Back on Dartmoor this week having had a mixture of walking in different areas. We’d had some coastal and some Bodmin Moor recently and it was time to get back into the centre of Dartmoor. This is walk 21 of Round 2 of my D365 square hunt and involves L7, L8 and J8 and the area around the Cowsic River, picking up the tors situated around the head of this river. The valley itself, holding the river, provides some lovely views along its length, none better than from Conies Down Tor. The walk down from South Devil’s Tor can be boggy, especially at this time of year, as the ground is fairly flat between that and Lydford Tor, but we easily managed to avoid the worst of it. Then there is the start of this walk, Black Dunghill is an uneventful place, a green lump of tussocky grass, surrounded by soft ground, this will be the case until you cross the Lych Way and start the climb to Conies Down Tor. The weather was glorious today with plenty of sunshine, although the wind was bitterly cold up at the high points, it was a weekend of ten tors training and we could see a few groups walking the trails back towards Holming Beam to their pickup points, it would have been a cold night for all these groups.
Looking out from Holming Beam, the valley of the Cowsic is on the right, Cowsic Head is in the shade at the far end of the valleyLooking to the Princetown mast as we walk the tussocky ground to Black DunghillOn Black Dunghill, looking across to the Beardown Tors on the right, Lydford Tor to the left, in the middle in the far distance is Higher White TorLooking the other way to Great Mis TorThe dark looking White Tor, Cocks Hill is on the right in the shadeWe are heading for the Lych Way now, the ground below is still tussocks, again Beardown Tors on the right, Lydford Tor is by the wall on the left. Higher White Tor is at the backGlorious views from Conies Down Tor along the Cowsic River which is wriggling away towards Two BridgesHeading up towards Maiden Hill now, at the back the mast at Princetown on the rightMaiden Hill with light and shade. Cut Hill at the backBack into the tussocks as we walk towards Cowsic Head. The distance views are of the high ground around Ryders HillCowsic Head out along the valleyHaving circled around Cowsic Head we reached Beardown Man, the second tallest menhir on the moor. Linda gives a bit of scale to it. Great Mis Tor is back right. Devil’s Tor is to the left here.Looking east towards Rough Tor, the flat topped Hameldown is to the right of that, and further right is Rippon TorWe are heading this way next towards South Devil’s Tor, pointy Longaford Tor is in sightBeardown Man is left, Devil’s Tor is right and Fur Tor can be seen away in the distanceSouth Devil’s Tor, the valley above the tor is the West Dart holding the river of that nameLooking from South Devil’s Tor towards Great Mis TorOn Lydford Tor now, the bridge over the Cowsic is down by the green triangle of grass with the paths leading away from it. Holming Beam is by the trees above holding the car parkThe three Beardown Tors from Lydford TorThe wall of rock on Beardown TorsLooking towards the tor holding the army flagpoleLooking the other way, Linda on Beardown Tors, the West Dart River wriggling away behind. Crow Tor by the wallLooking across the West Dart to Longaford TorNow by the army flagpole looking back to the northThe army flagpole, West Dart valley below and Hameldown in the distanceThe bridge over the Cowsic. Lydford Tor up on the right, Maiden Hill is back leftBack at the start, the majority of the view in shade now, with Cowsic Head catching the sun at the back
Its a fairly boggy few square miles from Black Dunghill all across this walk, either that or its dry tussocks, never easy to walk here as it lacks any main paths
A great walk, not sure if you were aware. The last leg of your walk returning to Holming Beam, see OS map the “V” was part of a target track during WW2 with wooden tanks as targets Americans used for practice.
treksandtors 
Always liked that thin view of Beardown Man – we used to trudge out to Fur Tor via there, hard going!
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Lots and lots of not a lot out the back of Devil’s Tor
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Kept us pretty fit though!
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Great photos. The open view on the moorland is amazing 😍.
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Its a lovely spot
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I love wild bleak moor land – but not so keen of the bogs!
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There are certainly lots of wet ground around at this time of year, even after the dry February
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Definitely true of my local moors!
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Black Dunghill – great name. That looks a pretty austere and bleak corner of Dartmoor.
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Its a fairly boggy few square miles from Black Dunghill all across this walk, either that or its dry tussocks, never easy to walk here as it lacks any main paths
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A great walk, not sure if you were aware. The last leg of your walk returning to Holming Beam, see OS map the “V” was part of a target track during WW2 with wooden tanks as targets Americans used for practice.
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I’d heard that somewhere that it was a target track but wasn’t aware that the Americans used it. Thanks for that bit of info
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