The last walk of the year 2018 and one right in the centre of Dartmoor, setting out from Postbridge. I noticed on setting out that the pub was closed, until mid January, so no end of walk drink for me today. Still I was looking forward to walking over the Riddon Ridge, an area I haven’t walked across before and back via Pizwell Farm and a path to Postbridge which I haven’t used before either. As it was the Pizwell Farm path was very, very muddy, so a paddle in the East Dart was needed once back at the car, to clean the shoes off a bit! It was a thoroughly enjoyable walk despite the regular spots of rain and low cloud, and on the drive back I noted that the western side of the moor had the cloud down to 300metres which meant I’d picked the better side of the moor to walk on.
| Start – Postbridge parking |
| Route – Postbridge Clapper Bridge – Lakehead Hill – Bellever Tor – Laughter Tor – Laughter Hole Farm – Laughter Hole Stepping Stones – Riddon Ridge – Cator Bridge – Cator – Pizwell Farm – Postbridge parking |
| Distance – 7.5 miles Start time – 11.45am Time taken – 4hrs 15mins Highest Point – Bellever Tor 443metres |
| Weather – Mainly cloud some spots of rain throughout. |
© Crown copyright 2018 Ordnance Survey FL 2018 SF
No prizes for guessing what this is as I start out and head for Lakehead Hill
Turning into Bellever Forest I look along the tree line to Broad Down lit up by the sunshine
Walking through Bellever Forest
Lakehead Hill and the stone row up here
And the nearby cist and stone circle
Lakehead Hill is up there on the left however the sunshine on Broad Down has gone and been replaced by low cloud
Looking to Laughter Tor from Bellever Tor as a shower passes through
More low cloud and drizzle on the way as I leave Bellever Tor. Princetown and the mast should be in view looking this way, but not today
Laughter Tor now looking back at Bellever Tor, lots of grey colours in today’s walk
Corndon Tor and Yar Tor in the distance, just to the right of the stone summit slab
Back into the other end of Bellever Forest now and this is the abandoned Laughter Hole Farm
I’d sat here for about 15 minutes having crossed, watching 4 German walkers to and fro and not get across the East Dart river at the Laughter Hole stepping stones. In the end they went right out of picture and followed the river north to Bellever.
I climbed up on to the Riddon Ridge and walked towards Cator, looking down to Laughter Hole
Yar Tor looking back as I walk along the ridge
Bellever Tor catching the low cloud
The Riddon Ridge
Cator Bridge
And Cator itself, just a small outcrop sitting above the Walla brook
The large clump of trees is in the photo above near to Cator, here I join the track to Pizwell Farm
Pizwell Farm
One of the residents of the farm
The track after Pizwell Farm was a mix of running water and boggy, muddy, tractor churned paths, not a lot of fun but at least I stayed upright! Looking back to Laughter Tor as I drop down to the river to follow it back to Postbridge
The Postbridge road bridge this time. A nice walk that would be even better in the summer months
treksandtors 