My Dartmoor Walks: May 2017

Tuesday 30th May 2017 - White Horse Hill

A dull morning and a much longer picnic walk from Stats bridge.

Up to the edge of Fernworthy and the up and down route around the edge of the forest past the Cube Stone.

Over the clapper bridge and....

....on to Teignhead Farm for a coffee break.

Up again over the steeper bit and more difficult ground...

To the ridge and the Memorial stone to Frank Philpotts which marks a path through the peat.

Nearby is the reconstructed cairn. This was opened up in 2011 to reveal the first organic remains found on Dartmoor which were approximately 4000 years old. More here

We headed off towards Quintin's Man but...

...stopped first at a suitable spot for our picnic lunch. Spits and spots of rain and everyone was feeling cold and keen to get going again.

The flag pole at Quintin's Man

Down to the ford at Little Varracombe and up towards Sittaford Tor....

...where we diverted across to the very recently discovered stone circle. All the stones are lying down and were covered by vegetation. It is the first to have been discovered on the High Moor for over 100 years and is believed to have been built during the late Bronze Age approximately 4000-5000 years ago. The stone circle is approx. 250 south west of Sittaford Tor at grid reference SX 63055 82801. From Sittaford Tor follow the old stone wall until you come to an upright stone.

Over the stile at Sittaford

Down the other side to Grey Wethers stone circles

Back up White Ridge and over the corn ditch.

With Terry, Mike, Stella, Jon, Tyler, Brenda, Jane, Colin, Dianne and Amber

Tuesday 23rd May 2017 - Belstone

A very foggy morning at home and it was pleasing to see there was no fog at the start of the walk from Belstone Green. Up through Belstone and on...

...to Watchet Hill and we were back into the fog.

Up to Belstone Tor.

A logan stone that just had to be rocked. Over Higher Tor and Winter Tor before going down to ...

...Gulliver Steps.

We took the track up to East Bowden.

Past the buttercups on the way to Lower Halstock.

Past the bluebells on the edge of the woods - a route hardly any of us had walked before.

Down to the footbridge on the East Okement River. Up the other side of the valley and back to Belstone for a fine lunch in The Tors.

With Stella, Mike, Jon, Terry, Charlie, Tom and Jane.

Tuesday 9th May - Bluebells in Burrator Wood

The annual bluebell walk from Meavy. Down over the stepping stones past Yeo Farm and up into the woods for usual outstanding display. On through the fields past the lambs and on to Sheepstor. Into the church then up to the top of Sheeps Tor. Terry took most to the Pixies House. Then to the top of Sheeps Tor for the coffee break. Down to follow the path around the edge of the reservoir, over the dam and down again to the leat. Back to the Royal Oak for lunch. With Jane, Dianne, Darren, Sue, Keith, Terry, Charlie, Tom, David and Simon.

Through the woods.

The church at Sheepstor

On the way up to Sheeps Tor.

Tuesday 2nd May - Hadrian’s Wall Day 6 - Heddon to Newcastle

Due to a muscular injury I wasn't able to do the final section of the walk. Obviously it was disappointing not to complete the final part but I was very please to have walked 75 miles over 5 days. Charles and I caught the bus to Newcastle. Surprisingly, we saw more of the wall than we would have done had we walked.

Quite a long time since I had been to Newcastle and there are many different bridges going across the River Tyne

The view downstream from the Millennium Bridge.

This is the Millennium Bridge raised up to allow ships to go past

We met Tom for lunch on his way through and then went to the contemporary art museum in the old Baltic Flour Mill...

... where the seagulls go to sleep high above the streets below

Then it was on the metro to get to the Segedunum museum to meet Tom as he finished the walk.

The Segedunum Museum

A coffee in the museum cafe and then the final journey on the metro to the airport. Fortunately all three rucksacks arrived safely with us at Exeter.

Monday 1st May - Hadrian's Wall Day 5 - Wall to Heddon on the Wall

For virtually all of this route the route follows the B3618. This is know as The Military Road. The Vallum, or ditch, runs alongside the road and clearly the majority of the wall for this section of the walk is where the road currently is. This is the Military Road built by General Wade in 1746 to move troops quickly from Newcastle to Dumfriesshire. Much of the material from the wall was used as hardcore in the construction of the road. This was the least attractive part of the walk due to the constant noise from passing traffic. The weather conditions remained dry and cool and again perfect for walking. Unfortunately Charles had injured his knee and was not able to do this part of the walk.

The Hadrian Hotel