Musings from Higher Downgate and Elsewhere: The Challacombe Circular Walk

Friday 21 June 2019

The Challacombe Circular Walk

The weather was iffy but not bad enough to put us off walking on Dartmoor with five others from our third Thursday of the month group. This time we headed off to the middle of the moor and took what we know as the 'Challacombe Circular Route'. A walk that has a bit of everything - bronze age monuments, a mediaeval settlement, at least six hundred years of industrial archaeology, some WW2 artifacts, a trig point, great views all the way round and a good stretch of the legs (and lungs). What better way is there of spending a day? Daft question, really: each to their own. But this is ours.

Geek alert: I took this opportunity to try some experimental shots with my IR camera. I'm still trying to find out what it is best suited for and I've included a few frames below. For those interested in this sort of thing, it's a Canon 100D body that's had its full spectrum sensor replaced with a 720nm one. I've used grass to set a custom white balance and post-editing is done in Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC.

The route, which turned out to be around 7 miles, started and ended at Bennett's Cross. We skirted Birch Tor, went over the top of Hookney Tor and dropped down to Grimspound. From there, ascended Hameldown, walked the ridge for a mile and then descended the hillside to Challacombe farm.

Out of the car and this is the view that greeted us. Looking down the valley that we'll return through. It's hard to believe but this landscape has been largely shaped by man's activities over the millenia.

An IR shot from more or less the same spot as the image above. Setting the white balance from a green source means that greens, such as grass, come out as white. It's easier to do this 'in camera' than let the auto white balance produce the standard red IR image, which I find hard to assess. Although the image looks atmospheric, I'm not convinced that IR adds anything to this sort of subject.

Hookney Tor.

Hookney Tor in IR. Gives a different feel to the image. IR gives sharper images when there are solid objects like rocks. And, yes, I know there's a touch of lens flare even though the sun was not shining at this point. Note to self: get a hood for this lens.

The group walking down the side of Hookney Tor to the Bronze Age settlement of Grimspound. Twenty four hut circles within a double skinned outer circular stone wall. The IR image at the bottom really makes the outer circle stand out and gives it a bleakness that I'm not sure I like.

One of the hut circles at Grimspound. Originally the walls were probably some 6 to 8 foot high with an apical roof thatched with ferns or whatever plant material could be utilised.

The trig point on Hameldown Tor. I'm a fan of trig points but no fan of the fad of creating artificial cairns like the one behind. In some places there are essential for navigation but not here. It always concerns me that archaeological artifacts can be displaced in making these cairns.

The marker stone at Two Burrows/Barrows at the end of the Hameldown ridge. I think this IR effect is quite menacing.

Guess which way the wind blows from?

The same trees with the IR camera. It looks like a snowy scene (remember white = green) but the resolution isn't as sharp as I would like. When, or if, I get the time, I'll see what Lightroom can do to improve matters. Another note to self: make sure to carry a spare IR battery.

One of the farms in the mediaeval hamlet that once thrived at Challacombe. Mentioned in the Doomsday Book, there were some 9 - 12 households at one time but these have diminished to the one that there is now. It's called a 'shrunken settlement' because of this process.