Wednesday 12th June Princetown

Another winter day walk just ten days before midsummer day!

Wet and cold at Princetown.

Four of us headed out to Hart Tor by an indirect route and then down to the River Meavy.

Up to Black Tor and then...

...down to the aqueduct.

Up the hill to Cramber Tor for a refreshing drink and then over...

...to the track which runs past South Hessary Tor.

And back to Princetown. Yes we enjoyed it, we discussed and sorted out a number of relevant issues and felt invigorated. 

An excellent lunch in the Prince of Wales.  With Keith, Pete and Anne.

Wednesday 27th March Shelstone Tor

Another cold day but at least we had some sunshine.  We set off from just below Prewley Waterworks and made our way out to Shelstone Tor.

Shelstone Tor in the middle distance and Yes Tor behind.

Jon on the logan stone.

The view across to Black Tor.

Looking back to Sourton Tors.

We took the easier slope up to Corn Ridge - avoiding the icy bits and the heavy frost made the going much firmer.

The view back to Homerton Hill.

Looking down the West Okement valley.

Branscombe's Loaf - but we didn't go there.

Around and down to the Tiger Marsh crash site...

 ...where on 25th December 1943  a B17 crashed killing 5 and injuring 3.
















Through a boggy bit and down to the track and we took a break by the 'points',  before continuing to Sourton Tors....

...where there was much debate about the lines in the granite and how they were formed - but no conclusions!

From here we returned to the cars and onwards to the Fox and Hounds for an excellent lunch and  discussion about the format of the walking programme for the next 6 months.

With Ian, Helen, John, Jon, Pete and Anne

Wednesday 24th October Peat Cott

How strange it is with 365 square miles on Dartmoor that on consecutive days I end up visiting the same places!  It wasn't the same walk - we did start from a different place and came from a completely different direction. So with similar weather to yesterday we set off towards the Cramber Tor trig point...

...and then the short walk to Cramber Tor pool.

Next to Cramber Tor where the cloud lifted a little and we could see across to...

...Black Tor where we had walked from yesterday.

Down Tor in the mist...

...and this pony looking a bit weird without his legs.

Then down to Crazy Well Pool.

Through the workings and back up to the leat before returning to the cars.

A friendly welcome and lunch in the Prince of Wales.  With John, Irving, Ian, Helen, Sue, Pete and Cath

Tuesday 23rd October Norsworthy Bridge

A warm misty, autumn day on Dartmoor and the leaves are falling in the woods around Burrator Reservoir.

Through the woods to Leather Tor bridge...

...and up to the leat...

...where the mist has covered the spiders web.

Out on to the moor and through a particularly boggy bit before heading up to Black Tor.

Then down the other way to cross the river - there is a bridge here somewhere - well actually a metal girder...

...is it deep enough to dive in?

Next up to  Cramber Tor..

...and just to show we are all really good friends we can all hold hands!

Then back down past Crazy Well Pool.

And off to the Royal Oak at Meavy where Bud and Brian were waiting.  On the walk to day Chris, Roger, Charlie, Brian, Rosemary and Terry

Tuesday 24th July Redlake

Well it really is summer this week.  Another glorious day in hot sunshine and hardly any cloud. The starting point for our walk today was Shipley Bridge.  We followed the road towards the reservoir before going up to Black Tor (237).

Looking across the valley to Shipley Tor.

Holly cools down in the muddy pool.

Zeal Tor (238) - yes no tor - nothing except for a few boulders.  But it is in the book!!

Then across to the Zeal Tor Tramway which was used to get to Redlake between 1846 and 1850.

A marker on the tramway - with the marks '3/4'

 Below is the Redlake Tramway which was the main route to Redlake.

In the distance the China Clay Works, Plymouth and Plymouth Sound.

Redlake spoil tip comes into view.

We diverted across to Petre's Cross on Western White Barrow to find  a family and a group doing their Duke of Edinburgh walk - unfortunately they D of E group didn't know where the were....

...so for a short while they followed us to the Two Moors Way where confident they knew where they were they continued on their route...

...and we went on to Redlake....

...a disused china clay quarry with the large and distictive spoil heap on the right.  A good place for our picnic.

The view from the top of the spoil heap - difficult to imagine that in its heyday 100 people were employed here to get the china clay out.  Some came in daily on the 8 mile railway from Ivybridge and others would stay for several weeks at a time in the hostel on site.

Two smaller pits nearby.

The Avon Dam and reservoir in the distance.

 We left taking the path between the two smaller pools.

Across a rather boggy patch to Broad Falls...

...as the reservoir gets closer.

Don't tangle with me!

Avon Dam building started in 1954

For the final leg Charlie and I took a diversion to Shipley Tor (239)  - a difficult place to get to with lots of clitter in places.

Looking back at Black Tor.

With Charlie, Roger and Carol