5th July

Trying to keep away from the main busy areas of Dartmoor, we parked south of Princetown for our next walk, rather than in the village.  Our main destination was South Hessary Tor, but we took a long route around, firstly heading for a triangulation point south west of the tor.

As often seems to be the case, the paths were the places water gathered, so much of this first part of the walk was from grass clump to clump. I didn't succeed in keeping the water out of my boots, Jonathan fared a little better.  From the triangulation point, we carried on in search of Cramber Pool [P8]. This and a gert running up to it is all that remains of a tin mine and we were glad we didn't get too close as there may be a hole in the bottom!

The next stop was Cramber Tor (421m), with views westward.  Then down to the north, across a bok and up to Hart Tor (390m). We had wondered whether to fit in nearby Black Tor also, but it would have been another down and up, crossing another brook, and time and energy were not on our side. So from Hart, we headed east, and climbed South Hessary Tor [O8] (450m). On top of the tor, there is an old metal forest boundary marker, known as Excalibur. You can see why from the photo. The Tor marks one of the boundaries of the Forest of Dartmoor.

The walk back to the car involved negotiating our way carefully through a group of cattle with their young. More clumps to find underfoot!