Bagga Tor, Lynch Tor and Standon Hill - Sunday 15th January 2012

Martin Hesp wrote an article last friday in WMN on Bagga Tor, so inspired by that, we decided to explore the area for ourselves.  Driving through Tavistock, and then Peter Tavy, we eventually came to a gate leading onto the moor.  The views from here are amazing:

Bagga Tor is immediately adjacent to the car park, and further views of the surrounding area reveal themselves:

Bagga Tor

View of Nat Tor and Ger Tor from Bagga Tor

View of Staddon Hill on the left and Baggator Brook from Bagga Tor

A long walk up to Lynch Tor

It was very cold and windy, but a lovely day for a walk.  The route up to Lynch Tor was very steep indeed.

Lynch Tor

The view from Lynch Tor, with the South Common Plantation and Bagga Tor

View from Lynch Tor looking towards Staddon Hill

The route to Staddon Hill was very boggy and hazardous!  We thought if we went higher, it would be better, but if anything, it was worse.

Not to be recommended!!

So onto Staddon Hill with its rocks and buildings.  A very cold extremely windy place to be!

Standon Hill

Staddon Hill with the shadow of a building!

From then on, it was downhill, and across footpaths by Brousentor Farm and back to the car.

View of Nattor Down across the valley from the top of the path from the farm track

The walk had some spectacular views as you can see.

Cann Woods, Plympton - 7th January 2012

Cann Woods has suffered quite badly from disease in the trees, resulting in great swaths of the woods being felled.  However there has been much replanting, so in future years, it will continue.

New trees planted

Dense woods

Boringdon Camp

Hembury Woods, Near Buckfast - Sunday 11th December 2011

It's amazing how you can live in an area for years and not know it!  We spied an NT wood and car park at Hembury Woods on the map and thought we should explore it.  The signposts wanted us to go to Scoriton and Holne, so we had to depend a bit on my pigeon sense of direction to find the wood. It was wet and muddy but lots of dog walkers around.  We are a tough lot!!

The path gave us a choice:  the Fort or the River.  We decided to explore the fort first. Read more:

Wellington Monument , Somerset - Sunday 27th November 2011

 As we were in Somerset, we thought we would have a quick walk to Wellington Monument which is owned by the National Trust now.  It has a fence all the way round it at the moment.  Dad remembers climbing up the dark spiral staircase inside it, when he was a boy, and peering out of the hole in the top. 

The path from the car park to the monument

READ MORE :

Bowerman's Nose and Jay's Grave - Sunday 20th November 2011

At last the weather was dry and sunny, so we set off on the long awaited trip to see Bowerman's Nose.  By driving to Bovey Tracey, then taking a left past Becky Falls, the narrow road winds through moorland to Manaton. This small village boasts a huge church which can be seen from all around on the climb up to Hayne Down.

A car park next to the church and village green is a good starting point

The view of Hayne Down from the car park with a glimpse of Bowerman's Nose

The path up on to the Down

On the top of Haynes Down with the church in the middle

On the top of Haynes Down with Hound Tor in the background

Huge collection of rocks on Hayne Down!

More rocks piled on top of one another!  but where is Bowerman's Nose???

Ha Ha, there it is!!

Bowerman's Nose

Legend has it that Bowerman ( a Norman Hunter) knocked over a witch's cauldron while out hunting with his dogs.  The next time he went out, a witch transformed into a hare and he chased her until he fell off his horse, exhausted, in the bog.  She then turned him to stone.

Looking back to Bowerman's Nose on the way to Jay's Grave

The path then leads onto Jay's Grave, across a few fields, and the grave lies at a cross roads.  Kitty Jay was a young girl who fell in love with a farmers son, and finding herself pregnant and realising she would be abandoned, took her own life.  As a suicide, she could not be buried in sacred ground, but was buried at the crossroads where the Devil could not reach her.  There are always flowers on the grave.

Jay's Grave

Bridlepath to Natsworthy Gate

Hound Tor and Haytor in the mist

The sun's rays are highlighting the village of  Widecombe in the Moor

We retraced our steps as the days are getting shorter.  We will explore Hound Tor and Haytor another day!

Dartmeet - Sunday 13th November 2011

As we drove from Plympton to Princetown and over the moors, clouds were sweeping across the sky preventing the sun from coming out. We decided a walk up to a Tor would be fruitless so instead we planned a walk at Dartmeet. There is a good size car park with toilets, a shop and tea room.  The river was quite swollen and canoeists were making the most of the river. There are two public footpaths from the car park.  one along the bank of the River Dart and one to Yar Tor.

Dartmeet Bridge with a Clapper bridge in the foreground

Public footpath runs along the bank of the River Dart

The path ( to the right) leads uphill to Yar Tor

The ground was quite wet and a lake had formed inland.

The path became more and more difficult to navigate.

The Little Newtake Plantation on the other side of the hill

The Clapper Bridge at Babeny

The route then continued on the road as several fields contained large cattle and I didn't really want to disturb them.  The clouds descended again and the walk became a bit of an ordeal!!

This is Yar Tor !

 We followed the road past Corndon Down on our left side and Yar Tor on our right.

Ahead loomed  Sharp Tor

Hut Circles on Yartor Down

My Merrell walking shoes had let in water while on this walk, I had had them about a year.  On the way home we called in on the shop I had bought them in Ashburton to enquire how long were they guaranteed. To my surprise the shop keeper took my shoes to return to the manufacturer and gave me a new pair. That's what I call service!!