Lettaford and a walk in the East Moor area

 A pretty good weather forecast and just right for another jaunt on Dartmoor. And a wonderful time was had by all eight of us who walked. Not a wonderful set of photographs for this one as I only had my 'phone with me but there's enough to act as a record.

Dare I say that this route is one of the better ones we've done? We started at Bennett's Cross, just passed the Warren House Inn on the Tavistock to Moretonhampstead road, and headed out along the Two Moors Way, alongside Birch and Hookney Tors and across Coombe Down, to head down to West Coombe. From there we sort of contoured through a string of delightful ancient long-housed hamlets (West Coombe, Lettaford, Jurston, Lingcombe and Hurston) linked by trackways and footpaths. From Hurston, we climbed back onto the moor at Chagford Common and then returned to Bennett's Cross via the Hurston Stone Row. My GPS clocked 7.8 miles for this one and every step was enjoyable.

The line you can see is the track of the Two Moors Way as it ascends the side of Birch Tor. A rather breezy start to the walk at this point but it warmed up once we got going.

Looking southwards and a rather gloomy sky over Hamel Down and the Challacombe Valley - but we weren't heading in that direction on this occasion.

A Highland cow. These are a quite a feature of moorland grazing now as they can eek out a living on quite meagre pickings. Tourists have been known to travel miles to photograph them and, rather stupidly, have tried to pet them, with painful consequences. I keep a respectful distance from all farm animals, especially these 'muckle coos' (as they are known in their homeland).

Dropping down from Coombe Down into West Coombe with King Tor to the right. We'll have to walk up there one day as we've never done it.

Across the fields from West Coombe to Moor Gate. Was the large monolith there before the field boundary? I think it was - unless it's the biggest gate post on Dartmoor.

A rare example of a Devon/Dartmoor long-house at Lettaford. It dates from around 1500 and clearly shows the iconic configuration of domestic quarters to the left and animal quarters, downhill, to the right. The main door to the cross passage is just off centre. And there were others very similar at other places on our walk.

The small barn at the back of the long-house. Some of this dates from the 16th Century but most comes from the 18th. It is built of some fine ashlar granite blocks. This range of outbuildings of different ages reflects, most probably, the changes in agricultural practices over the years.

Lunch by the ford across the Curlicombe Brook, a tributary of the North Bovey river. Stepping stones one and a single span clapper bridge on the other so two ways to cross without getting your feet wet.

A slotted granite gate post. Pieces of wood would have been slotted in to form a barrier for livestock. The opposite post would have had a single slot to locate the cross pieces of wood. It must have taken a lot of effort to produce one of these gate posts but the raw material was to hand, labour was cheap, the skills were available and the result was good for a very long time. So, lots of advantages over making it in wood.

Heading back up onto the open moor via a pleasant footpath from Hurston. The footpath ended at the moor gate and we had to head off across this part of Chagford Down towards the general direction of where we wanted to go. The landscape means that it takes a while until you can get line-of-sight for your objective. All very reasonable if you are leading a walk but it must be a little unsettling for those following when the leader stops, ponders for a while and then seemingly meanders for a while. It's all under control and the meanders are just minor course corrections!

And this is where we came from. The Two Moors Way track can just be made out. Rather surprisingly it did not appear to be that well-trodden to me. Perhaps it's not as widely walked as I had assumed?

We walked passed a rather splendid double stone row on Hurston Ridge. It comprises some 100 medium-sized stones together with some small and large-sized stones situated on a north facing slope with extensive views. There is a cairn at one end and a blocking stone/menhir at the other. A nearby Neolithic settlement was presumably constructed at the same time.

Looking back over Chagford Down with the sun highlighted Chagford Beacon in the distance.

A timely reminder nearing the end of the walk that the landscape has been shaped by humans for many generations. Here the footpath took us through some open workings of tin mines, with a fenced-off shaft in the mid-ground. Just imagine, all of this gash would have been taken out by pick and shovel.

Everybody likes the tinkle of running water.

Goodbye. Thanks for visiting. See you again soon.