Dartmoor Contd – Sunday

It seemed like we were doing things the right way round this weekend. We had started with a relatively short walk to Lydford Gorge on Friday and then done a slightly longer walk to Sourton Tor and Great Links Tor on the Saturday, now we were all set to do a long walk. For this walk we managed to get up at a slightly earlier time than Saturday and once we had had breakfast we headed down the road towards Tavistock before turning east along the B3357 towards Princetown.

We parked the car just to the east of Merrivale in a pretty little car park surrounded with low walls and trees. Leaving the car park we crossed the road and headed up the track almost directly opposite. The track leads to Little Mis Tor and from there an obvious path leads to Great Mis Tor.

Me on Great Mis Tor

From Great Mis Tor we descended west into the valley and crossed the River Walkham at the ford. There are stepping stones but even so the crossing was still a bit tricky and it was a good thing that we both had poles with us. Having crossed the stream we then started to head up hill and crossed a track and then a leat. This could be more tricky than crossing the stream as there are no obvious crossing points, no obvious stepping stones and the banks are vertical in a lot of areas.

Having made it across all those obstacles we were faced with a herd of young bulls and cows, with some calves as it turned out. We decided to give them a wide berth and skirted round them keeping fairly low down the hill side before climbing up to Roos Tor.

Me on Roos Tor. If I look a bit unsteady thats because I was. It was very windy and the rock at the top was not very wide.

From Roos Tor we followed the ridge south, via Great Staple Tor to Middle Staple Tor, before cutting back and west again to Cox Tor. The latter is surrounded by some very strange ground. Any explanation of these odd mounds would be appreciated:

From Cox Tor looking east to Great Staple Tor. Middle Staple Tor is to the right. What are those strange mounds in the foreground?

From Cox Tor we descended to the road, the car park, a horder of people and an Ice Cream van. How terribly British. Its blowing a gale, its quite chilly but we will still stop for a mint choc chip ice cream.

We ate the ice creams as we headed south east from the car park across Barn Hill to the cross and the stream. A leat flows away from the stream, fed by the Bullseye stone.

The Bullseye stone – thats the sort of water feature I want.

Then it was up to Feather Tor and across towards Heckwood Tor. We didn’t actually make it to the top of Heckwood Tor as it was occupied by a number of ewes and lambs, and we didn’t want to disturb them. From there is was south west to Pew Tor, an almost circular arrangement of rock that provided good shelter and great views.

Looking down into Pew Tor

Me on the top of Pew Tor

From Pew Tor we left the moor behind us as we descended towards Sampford Spiney and narrow country lanes and walled fields.

We crossed the River Walkham again at Ward Bridge and started up hill towards the moor again. After passing onto the moor by the gate that leads to Crepitor we climbed to the summit of Ingra Tor.

From Ingra Tor we descended north to pick up the track of the disused railway line that we followed east and around the head of the valley. We went under an old stone bridge and then started up towards Swell Tor. Apparently it is no longer officially a Tor as it has all be quarried away, apparently to build London Bridge.

Looking down into the old quarry on Swell Tor:

The top of Swell Tor is like an extinct volcano:

From Swell Tor it is an easy walk north-west to Kings Tor, which although not the highest Tor on the walk, seems to have the best views. It was possible to track our entire journey from the top of this Tor.

Me on the top of King’s Tor

The car park is the group of trees in the middle of the photo below. In the background is Great Mis Tor.

From the summit of King’s Tor it was an easy descent to a stream and then a gentle climb back to the car park.

Total distance about 11 miles. Time – 7 hours, so another QMD hopefully.

All my pictures of this walk are on Flickr. As are D’s photos of the entire weekend.