Arc of the coverment

Having got wind of a 'new' stone circle on Dartmoor, having the day off, the sun shining and Spook in need of an arr-yoo-en, we set off for Postbridge to have a butchers.

Climbing up to Broad Down we dropped down to Sandy Hole Pass, crossing the East Dart just upstream, and plodged up to Statt's House (the remains of a small tinners' hut). Making a bee line towards Sittaford Tor I cut off towards the standing stone, almost falling over the excavations. The stones came to light in 2007 after a fire burned off the tussock grass and Alan Endacott was in the right place at the right time.

It was tricky to get a good ground level shot, but this is quite an impressive circle (you had to be there, really...) Dave P (who penned the piece in the link) suggests that the previously known circles in the area describe an arc, into which this new one fits nicely. This got my inner Dartmoor anorak all excited about possible locations for other ones. Should make for some good runs, anyway.

Adit or no......?

Before settling into a bout of decorating I thought it would be a good time to go for a nose round an adit which was brought to my attention by Ian, a fellow bloggist.

Parking at Boulter's Tor quarry we padded past Setters Tor and Stephen's Grave before heading up to White Tor. From there we dropped down to the longstone following the newtake wall to White Barrow and on to Lynch Tor.

To give Spook a drink I dropped down to the Baggator Brook and followed the newtake wall to the adit.

Having a good look at it, I reckon its got 'potato cave or something similar' written all over it. It looks like Leather Tor potato cave in terms of size and finish on the walls and is close to a group of old farms. I couldn't see right in, but it looks as though it tapers off after 10m or so to an end-wall (although this could be a roof-fall or deliberate blockage.) Most telling, though, is the fact that it's dry - every other adit I know of is a reedy, boggy affair full of water cold enough to freeze your bones, even at the height of the summer. This is as dry as a bone.

As well as this I couldn't see any major mining activity above or around it, although there was a dry leat running just above it and a string of small test pits (easier to spot on Google Earth than on the ground)

My money's on a potato cave although I could be wrong (wouldn't be the first time)
From here we ran up the Baggator Brook as far as WD27 (one of a series of War Department marker stones) before cutting up to Lynch Tor and retracing our steps back to Boulters Tor quarry.