It was well into spring and we hadn’t been out for an evening walk yet, so time to put that right. The plan on any evening walk is to keep the driving and walking distance down, find somewhere that is interesting or looks good in different light and might have a sunset. With a mainly cloudy sky I wasn’t thinking about the latter of these but concentrating on a shorter walk and very little distance from home. To be honest I failed a bit on the walking distance, as its a bit further than I remembered around this loop, but as it happened it meant we saw a fantastic sunset as we got to the car. Some Dartmoor squares are included on this walk as well, this being walk 55 on the Dartmoor 365 round 2, picking up squares S6, S7 and S8. We started by walking around the Brisworthy Plantation and heading towards the stone circle of that name, before reaching Legis Tor. We sat for a bit on Legis Tor taking in the wide views in all directions, before then heading off for Ditsworthy Warren. Two tors sit just up the hill from here, both scattered rocks, rather than a clumped stack. Eastern Tor is the better of these, with Whittenknowles Rocks more of a scattered clitter of smaller stones. Next up was Gutter Tor and the high point of the walk as we passed the trig point. All that was left was the simple walk across Ringmoor Down to the plantation. Whilst walking past Gutter Tor we’d seen the gap in the cloud by the horizon, and wondered whether the sun would make an appearance. It did as we reached the car, so we stayed an extra 20 minutes and watched a lovely sunset. Perfect end to the Friday of the bank holiday weekend.

Start – Ringmoor Down parking

Route – Brisworthy Plantation – Brisworthy Stone Circle – Legis Tor – Ditsworthy Warren House – Eastern Tor – Whittenknowles Rocks – Gutter Tor – Ringmoor Down

Distance – 5 miles  Start time – 6.15pm  Time taken – 2hrs 30mins Highest Point – Gutter Tor 350 metres

Weather – Cloudy, but a nice sunset to finish