18th September

It was supposed to be a short walk week, but having had another week with no rain, it made sense to head to the high moor again.  Having missed Beardown due to firing last week, we headed to Two Bridges for one of our longer treks!

Just back across the bridge from the car parking area, there's a footpath over a stile.  It leads through a very pretty area, walking up by the Cowsic River through a small woodland.  The path then crosses the river, and is well signposted through a farm.  A little way up, it turns off along a leat, climbing gradually and passing through a corner of the forested area.  A way on out of the forest, we crossed the leat over a stone bridge and began a climb up to our first tor.  We clambered up two of the three Beardown Tors (513m), one with the flagpole, and also the highest point.  Tor number 1.

There was a clear path on to our next summit - Lydford Tor (510m).

From Lydford, we headed north west, still on a fairly clear path, at least until we reached the Cowsic again. Here the Cowsic meets Conies Down Water at Travellers' Ford [K8].  It's another crossing way of the Lych Way.  The other side of the stream was quite boggy, and then a steep climb to Conies Down Tor (533m), number 3.

The direct route to our next destination would have been down and up, but instead we found a path, albeit boggy in places, on a fairly level plain around to Beardown Man [J8].  It was a bit blowy - here is my sherpa, with his big rucksack carrying wellies again just in case, making sure the Man didn't fall in the wind!  It's worth having a read about this menhir - it's the one at the highest altitude on the moor.  I challenged Jonathan to write him a new poem - I'll let you know if he follows up on the commission!

Tor number 4 is right next to the menhir - Devil's Tor (549m), our highest point of the day.

The path onwards was vague in parts, and boggy, but still not quite bad enough to need wellies.  I was very glad this was after a couple of dry weeks.  Here is Rough Tor (547m), number 5.

From Rough Tor, we headed downwards to the iconic Crow Tor (501m) [K9] and Little Crow Tor (500m).  It's very recognisable and yes, named for looking like a crow's beak.  6 and 7.

From Little Crow, I wanted to fill in a gap from a previous walk.  When we visited Higher White Tor earlier last month, I didn't realise there was another tor over 500m just on the side of Higher White.  So we headed down to the West Dart River, which is a large stream here, crossable on rocks, and up to Little Whiten Tor (501m).  It's much more obvious approaching from this side, for sure.  A total of 8 new tors over 500m completed.

Rather than heading along the valley, we found a stile across the nearby wall, and headed towards Longaford Tor.  In retrospect, it might have been easier to continue to Higher White, from where there is a clear path to Longaford.  Instead it was mostly through high grass and tummocks, so not the easiest part of the day.  We visited Longaford and Littaford earlier this year, but this time I will add in Little Bee Tor (450m), which is the last tor we saw before descending to the track towards the car.  A 10 mile walk, and we were very ready to stop at the end!