Dartmoor 365

Recently there was a Groupon deal that gave us tickets to Becky Falls at a reduced price, so we decided to visit this tourist attraction. We started by walking the Red Route.  At times this was quite hard walking, and we had to pick our path through boulders and tree roots as we walked up and down hill. We were not by the river a great deal of the time, although we could hear it.  At times we did see the river as it flowed down through small falls and pools.  Ititially we took the upper route of the red route.  When we got back to the beginning we started the route again, this time going on the lower route until we reached the boulder scramble.  At this point we turned back and made our way to the picnic area to have our lunch.  After this rest we followed the Blue Route.  This was much easier as it was meant for families with children.  It was very pretty by the river.

We parked the car at Parke and walked down to the river then up to the old railway line.  We had hoped that we would be able to follow this all the way into Lustleigh, but it has not all been completed yet, so after half an hour we met the road and had to follow this into Lustleigh.  At one point we turned off and found a path up to the old railway line, but this came to a dead end so we had to turn around and continue on the road. Lustleigh was a very pretty village with lots of thatched cottages.  We had our lunch in the village pub, The Cleave, which was excellent.  We walked through the village to the Town Orchard and found the stone with the May Queen throne. Having explored the village we walked back to Parke.  This time when we reached the estate we took a path off the railway line down to the river and walked back along the river, which was a prettier path although not so easy to walk as there were lots of tree roots growing ou...

We parked at the top of Summerhill Lane and walked down the track to the River Dart.  As we walked we looked for flowers in the hedges either side, as recommended by JH in Dartmoor 365. The hedges were particularly colourful with flora, but there were plenty of flowers to be seen. When we reached the river we were disappointed that we could not walk along the river bank as there were gates and signs saying no entry.  There were some rhododendrons growing by the river. As we walked back to the car we saw even more flowers, you just had to look carefully to find them. On our way home we stopped at Buckland Abbey.  Since we were there last time they had opened an exhibition about the history of the Abbey and about monastic life.  It was very interesting, using modern multi media to bring the subject alive.  The gardens were all looking lovely and it was so peaceful there.

As we drove around Burrator reservoir we came to a group of highland cattle walking along the road!  We parked at Norsworthy Bridge and walked up the path passed the derelict buildings that were Middleworth Farm and on to Middleworth Plantation.  The trees had been cut down here and it looked a bleak sight.  We should have turned off  to walk up hill but we missed the path.  When we realised it we took another path and headed in the right direction until we met the original path.  We carried out towards Downs Tor, although skirted the summit.  As we looked back there were lovely views of Burrator reservoir. We passed Down Tor and continued to climb.  When we reached the crest of the hill we could see the stone row and circle.  This is the longest stone row on Dartmoor and we walked its length, counting the stones.  We made it 57 stones.  It was certainly very impressive. Walking back to the car was a lot...

We had tried to find Yellowmead Circles before when we were following the instructions of a printed walk, however we had not been able to locate them.  This time we researched where they were on the internet and followed the OS map on my phone. We followed the direction of a wall just diverting at one point when we came to a field of cows with highland cattle with large horns. There were a lot of  hawthorn trees in blossom on our way to the area and on the walk we were able to find one field of bluebells, that are prolific on Dartmoor at the moment. We easily found the circles and we could easily identify the 4 concentric circles, although it was difficult to photograph showing the complete circles.

We parked in the layby below Grimspound.  I had heard there were bluebells on the slopes of Challacombe Down.  From where we parked I could see a blue haze, but not exceptionally impressive.  Maybe it would have been better close up. We climbed the hill to Grimspound, and it was an impressive Bronze age village that has been well preserved.  The wall was imposing, with the gates very clear and the road leading up to it.  You could clearly make out the houses. Having explored the site we walked back to the car and then further down the road to view the bluebells better.  We then drove on to the other end of Challocombe Down and parked by Challocombe Farm.  We could see the bluebells from the other end of the down from here We walked pass the derelict medieval village and along the river, which was a very pretty walk.   In his book JH particularly mentioned flowers that can be found in this squa...