Back on Dartmoor for a Four Tor walk

Our first group walk of 2024 and what better place to head for than Dartmoor? The weather forecast was very favourable and it did not disappoint. It was great to get out in the fresh air and have a good stretch. We hadn't walked a lot of this route before and it's one that will be worth repeating in another season. Great views, very varied and reasonably challenging.

We started at the Lowery Cross car park quite near to Burrator Reservoir. From there, we picked up the erstwhile Yelverton to Princetown railway track and kept on this until we got to Ingra Tor. Then it was across open moorland to Leeden Tor and Little Leeden Tor and down and up to Black Tor. That was the highest point of the walk and we dropped down to the Meavy and the Devonport Leat for our return leg. My GPS gave the distance at 7.1 miles and I'll admit that it felt like that. I'm obviously out of condition! New Year's Resolution: keep up the walking!

Just on the railway track and looking across fields towards Walkhampton Church. If you want to stay there, you can. It's called 'champing'. Camping in a church!

A panorama of tors in the north. Pew Tor (P), Cox Tor (C), Staple Tor (S), Vixen Tor (P2), Mis Tor (M1) and Kings Tor (K). We've walked them all with the exception of Vixen Tor, that is on private land and access is fiercely forbidden.

The entrance to Ingra Tor Quarry. It was one of the smallest quarries in the area and one of the shortest lived. In common with its neighbours, it probably started working in the 1790s and seems to have been abandoned in the late 1800s.

Unlike most other abandoned quarries, Ingra Tor did not have a central body of water. Not a lot to see there, really, except for the bases of two cranes.

The main outcrop of Leeden Tor. There are others on what must be one of the more dispersed tors on the moor.

And then it was down and up to Black Tor. Another impressive outcrop of granite. At the top is a 'logan stone', which is reputed to rock if you stand on its end. We didn't try it.

Apart from antiquities and remnants of Dartmoor's mining history, every now and again you'll come across something odd. How about this brown metallic 'plug' on the side of Black Tor?  It's actually a capped and abandoned borehole, a relic of a 19th Century project to create a reservoir in the nearby Meavy valley. A project that came to nothing because of the preferred site at Burrator.

The hidden gem of the Blackator Falls on the River Meavy. Just left of centre are the remains of a medieval blowing hose that was an integral part of tin ore processing. It would have taken its power from the river, possibly by a launder from the top of the falls. 

The Raddick aquaduct taking the Devonport Leat over the River Meavy. Nowadays the water flows through a metal chute but it was originally made of oak. One replaced the other around 1832.

Recently, this monstrous fence was installed to allegedly protect walkers from falling into the leat on one side or into the river on the other. In my humble opinion, totally unnecessary. I've never heard or read of anyone coming to harm on this crossing. Bloody health and safety!

A stretch of the leat as it passes through the Stanlake Plantation.

Rather eye-catching mossy trees are a feature of Dartmoor. A sign of the temperate climate - cool and damp!

Some stretches of the leat appear to go uphill but they don't - obviously. But, just in case we were missing something, we did double check the elevations at the beginning and end of this stretch and height is lost. Just an optical illusion.

Looking across to Burrator Reservoir. It was getting a little overcast so light levels were too low for a clear image.

And just to finish a short video of the leat and aquaduct at Raddick. Put you head to one side to see it properly. Have the sound up to enjoy the sound of running water. The pipe? That takes water from the Meavy to 'top up' the leat.