Monday 7 May 2012

A Forest



The opportunity presented itself for a longer run on Sunday so I thought it would be rude not to. I'm doing a Gold NNAS training towards the end of the month so I could combine a run with a recce.
High Down was fairly busy for the time of day with a couple of minibuses and about a dozen other cars.

We set off at an easy trot across the Lyd and headed north to pick up the Rattlebrook Peat track before cutting off towards Sourton Tors. You don't see other runners for months, then three come at once.
Heading towards Shelstone Tor we dropped down to the West Okement and crossed just before Black-a-Tor Copse, a tangle of stunted oaks, boulders and lichen. We jinked through the boulders and ducked the clutching branches after taking a photo of the wild campist.



class.....
Trotting upriver we passed beneath Lints Tor and followed the West Okement as it twisted and turned like a twisty turny thing past Jackman's Bottom and on up to Cranmere Pool for the first visit of the year. It was busy by Cranmere Pool standards with a comprehensively-equipped walker just leaving the letterbox and a team of Ten Tors trainees inbound.

After a quick flick through the visitors' book we plodged across the fen to Black Ridge and up to Cut Hill which was crowned by another team having their lunch. After a brief visit to Fur Tor we crossed the Amicombe at Sandy Ford and followed the Tavy to Rattlebrook Foot after a bit of scrambling under Watern Oke.

After the climb to Chat Tor it was downhill all the way via Brat Tor to a splash through the Lyd and back to the car. 





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