Sunday 5th November - Touchstone, Fice's Well, Leat Meet and Bridges

Bitterly cold with a strong north wind - for the first time it felt like a winters day. Not so much of a walk today, more of an amble around some places I haven't been to before.

First a stop on the main road just past Rundlestone to take the footpath out to Fice's well.

In the first field is the Touchstone - the newest menhir on Dartmoor and put in place in 1999 to mark the new millennium.

The inscription reads:

Inspiring
This stone touching
Open Moor and sky
Granite land mark
Raised to stand
For all times
As one time,
Now, then and ever
In love and beauty
Our story is a book
Always open
At the centre
Half of experiences
Half of
In-named hopes

John Powls 1999




Why was it put here and not on the open moor and in a place where, in my view, very few people will actually walk?

A bit further on and just outside the enclosed land is Fice's well.  This shows the later added protective wall with the steps to get to the actual...

...well in the middle.

I retraced my steps and drove the short distance to Two Bridges. There had been some talk at lunch on last Tuesdays walk about the number of bridges here. The Dartmoor 365 book makes reference to three bridges.

This is the first in front of the hotel which carried the old road.

The second is the newer road bridge next to it.

Third is the clapper bridge over the River Cowsic and just off the track which leads up to Beardown Farm. I have been up and down the track on numerous occasions and never once have we walked the 50 yds through the gate to this wonderful old bridge.

The fourth bridge is very close to the clapper bridge and this is the more recent bridge up to Beardown Farm

So there are a total of four bridges in this Dartmoor 365 'square'.

Next I followed the river upstream and behind the trees to find the Leat Meet.

The fountain is where the water from the Devonport leat which comes off the West Dart River is merged with the leat from the leat which comes off the River Cowsic.

The water goes underground down the north side of the valley and then over the aqueduct which crosses the River Cowsic. It continues underground up the south side of the valley to come out in the fountain. The aqueduct is just below the Leat Meet. Very, very clever engineering!

The aqueduct just below Leat Meet

I wandered along the leat for a short distance. Including the one by the Leat Meet there are four small clapper bridges over the leat.

The 'overflow' just before the Leat Meet with the River Cowsic below.

 Two more bridge just a bit further along.