This is an area I hadn’t been to for perhaps 5 years now, long before I started this website. I did part of this walk (in the opposite direction), heading up the lane from Five Lanes, then down towards the reservoirs before looping back through the woods and past Great Rock. I thoroughly enjoyed the area and decided to return and lengthen the walk to include a few more rocks in Shaptor Woods. This walk doesn’t give much in the way of views or wide open spaces, but in return the woodlands have a certain charm, and on a grey day make a great alternative, with some truly huge woodland tors.
| Start – Hennock village |
| Route – Twizzle Tree Tor – Great Rock Copse Tor – Great Rock – Trenchford Reservoir – Poolmill Cross – Gladstone Rock – Shaptor Woods – Shaptor Rock – Pixey Copse Tor – Middle Stonelands Tor – John Canns Rocks – Stonelands Tor – Bottor Rock – Five Lanes – Hennock |
| Distance – 7 miles Start time – 11.00am Time taken – 4hrs 20mins Highest Point – 255m Nr Trenchford Reservoir |
| Weather – Grey sky with some spots of rain |
© Crown copyright 2017 Ordnance Survey FL 2017 SF
At the start of the walk I walk past the lovely Hennock church
Inside the church
Even on a dull day the views are good
Heading through the woodland to Great Rock
Great Rock
Now along the lane towards Trenchford reservoir
Between the trees you can see Trenchford reservoir
Heading along Bell Lane you get this lovely view across the fields
Bell Lane, I’m turning left in a moment
Gladstone Rock
You drop down from Gladstone Rock, then head around some houses and pop out into a clearing within woodland. Heading uphill a bit you come to this stile which is the entrance to Shaptor Wood
Shaptor Rock is a lofty perch above the trees. On a clearer day you get very good views to Dartmoor and its tors
The base of Shaptor Rock, my rucksack is by the tree to give some scale
You walk past 2 or 3 more rocky areas which could also be given names, which I’ve recently found to be Pixey Copse Tor and Middle Stonelands Tor. This is the exit from Shaptor Woods onto a byway which leads down to John Canns Rocks
John Canns Rocks, I did an out and back here
Looking back down the byway
At the end of the byway I turned left then right and had a break on the bench. Behind me is the lane that leads to Bottor Rock
Bottor Rock is on the edge of the trees there
Bottor Rock
You pop out on the road at a place called Five Lanes, for obvious reasons
As you walk through Hennock village at the end of the walk you get great views down to South Hams to finish with
treksandtors 