28th June

A warm day, if cloudy. Starting from the eastern end of Burrator Reservoir [Q5], we first walked into the nature reserve. It's a lovely place for an afternoon stroll, but we were heading further up. It was indeed quite a climb up Sheeps Tor, although the paths were soft and grassy, so not difficult until we got to the clitter closer to the top.  We were looking for two extra tors - the one on the way up was Narrator (360m).  I was glad of a short stop here before climbing further - partly because there was a brief shower.  The views back across the reservoir and Leather Tor on the other side were beautiful.



We carried on to the summit of Sheeps Tor (369m), but it seems approaching it from this side, the most spectacular bit is not in view.  There's a popular climbing area on the South West side, and we made sure to find our way round to see this part too.  A slightly different descent in a westerly direction took us past Maiden Tor (304m), before heading back along a bridle path. and back through Burrator Nature Reserve.  All in all a pleasant afternoon walk.



15th-21st June

A week's holiday, due to be spent camping near the moor and reaching as many tor summits as possible. Instead, as much due to a recovering ankle as lockdown, we started the week with a few miles on the flat. For this, we booked in and enjoyed a lovely couple of hours at Antony House gardens and woodland. We'd never managed to get there before, as the property is closed on Fridays and Saturdays, which tend to be our days off.

Thankfully, this brought no extra ankle difficulties. So our next trip was to the most westerly tor, Brent Tor (334m) [J1]. It's a quick jaunt up from the church car park, the last bit being steps to the well photographed church. It was open, with hand sanitiser to use before entry.  A few prayers and scripture readings were available for contemplation, including one of my favourite Psalms, 121.

As we came out of the church, the sky was very dark, and before we were back in the car, the rain had started.

I did make Jonathan read me the poem from the Dartmoor 365 book, though, before we left the car park. It tells of the legend of the founding of the church on Brentor. We then drove home in a storm with thunder and lightning!  Other than driving through North Brentor village [I1] and spotting the old railway station, our plan to hunt for more of the Dartmoor 365 points of interest was washed away.

After a couple of days in Bristol with my mum, we had one more trip to the moor. Parking north west of Princetown, we trekked up to Little Mis Tor (pictured below, 485m) and then Great Mis (538m). Rain seems to be a theme this month, as our search for the Devil's frying pan on the top was curtailed as a heavy shower blew in. Actually, by the time we reached the car, the wind had dried us out! Hey ho, pretty normal for Dartmoor.