good place to suckle her calf! If I had been carrying a passenger in the car there would have been a photo…
Where's Kathryn? 