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 26th March Cranmere Pool

A dull grey day and bitterly cold as I set of through Fernworthy Forest from the end of the road.

I took the track that exited opposite the ruins of Teignhead Farm and went down....

...to the clapper bridge to cross the North Teign River.

Looking back to the forest.

I went up Manga Hill through these old gate posts.

Looking east to Kestor Rock.

South around Walla Brook Head with Watern Tor in the distance.

Evenutally the range hut on Hangingstone Hill came into view.

Over towards Cosdon Hill there was just a flicker of sunshine but that was it!

The range hut on Hangingstone Hill.

There was a very heavy frost on this part of the moor. All the grasses had a feather like frosts attached in the shape of a long flag.












In the distance to the west I could just make out the familiar shapes of

Fur Tor                          Hare Tor                       Great Links Tor                     Yes Tor

 

From here I headed west to Cranmere Pool.  The interesting thing about this area is that raindrops falling on the right of the picture will eventually return to the sea at the Taw Torridge estuary near Barnstaple on the north coast of Devon and those falling on the left will return to the sea at Dartmouth on the south coast of Devon.

The letter box at Cranmere Pool

I left my mark in the visitors book. It is surprising how many people visit this remote place.

There is much more about this here:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranmere_Pool

and here:-
http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/cranmere_pool.htm






Looking back

I back tracked and headed towards White Horse Hill.  Normally this is a very wet part of the moor but the heavy frost and frozen ground made it much easier than would normally be the case to get across.

On White Horse Hill is this cairn (now reconstructed) which was opened up in 2011 to reveal the first organic remains found on Dartmoor and about 150 beads - approximately 4,000 years old.

Much more about this on these links:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-14468394
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-15727960
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-21442474

From here I followed the ridge line to Quintin's Man...

...crossing the stream here...

...and then headed up to Sittaford Tor...

...and finally past Grey Wethers before returning back into Fernworthy Forest.