I parked by the Church in Mary Tavy and walked down to the hydro-electirc power station. This was built in 1932 to make use of the water stored for the old mine workings. It is now owned by South West Water and its two generators earn £500k a year.
I took the footpath around the back of the power station where I could hear the sound of the River Tavy and a gentle hum coming from the turbines.
There are six tors adjacent to the River Tavy running north east from Mary Tavy towards Nat Tor.
Just along the footpath is Longtimber Tor (
272) which is completely covered in trees and vegetation.
Next back over the footbridge and on to what appeared to be an area of rock but, in actual fact it was an area of sediment and looked just like a BMX track. I can only assume that this sediment may have been taken out from the turbines in the power station and dumped here. Clearly nothing new has been dumped here for some time. What is surprising is that there is not much vegetation growing on this which may indicate that it is contaminated in some way?
In the middle of this was an old motorbike.
I went on through the field to find High Tor (
272) - again all covered in vegetation - just like all the tors on todays walk.
A bit further on was Fox Tor (
274).
Meanwhile there were two buzzards circulating overhead.
I continued through this rough area of pasture meadow and came up to the leat - one of several in this area feeding the power station.
Next was Kents Tor (
275) which can just be seen in the trees and ...
...near this is Brimhill Tor (276)
Across the field from here and in the middle of nowhere is a small reservoir and a life buoy.
I returned to the car and drove a short distance to Horndon and took the footpath down to the leat.
About a kilometer along the leat at the south end of Creason Wood is Big Rock (
277). This is a huge block of granite right next to the leat.
Big rock is behind the trees in the centre right of the photo
I went up to the top in the hope of getting a better photo but there is just too much vegetation.
