In winter, when we only get a few hours
of daylight, it can be wise to head for the western flanks in the
late afternoons. The western slopes of our big hills allow you to
enjoy the last vestiges of light as the sun sinks into the big ocean
beyond. And you get sunsets. Big red, horizon-to-horizon affairs
that lurk above the lonely marches like scarlet curtains hiding
heaven.
Basic walk: from car park just east of Merrivale,
west past stone rows to footpath in Walkham Valley, then south past
Daveytown to take track up to Ingra Tor where we follow old Princetown
railway line east then north to Foggintor Quarries. Then north again
past Yellowmeade Farm to return along Grimstone and Sortridge Leat.
Distance and going: just over six miles - easy
going for the most part.
Note that all maps on this site are only
indicative. You should never set out without the correct OS map.
And the sunset can be almost unbeatable
when you are up on the western flanks of Dartmoor. We witnessed
one on this walk - it was draped across Bodmin Moor making it look
like a place condemned to burn in a beautiful hell. Between where
we stood and the rough peaks of the west was the great wide Tamar
borderland where the lights began to twinkle and the evening chimney
smoke was smeared down a hundred riverine coombes. Dark, haunting,
lovely and lonely. That is what we thought about that great abyss
as I went our weary way.
The walk begins on the B3357 Tavistock to Two Bridge road which
takes you up and up, out of the Tamar vale and onto the western
plateau of the moor. At Merrivale the road dips to pass the quarries
and the pub, then climbs on eastwards past the famous old hut circles.
On the right you'll see a small car park set amid the walls of what
must have been an old cattle keep - and this is where we parked.
For one thing, we wanted to take a closer look at the two extraordinary
stone rows that run across the hill in parallel just a few yards
from here. You'll see them on the Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure
Map 28 - and you will not fail to spot them on the ground.
They look like the markings for some
primeval runway. Set about 150 feet apart, each row of stones continues
for about a quarter of a mile. The stones range between a few inches
and several feet in height, and the general impression you get from
the twin alignments is one of mystery. I don't suppose anyone will
ever know what the ancient people thought they were doing dragging
huge heavy stones across the moor to make two lines.
The stone rows on Exmoor tend to run from some old chieftain's
barrow down to a nearby spring - perhaps something to do with water
spirits, naiads and dryads and the like. But up here on barren Dartmoor,
these two lines seem to have been placed for some other mysterious
reason. A landing strip for aliens? As good an answer as any...
The weather was tremendous and, having studied the stone rows,
we decided to make a walk of it before the sun went down. The route
makes a superb two-hour ramble on a winter's afternoon.
Just west of the alignments there are some stone-walls
and, at the southern extremity of these, we passed through a gate
and walked down over the moor to join the footpath that continues
south to the farm at Longash. Here we were greeted by a dog who
seemed friendly enough to begin with, but who became absolutely
furious as we tried to leave. One of our party only just escaped
his snapping jaws as he finally shut the far gate, and we could
only assume the dog had a violent desire for our company.
Now the path enters a rather magical, moss-and-lichen-covered
wood just under Hucken Tor, which the writer William Crossing called
Okel Tor, describing it as: "One of the most beautiful rock
piles of Dartmoor." In fact, Crossing seemed to be rather enamoured
with this neighbourhood altogether. He says: "The masses (of
rocks) are so delightfully shrouded in dwarf oaks and mountain ash,
tufts of heather and patches of the bright green whortleberry plants,
that they present an appearance that cannot fail to enchant the
beholder."
After a few twists and turns our path
crosses a cascading stream and eventually issues out into rough
fields through we stroll until we reach a place called Daveytown.
Not a town, just a farm, but here we join the paved lane that takes
us south again, through the pretty countryside of the Walkham Valley,
until we reach a crossroads on a spur of hill just above Ward Bridge.
We turn left up the hill and begin the short but scenic ascent
to Ingra Tor - and this is where we catch the train.
Not really, but that's what we told one of my companions who had
moaned that the walk looked too damned far. Railways mean easy gradients
that require very little effort on the part of the walker.
We followed the permanent way - as railway people optimistically
call their beloved tracks. But the tracks here disappeared half-a-century
ago. Our reluctant walker soon saw the sense in following the old
track as it swerved effortlessly around the contours, on its way
up to Princetown, and even agreed to take the short-cut which ascends
the hill below Swelltor Quarries. It's only a few hundred yards
of steepish climbing, but it saves a mile or more of railway walking
out around King's Tor.
At the point where the footpath rejoins the track, we are able
to cross directly to the bed of the old tramway, which heads north
past the ruins at Foggintor Quarry to pass lonely Yellowmeade Farm.
Yellowmeade by name - yellow by nature thanks to a bright coat of
paint. This must be one of the most isolated, windswept farmsteads
in the Westcountry, but its grandstand view of the sunset is second
to none.
Shortly after the farm we cut across the heath to the Grimstone
and Sortridge Leat which runs - like a thread of glimmering gold
during sunset hours - back to the car.
Dartmoor
& South West Devon
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