We jumped forward a few weeks now, the last walk was at the end of October around Stalldown Barrow and Cornwood. Now its the middle of November, we’ve moved house, wrestled putting up curtain poles, blinds and toilet roll holders and we are in need of a break, and a walk. We decided on the western side of Dartmoor, mainly because the weather suggested that this side of the moor would be clearer. As is always the case during the winter months, the folks at the weather office haven’t much of a clue regarding weather and hilly areas. We did get a bit of sun, but plenty of dark looking clouds, some low clouds and a bit of drizzle. Still it was good to be out again. This was walk 64 of round 2 of the Dartmoor 365 squares, picking off 3 squares today with F4, F5 and F6 done. We started from the car park behind the Dartmoor Inn (Lydford), sometimes a busy spot but not too bad today, given our late start. The walk itself feels longer than the 6 miles it actually was, mainly due to the long haul up to Great Links Tor, which is one of the highest spots on Dartmoor. We first set out to cross the River Lyd at the stepping stones, and with the river still being reasonably low, we crossed on the stones rather than the bridge. After the crossing we contoured around under Arms Tor, which would be our last tor of the day, and headed across to Smallacombe Rock, only my second visit to this tor, so we had a brew stop here. Next we climbed to Little Links Tor and then on to Great Links Tor, the size of the tor up here rightly matches its spot as one of the highest places. We stopped again for sandwiches and a brew, tucked nicely out of the wind under an overhang of the tor, before dropping slightly to the Dunna Goat Tors. These always give a good view down to Bleak House and Green Tor, and soon we had bagged both of these as well. Re-crossing the Rattlebrook we picked a good path which heads past Dick’s Well and on towards Arms Tor or Brat Tor. We chose the former and enjoyed a good look around the sprawling outcrops of this tor. All that was left was a recrossing of the River Lyd and the short walk to the car, dodging some young cows on the way. We didn’t pop in for a drink this time as we had lots to do at home, but we will be back so that Linda can bag Doe Tor, Brat Tor plus others. A good walk and hopefully more to come as we head to December.

Start – Lydford parking

Route – Lyd Bridge and stepping stones – Smallacombe Rock – Little Links Tor – Great Links Tor – Higher Dunnagoat Tor – Lower Dunnagoat Tor – Bleak House – Green Tor – Arms Tor – Lyd Bridge and Stepping Stones – Lydford parking

Distance – 6 miles  Start time – 11.40am  Time taken – 3hrs 50mins  Highest Point – Great Links Tor 586 metres

Weather – Cloudy, some drizzle and low cloud, but some sun as well