A walk along the East Okement River

The weather was set fair-ish and we set off for a walk along the East Okement River just outside of Okehampton on the eastern fringe of Dartmoor. A new area of the moor for us and yet another to do in another season. In fact, one to do again for the other three seasons. It was a shade over 6 miles and was a good mixture of riverside clambering, woodland paths and open moorland. And fresh air, fresh air, lots of fresh air.

Our route started at the old station, dropped down into the town briefly and then headed roughly due south to pick up the East Okement River. From there we picked up some height near Scarey Tor, before taking a northern line through the Halstocks back to the starting point.

Heading along the path into Ball Wood. Just a little leaf colour remaining.

Railway bridge over the East Okement, still in use as a line to Meldon Quarry and as the short but picturesque touristy Dartmoor Line.

Lots of water coming down the river and the noise of the cascades accompanied us for about half of our perambulation.

More water and a missed opportunity to snap a dipper.

You can never get too much of water.

Heath Waxcaps in profusion.

Not Heath Waxcaps. No idea what they are but they were very attractive.

A Jelly Fungus - the Yellow Brain fungus, with the delightful name Tremella mesenterica. Although it grows on gorse, it is a parasite and feeds on another flat (resupinate) fungus.

Even in the most out of the way places on the moor, you'll come across signs of human activity. This lump of granite was split (see the drill holes) after a lot of effort but, for some reason, left lying around. The piece to the left seems a reasonable gatepost: so why wasn't it used?

The open moor looking south, with the mist moving from the right towards the Army Camp on the left. The military have had a presence on this part of the moor since the Napoleonic Wars and it was a Red Flag day today, so we had to keep off the firing range.