Walking around the East Moor and the Halvana Plantation

 If we head further west into Cornwall, we have to turn onto the A30 and head over Bodmin Moor. On the left is a fairly large conifer plantation, the Halvana Plantation, that has always intrigued me. A couple of weeks ago we walked in the area and found out what it had to offer.

We parked on the old A30 at Week's Down (space for, perhaps, half a dozen cars) and took the footpath/track though the plantation onto the East Moor. We headed for Fur Tor, via some ring cairns and a stone row that we didn't find. From Fox Tor, we dropped down to Eastmoor Gate and then walked back through the plantation to our starting point. About 6.5 miles that I'd class as moderate - not easy but not difficult.

Due to the demands for timber (trench warfare, pit props for the mines) at the beginning of the 20th Century, Britain felt that it could not/should not rely on imports. Conifer plantations like Halvana Plantation were established to ensure a strategic reserve of timber. Of course, nowadays the demand for timber has decreased and forestry policies have changed.

An observation chair. But for observing what exactly? Fire? Birds? Hunting targets? Tourists? Brexiteers? Tories?

I mentioned above that forestry policies have changed and, whilst some plantations are gradually being replanted with native species, Halvana Plantation remains pretty much as it was intended to be. The interior of evergreen plantations generally have tendency to be dry dead places. The trees block out the light and the dense covering of needles suffocates the forest floor. But Halvana is, in parts, the complete opposite, with an endless carpet of moss creeping over everything, including up the trunks of trees. If you like green, this is place to come.

Out on East Moor, and we were heading for the hill straight ahead - Fox Tor. In the event, it wasn't quite 'straight ahead' as we had to work our way around a very boggy stretch.

A granite outcrop associated with a ring cairn on the way to Fur Tor.

The trig point on the top of Fur Tor, with views extending towards Plymouth Sound. I still can't come to terms with the negative impact wind turbines have on the landscape. I can make out at least 6 sticking up like white fingers.

Ah, the noble art of selfie taking.

Lichens growing on a hawthorn tree are a sign of fresh air. Luckily it's not uncommon in these parts.

This glass bottle has turned into a tiny biome, complete with plants growing inside it. Not quite the Eden Project, but special in its own way.

There are a few mine shafts that have been covered with metal cone frames. The Halvana and Foxtor mines at one time were worked separately but were later combined. Halvana mine was started about 1843, Foxtor possibly about the same time and the combined mines were worked until 1918. Only small amounts of tin and wolfram seem to have been sold. They were operated under the Halvana Fox Tor and Red Hill Tin Mining Company Ltd which was dissolved in 1883. The remains of the Halvana workings are now amongst the trees in the Plantation, the metal cones being the only visible sign of once must have been a bustling area.

The black stripe by the eye shows this to be a male Wheatear.