Remote patrol

Time for another training run to Fur Tor. Although reputedly Dartmoor's most remote tor I can get there in about 40 minutes from Bagtor Gate and know other runners who could get there a good deal quicker. In fact, few spots on the moor are more than 3 or 4 miles from a road or drive-able track.

To get some distance in needs a bit of imagination so I parked up at Prewley Water Works and padded up past the ice works to join the Rattlebrook Peat Works track to Great Links Tor. From there it was a brief visit to the Dunna Goats before a trot over to Chat Tor and up to Hare Tor.

Following Dead Lake we cooled our heels crossing the Rattle Brook and then followed the Tavy to Sandy Ford. From here was the pull up to Fur Tor where we stopped for a photo shoot.


Crossing Cut Combe Water and Black Ridge Brook we headed for Broad Amicombe Hole and followed the West Okement to Shelstone Tor and back to the car park. 14 miles in 3 hours and 20 mins.


So it's not a wilderness and nowhere on the moor can really be described as remote - at least not by those who have had the good fortune to visit truly wild places. Small, fragile and often hauntingly beautiful could be closer to the mark.

Oh, and I haven't even started on barren, inhospitable, bottomless bogs and unpredictable weather yet........