The day for a long walk. Lots of water required, plus suncream and hats. We parked at East Okement, the end of the road for vehicles other than rangers and the military. The aim was Hangingstone Hill, and maybe others on the way. The track is easy walking for a mile or two, then the first decision was whether to go over Steeperton. It held some mystique for Jonathan due to Ten Tors memories, and we were able to plan an approach from the easier north east, so off the track we headed. It was down first into Steeperton Gorge, and a snack stop. Then south before taking the north easterly path up to the top. There are several outcrops on Steeperton Tor (532m) [D10], and an army hut which provided some welcome shade. On such a sunny day we were able to identify many other tors, and make plans for our next summit.
There was a fairly straightforward path down to the ford over Steeperton Brook [Knack Mine Ford E9], then we could see the path up to Wild Tor (531m) [E10]. The rocks here are really impressive and again we were glad they provided some shade. Suncream was reapplied!
Somehow Jonathan persuaded me it was worth also heading to Watern. I'm not sure how, as it was so hot by this point. We started on a path down into the valley, but it wasn't at all clear. I did find pushing our way through grass quite hard going. Were I to do this again or advise others, I'd say get to the line of firing range boundary posts as soon as you can - there's a path which follows them down to the water. Going down took us out of the little breeze that there had been on top, so we didn't stop for long near the water. We then wiggled our way up Watern Tor (537m), also with Thirlstone (526m) [F10], pictured in black and white below. A shady rock and lunch required although we'd had lots of snack stops already!
We could see the path to Hangingstone, albeit a bit of down and up again! Once we reached the ridge, the walking got easier, and as we were already over five miles, I was very glad of this. Our highest point of the year so far at 596m, Hangingstone Hill is mostly good for the views rather than the tor itself!
We were then on good paths to descend into Steeperton Gorge. There was a long way to go, but a few clouds now, so not quite so exhaustingly hot. As we crossed the water, some other walkers stopped to talk - they were out for the day from Saltash!
Rather than retrace our steps, we continued north out of the gorge, heading for Oke Tor (466m) [D9], before making our way back to the car.
We'd walked 10.3 miles and climbed over 1500 feet in just over six hours. A great sense of achievement, though, to add six Tors to my list, five of which were over 500m high.
No comments:
Post a Comment