Dartmoor Tors and Hilltops: Perfect 10

Saturday, 21 May 2011

Perfect 10

Tom on Swelltor

North Hessary Tor

Another beautiful evening for a run over the moors. I met with Will Hancock and Tom Davidson at Princetown and set off down the disused railway, after the trees we turned left for the climb to North Hessary Tor (36). This would be a stunning Tor if weren't for the television mast which has been in place since the 1950's I guess before the creation of Dartmoor National Park. The Tor does offer a great view point, with stunning views of the north moor. We continued north for the small hop to Rundlestone Tor (49), before turning to the west to Hollow Tor (61). We then turned our attention to Foggin Tor, a small detour saw us take in one of the makers on the Abbot's Way , with it's distinctive A for Ashburton on it's eastern side and T for Tavistock on it's western. It would appear that Foggintor (110) was quarried long ago and as such doesn't survive as Tor anymore (But I would happily revisit this area if I was to hear differently). From the eastern edge of the quarry we drop down to cross the old railway before climbing to a small tor on the south-eastern flank of the hill. Is this Swelltor (204) or was that to excavated during the quarrying here. Whatever the answer the small tor is very nice with an excellent stack. We turned north to Kings Tor (115), and this tor was most definitely there and offers a lot to explore. We discussed the plan from here and decided to head over to Ingra Tor, Leeden Tor before heading home. We descended off the tor, in an effort to find the unused corbels that were destined for the old London Bridge, we dropped right onto these. They always appear to me that they have been here just a short time and will picked up any time. We dropped down to the disused railway for the run around to Ingra Tor. On the way we took and quick detour to Fur Tor (202) and Yes Tor(203) both omitted from the list and no where to be seen on the OS map, but are clearly marked on the Harvey's 1:40,000 of Dartmoor. Fur Tor in particular is a nice little tor with a some big slabs of rock. Ingra Tor (151) was soon reached and we turned our attention to Leeden Tor (124), with a easy run run along a friendly sheep track. We took our final rest on top before the 3km run back to Princetown. Another excellent run in ideal conditions.