A Sunday in December and the weather has turned over the last week, finally. After a long warm autumn we finally hit some gloomy and cold weather, and some rain. This walk was squeezed in between rainy days and luckily for us, it fell when it was at least dry. The clouds however, were very much down. I chose a spot which had some elevation, but not too much to put us in the clag. This is a lovely area for tor bagging, this walk alone has 11 tors/rocks, and it wouldn’t take much more effort to collect another 5 or 6. Still this was enough for us as it was pretty cold and after the warmer autumn, I’m not sure we were ready for it being so cold. Still the number of tors kept us interested and we always felt that there was something to see not too far away, due to the tors being so close together. Another nice walk in a favourite area of mine, after this is I have another two walks to publish for 2022 and also my review/best walks of that year. At least I’m catching up a bit now.
The car park at Cold East Cross, Rippon Tor behind as we start out towards Buckland BeaconOn Buckland Beacon after a short time and the views down to the River Dart are just about there in the murky weatherBuckland Beacon views, not much todayThe Ten Commandment StonesOn Welstor Rock now, looking back to Buckland BeaconWe’d passed Buckland Pound on our way down to the trees over there, we cross the cross just this side of the trees before picking up a path on the western side of the stream that runs through the woods before heading up to Wittaburrow behindThe diddy bridge by the trees in the previous photo aboveWe had a brew and biscuits with a robin for companyWe are on the track under Wittaburrow now looking across towards Rippon TorFollowing the wall up to Wittaburrow looking back to Pil Tor, we will be over there in a bitThe large cairn on Wittaburrow, we are looking towards Buckland Beacon hereThe tor part of Wittaburrow is lower down than the large cairn and in the direction of Tunhill Rocks, which is over thereTunhill Rock now and the lovely views towards Corndon Tor are missing todayLarge outcrops of Tunhill RocksThe tors in this area are pretty close together so after barely a few minutes we were on Pil Tor, looking up towards Top TorAnd back the other way to Tunhill Rocks. We are heading out of photo and right in the direction of Widecombe in the MoorNext we got to Hollow Tor (Blackslade Down), this one is always a bit tricky to see from above as it looks like a flat grassy mound but come around the side a bit and you can see the outcrop a bit easierFrom the grassy top the misty shape of Chinkwell Tor appears. Hameldown is up to the leftA short climb back up and we pick up a path which passes the Shovel Stone, never the easiest on to find, particularly when the bracken is up. The simplest way is to go to Lower Top Tor (which is dead ahead here) and then the path will be more obviousNow at Lower Top Tor, Linda gives some perspective to the size of these outcropsTop Tor from its lower cousin, with Pil Tor over to the rightThe cloud is lowering if anything as we reach Top Tor and look to Rippon Tor which is our next target via two Dartmoor 365 squaresBlackslade Manor, the first of the D365 squares with Top Tor right and Pil Tor left in the distanceHemsworthy Gate, not sure why I’ve taken this photo on a tilt! This is the second of those D365 squaresWalking up from Hemsworthy Gate to Rippon Tor
No view from the summit trig point of Rippon Tor so I will have to do, sorry about that. This is also a D365 square so you have three in a short distance
Just down from Rippon Tor, on the way to Cold East Cross, is this outcrop The Nutcrackers, again the backdrop is Top Tor and Pil TorThe NutcrackersOn our way down to Cold East Cross and the end of the walk. This is a lovely 7 or so miles in good weather, in this murky clag, you have the tors themselves to keep you interested plus a few Dartmoor 365 squares thrown in for good measure.
Brought back some memories of walk on some of these we did a years back. Started with amazing thunderclouds and Jane’s hair standing on end with the static charge (sadly days of my hair being long enough for that are long gone!🤣). Moved on to the most amazing bluebell display I’ve ever seen at Holwell Lawn and finished off in a hailstorm that turned everything white!
Such a good area for tors, you can easily pick up 15 or 20 tors on a day walk in that area. As for the bluebells I’ll be heading back there towards the end of May as they are fantastic normally
treksandtors 
‘The clag’ is a new word for me. I guess it’s the thick murk up top?
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Yep that’s the stuff, misty, thick horrible stuff
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👌👌
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Brought back some memories of walk on some of these we did a years back. Started with amazing thunderclouds and Jane’s hair standing on end with the static charge (sadly days of my hair being long enough for that are long gone!🤣). Moved on to the most amazing bluebell display I’ve ever seen at Holwell Lawn and finished off in a hailstorm that turned everything white!
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Such a good area for tors, you can easily pick up 15 or 20 tors on a day walk in that area. As for the bluebells I’ll be heading back there towards the end of May as they are fantastic normally
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