Dartmoor; Haytor/Houndtor Circular Walk

We leave our accommodation in St Marychurch and drive to the next, in Okehampton, via southern Dartmoor, stopping at the Dartmoor National Park at Haytor. We are recommended an excellent walk with lots of variety - the Houndtor Circular Walk.

From here, we walk to Haytor Quarry, the largest of five in the area, all of which were linked by granite tramways; these continuous rails were built from 1820 to transport granite downhill to Stover Canal and then on to Teignmouth Docks. Next, we walked on to Smallacombe Tocks prehistoric settlement; these were round houses with conical roofs thatched with rush, gorse, etc.

It's downhill now to cross Becka Brook via a clapper bridge mafe from granite slabs. Then, uphill towards Houndtor medieval 13th century settlement, a small hamlet consisting of the remains of four farmsteads (longhouses) abandoned in the 14th century. We pass Hound Tor itself, and then Greattor as we head downhill to cross Becka Brook again and walk up Holywell spoil heap, the remains of another old quarry, and join the granite tramways again.

We then climb up to the Haytor Rocks, dating from the Devonian Period, enjoy our sandwiches, and walk downhill to the visitor centre. It has been an excellent walk.Read more