I always enjoy walking in Shaptor Woods, and when looking at the tors I have left to complete my 500 list for a second time, I realised that a few were in or around this gorgeous woodland. It wasn’t just the changing colours on the leaves that I enjoy in here, but the size of the tors needs to be seen to be believed. Normally when walking through here I head up to Shaptor Rock and then out of the woodland towards Higher Bowden. Not this time, we carried on northwesterly towards Gladstone Rock and out along a lane to Poolmill Cross, before following the lanes to Bottor Rock and then the car. As a result of picking up some of my second round tors, the walk through Shaptor Woods headed off path a couple of times, firstly to get to Aller Down Copse and then Northcombe Copse. As always when heading through here, the couple of miles of distance, seems to take at least twice as long as it should to walk it. As a result a short walk of 6 or so miles took over 4 hours, but then again its always good to have a good look around in these places and discover previously unseen buildings or outcrops. The lane walking was simple all the way to Bottor Rock, fairly flat and quick to cover the ground. To get to Bottor Rock involves stepping over some fallen down barbed wire and into a woodland, which may well be part of the house below. The detour to the rock is short, maybe 20 metres, a quick photo and then back to the lane down to Five Lanes. The weather improved the further we walked thankfully, allowing us to dry our waterproofs before putting them in the car. Something that we have got used to walking in a very wet November.
The start of John Canns Lane, the car is parked to the left hereTurning to my right from the last photo, you see how misty and dank it was to start with todayNot too far into Shaptor Woods is Middle Stonelands Tor. To get here you have gone near to at least 4 other tors, but we gave them a miss today with others on our radar.Could well be a Yellow Stainer, don’t think its the normal field mushroom as this one was deep in the woodsPretty sure this one is a scarlet waxcapAfter the fun looking at mushrooms we headed off path and downhill to Aller Down Copse TorAs Linda proves this is another big outcrop with lots of separate boulders and outcropsAnd this long abandoned building/barnThe rain had been falling for a while, so Linda spotted a nice overhanging rock for a dry brewThe overhanging rock and the one above is part of Rooks Hole TorWe also walked through Pixey Copse TorAnd past Sonny Copse TorAfter Sonny Copse we took a bearing southwest towards Northcombe Copse TorThis one has smaller boulders sprawling downhillNorthcombe Copse Tor and a brightening sky overheadBack to the three way post in Shaptor Woods, we are heading left this time which can end at Slade Cross. Normally we would head up the path on the right towards Shaptor RockNot far from the signpost is this one West ShaptorWest ShaptorThe sign for Shaptor Woods, all the different copses in these woods are labelledLong Cleave Tor, as you come out of Shaptor Woods passing the sign above, stay right along a good path across a stream to this outcropYou can follow a winding path above this outcrop and onto this viewpoint, we had a bit of lunch here and enjoyed the view to Shaptor Woods over thereLovely colours on the trees as we left Long Cleave TorCommon Puffball mushroomJust below the mushrooms and Long Cleave Tor is this outcrop Hawkmoor RocksNext the path follows a path past houses and turning right a long uphill pull to Gladstone Rock. Here it is seemingly getting more and more swallowed up by the greeneryFrom the lane you get views towards Black Hill near HaytorHaving left the woodland and joining the lanes to Poolmill Cross we get views to Dartmoor and Haytor itself can be seenMore cow whispering from Linda brought this group across to us, we are standing the other side of a gate though!Minions!The old signpost at Bell Lane, Moreton and Bridford and the two town names that you can see hereBottor Rock, a stealthy out and back to this oneFive LanesAnd to finish a better view than when we started. We can now see Bovey Tracey down there across green fields which have been soaked regularly during October and November. Bring on the drier, colder weather.
It can be very confusing in Shaptor Wood, but by just following the path that runs through you will pass some amazing tors, far bigger than 90% of those out on the open moor
We’ve not changed weather for weeks, we had a warm week at the start of October, and since then we’ve had wet and windy, with temperatures above 10 degrees. I’ve seen plenty of crisp blue sky photos from the Lakes, but nothing like that here
November was a grim month apart from the odd day, December not much better. We don’t have much in the way of woodland locally and what there is, very muddy. I tend to try and stay high up in winter when weather allows to avoid the worst of the mud and water. And we don’t have your seemingly endless list of tors to explore! 😀
treksandtors 
Thanks for you comprehensive post, like always, taking the reader with you. Especially for me, an area which I have not been to.
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It can be very confusing in Shaptor Wood, but by just following the path that runs through you will pass some amazing tors, far bigger than 90% of those out on the open moor
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Nice little corner of the Moor. When I lived in Teignmouth I used to often go there.
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Certainly one of my favourite woodland areas
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It’s good to see you still have your Autumn colours. The leaves are barely hanging on here, Winter is arriving.
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We’ve not changed weather for weeks, we had a warm week at the start of October, and since then we’ve had wet and windy, with temperatures above 10 degrees. I’ve seen plenty of crisp blue sky photos from the Lakes, but nothing like that here
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November was a grim month apart from the odd day, December not much better. We don’t have much in the way of woodland locally and what there is, very muddy. I tend to try and stay high up in winter when weather allows to avoid the worst of the mud and water. And we don’t have your seemingly endless list of tors to explore! 😀
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The woodland tors are really good here and make up for the fact that the high ground (except the Hameldown ridge) are normally a bogfest
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