Tin workings, Monks’ Path and a few tors

3 March 2026

My start point was from one of the excellent car parks near Venford Reservoir. Having discovered last week that the road from Ashburton up to the moor was closed and I’d taken a long diversion, I searched on-line before my journey. There was nothing I could find to see that the road remained closed. However, I hadn’t searched hard enough and took a very convoluted diversion almost ending up at Widecombe-in-the-Moor. Incidentally I managed a much shorter diversion on my way home at the end of the day, but only to be recommended in a very small car as the lanes are incredibly narrow. I’ve searched harder now and it looks as though the road will remain closed until early April.

Anyway eventually I arrived safely. There was still some light rain and mist but the forecast was set fair for later in the day. I set off past some ponies hanging around near the car park and was soon high above the Dart Valley enjoying the fine scenery. South Bench Tor, Bench Tor itself and the largest and most dramatic North Bench Tor form a magnificent and airy short ridge walk with outcrops of granite along the entire length. It’s hard to be sure where one tor ends and the next begins. Fortunately even so soon after I had set out the mist was clearing – so perhaps my long diversion to arrive was fortuitous. Surprisingly, I’d never climbed to these tors in the past, despite being in the area on several occasions.

I descended on a path through temperate rain forest and crossed Venford Brook at a ford point.

Far below me in the deep Dart Valley, I spotted the massive granite outcrop of Luckey Tor on the other side of the river

There was a small ascent to follow a path next to a leat and arrive at Aller Brook Tor, the rocks and clitter sprawled across the hillside.

I followed a cross country route to reach the quiet road coming from Venford Reservoir to pass Combestone Tor. Despite not being on a marked path, I met a dog walker who remarked on the beautiful quiet of the moor.

I had been walking slowly on muddy paths and unpathed areas of moor, so once on the road my pace quickened. My intended route had been on the road to a marked path but in fact I left the road sooner though a gate and then along a path and over a stile towards the path on Down Ridge.

This was a good track leading towards abandoned tin mines. I passed Horse Ford Cross close to the track then left the track to reach Skaur Ford Cross. The crosses on this part of the moor mark the route of the Monks’ Path linking Buckfast Abbey with abbeys at Tavistock and Buckland.

I returned to the track next to a ruined building in close proximity to old tin workings – so presumably a structure related to the tin mining history in the area.

I reached Down Ridge Slab just off the track. The old tin workings could be seen as could many Dartmoor ponies. The promised better weather was becoming evident.

I continued to follow the track until it petered out. The Henroost is a huge gully about 100m long and probably 10 m deep and wide in places. Granite has been exposed following extraction of tin ore. It must have been a blot on the landscape during tin mining days which peaked during the late medieval period. However nowadays nature has reclaimed the scar.

I continued over predominantly pathless terrain to the two Ter Hill crosses, marking the Monks’ Path. At the second I met two walkers who had hiked across over Puper’s Hill on their mission to collect Dartmoor 365 squares. They were the only people I met until I reached Holne. This part of the moor was refreshingly quiet!

I continued on the short walk to Mount Misery Cross, also marking the Monks’ Path. The name is due to the harsh conditions encountered when working in this exposed corner, although when I passed it seemed a pleasant although muddy spot.

I walked along the line of a field wall and then further uphill to reach Rabbit Tor close to Swincombe Stream. The name probably originates from a nearby rabbit warren.

There followed a very tussocky walk without a path, passing near the Avon Head and Ryder’s Hill to reach Sandy Way Track. To start with the track wasn’t distinct but it improved as I walked further east. There were many Dartmoor ponies and as I walked there were views towards Venford Reservoir and towards distant Ashburton.

I had hoped to bag the intriguingly named Gibby Combe Tor. However, too late I realised that I should have stayed on the open moor and I had started down the path towards Mitchelcombe Farm. I entered a field through a gate and managed to go over a stile and another gate into Gibby Combe Wood but I was on the wrong side of the steep valley. I will have to visit again. I followed a path to exit at Mitchelcombe Farm, discovering as I went through the gate that the area wasn’t for public access. I remembered camping at the farm in March 2020 with a group of D of E Award candidates. It was a weekend of torrential rain and the most muddy campsite I had ever visited… until the one on the next night. Little did we appreciate that just over a week later we would be locked down in an attempt to limit the spread of Covid and we wouldn’t be allowed to camp again for a long time.

All that remained was for me to climb up Great Combe on a path and cross a corner of Holne Moor to return to my parked car. The weather was so much more clear and sunny than when I had arrived in the morning. Two artists had even set up their easels close to the car park and were painting the idyllic scene.