Saturday morning was stormy, wet and miserable. We drove up to North Devon hoping that the forecast is accurate, and that the sky would clear up… We set off from Mortehoe to Buggy point with the first glimpse of blue skies and sun. Silly wind on the cliff top, it was pretty hard to stay stable. Lee bay was sheltered from the energetic sea. A perfect WalkSwim!
Its a relatively calm day and a nice northerly wind means there no gusts. The sun even shines from time to time making it feels more than 6 -7 degrees.
A teenager on board
We’re heading up the river Taw in a truly winter day. Its cold and windy but feels so great to be out. The hills have an extra layer of beautiful ice and snowy patch.
We were heading to the stone circle near Little Hound Tor but soon discovered that we’ll have to take our shoes off to cross the Taw.. We’ve decided instead to climb the small ridge towards Higher Tor and Belstone common and pay tribute to the Irishman’s wall
A view south past Oke Tor. The Western parts of Dartmoor have a decent cover of snow.
Borders Stones and Higher Tor in the background
Belstone Tor
Logan Stone and Irishman’s Wall
Alex Nail was here before … http://www.alexnail.com/dartmoor/irish-wall/
A and me visited again in May 2015: https://mostlyoutdoorsone.wordpress.com/2015/05/04/belstone-to-wild-tor/
Third time in a month we find ourselves on the top of Dartmoor. We were heading somewhere else, for a gentle walk when we saw the white cover over the high tors near Okehampton. A quick change of plan and a gorgeous climb in a perfect sunny day (even the wind at the summit was not too bad …). The snow was very fresh and soft although every footstep quickly turned it into a slippery icy patch. I recon it was snowing on Saturday, maybe even at the early hours of the morning. Perfect timing!
West Mill Tor (on the right) and Yes Tor covered with fresh snow
Looking towards High Wilhays, with Great Links Tor on the right
A lot of attachment to this growing snowball.
It started its life as a tiny ball on the lower slopes of West Mil Tor, where a thin cover of snow powder got A’ very excited.
Snow on Yes Tor with view to the North West
Snow on Yes tor with West Mill tor in the background
The ball then grew steadily as we climbed Yes Tor white slopes and A’ determinedly hold on to this his cold snowball.
The staple tors are within easy reach from Cox Tor car Park on the Tavistock – Princetown road near Merrivale and are extremely photogenic.
We climbed up and continued to Roos Tor, which was probably the most enjoyable part of the walk, From Roos Tor we could have a glimpse of the Northern Moor, which we visited earlier today.
Looking back from Roos Tor to Great Staple Tor:
It is hard to visit the Staples Tors without thinking of Alex Nail’s iconic pictures.
and the magnificent moon rise picture.
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