We parked at Bedford Bridge and walked up the path signed to Drake's Trail. After a while we could see the viaduct to the left. It is so large I could not photograph it in its entirety.
We had attempted to find the granite flagpole base on Little Trowlesworthy Tor before but had not been successful. We decided to try again. We were following the walk in Off The Beaten Track. We parked at Blackabrook Bridge and walked up to Trowlesworthy Farm. Having walked around it we headed up to Great Trowlesworthy Tor and started to look for the flagpole base. To begin with we could not find it , but when we walked on further we came to another tor and there was flagpole base. As we walked back down to Trowlesworthy Farm we came to a vermin trap, but the lid in the middle was missing.
Having just done a short walk to Buckland Beacon we drove on to Hemsworthy Gate. Looking for the objects highlighted by JH in Dartmoor 365 in this area made us feel we were on a treasure hunt. We soon found the old signpost, thegatepost that is now in a wall and the Stittleford's Cross. Having looked around the area by Hemsworthy Gate we went through a gate to climb Rippon Tor. Some purple heather was out, giving splashes of colour but it wasn't dense enough to make a a purple carpet. Near the top of the tor we wandered around and found the millstones and recumbant cross. The views from the top of the tor were spectacular even though it was misty in the distant and you could not see the far reaching views. As I walked down the tor I realised that we had been the only people on the tor while we explored it. This added to our enjoyment and it was such a contrast to the crowds on the nearby Haytor.
We parked at the foot of Merripit Hill and walked up the hill until we reached a wall. We followed this wall along only having to leave it once to avoid a marshy area and to cross a stream. As JH anticipated in his book birds hopped along the wall in front of us. They were not close enough to identify or photograph but could have been wheatears. After walking for 30 mnutes we we reached the end of the wall, where there was another wall joining it, it was not very interesting, but it had been easy to find. After we walked back to the car we drove to Warren House Inn (I13) where we had a delicious lunch. After lunch we walked up the path at the side of the Inn up Water Hill. The heather was just coming out and looked particularly good just above the Inn. Part way up Water Hill we turned off to a path that went along Hurston Ridge. This was a fairly flat walk with a clear path. We hoped that we would see the stone row from this ...
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