Two days, two walks, two counties...

Walks on two consecutive days this week: different terrains and different counties. And, guess what, no rain on both occasions.



Walk 1 was a circular walk based on Chillaton, just over the border in Devon. Our 5.4 mile route took us through fields and down quiet country lanes, with views of Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor at various points on the way around.

Here we are looking west towards Dartmoor with Brentor Church clearly visible on its volcanic plug.

Now this is what I call a letter box. It's for Narracot Farm, which, or so we learnt, hosts the 'Secret Table' on select dates between June and September. They have an impressive wood-fuelled oven and hold 'ticket only' evenings for those who know about them. We'll go this summer with friends.

One of the country lanes we walked along. Lots of primroses around at this time of year but the hedgerows and banks haven't really got into their stride yet.

The group threading its way across just one of the many fields we negotiated. I should have taken a photograph of the lambs we saw in almost every other field we came across.

Can you see the eye, nose and droopy moustache on this tree? I can.

Walk 2 was different from Walk 1 in many ways: it was a solo affair so I had no company (not even my IWC was with me), it was in Cornwall (hooray) and it featured open moorland. And it  had a castle (of sorts). The 5.5 mile route took me up onto a part of Bodmin Moor that I've never explored before - East Moor. Lots of cairns, hut circles and other antiquities scattered around, giving evidence of human use back to the Bronze Age.

After traversing a few muddy fields, I got to the fringe of the Moor. The track I had to follow for a while was more like a river bed than anything else.

And here is a real river bed, the Lynher (pronounced Liner as in Cunard). The Lynher is relatively short, about 20 miles, and flows into the Tamar estuary by way of St Germans.

Nestling in a wood, just above the Lynher, were the ruins of Upton Castle. Actually, it's not a castle, more of a fortified house surrounded by some fortifications. It dates from the 12th century (during the time of King Stephen and The Anarchy) and is thought to have been the residence of a lesser landholder. Its design makes it a 'ringwork' and, apparently, it is the only one of this type in Cornwall and there are only six in the country.

There isn't a lot remaining to look at but this photograph shows the inner area surrounded by a bank. What remains is best seen at this time of year before the vegetation springs up. It was one of the reasons I was keen to walk this route. Was it worth it? Yes, I think so as the site had a rather mysterious and isolated atmosphere which was pleasant to experience.

From the 'castle' and the river, it was a bit of a slog up to the imaginatively named Ridge and East Moor proper. These are the remains of a ring cairn with a rather windswept hawthorn tree. Many of the cairns up here have been robbed of many of their stones by neighbouring farms for building purposes. The cairns themselves were Bronze Age in origin.

Nine Stones Circle, so named because there are nine stones - count them. How old are they? Bronze Age or Mediaeval? They are probably not as old as might be thought and it is known that they were 'reconstructed' in the late Victorian era. How accurate the reconstruction was is anyone's guess as the antiquarians of the time tended to follow their own ideas of what the original should have looked like rather than any detailed research. Whatever their age, the stones certainly have a rather bleak setting, in amongst hut circles and rows of parish boundary stones. Because there is nothing else they can use, these stones make ideal scratching posts for the cattle roaming freely up here and that's why the base of the stones is worn and filled with water.

A lone stone which some claim is part of an alignment with other structures. Maybe it is but, as for the Nine Stones Circle, it obviously attracts cattle in search of a good scratch.

Another cairn/tumulus. Not much to see here but it was a useful sighting point on the way to Fox Tor. Around it were a few rather indistinct hut circles.



The trig point at the top of Fox Tor. It is visible for miles around and is a very useful navigation point. But, believe me, it was a very windy place to be. I don't know about blowing the cobwebs away but my carefully coiffed hair was a total mess after I'd been there.



Trig Pointing UK tells me that S5734 was a third order pillar point and ranks 868th in the list of most visited trig points. Fancy that.

The trig point may no longer be used for its original purpose but it does make a handy table for lunch. Three seconds after taking this, they were all blown off and scattered by the wind. How I enjoyed scrabbling around to get them back.