PETER TAVY, DARTMOOR

DISTANCE 15.8KM (9.8 MILES) CLIMBING 480M (1,575 FT) TIME 1HR TO 2HRS

Route summary: Some lovely moorland riding in a quiet part of Dartmoor National Park, offering great views and a variety of trails at the home of the cream tea

Start/finish: Smeardon Down car park (postcode: PL19 9QL, grid ref: SX 521/779)

1

Turn left out of the car park then left on a bridleway signed ‘Stephen’s Grave’. Climb steeply, turning left shortly past a tor and beside a boulder, on a wide grassy track. Aim for the corner of the wall and go through the gate here, then proceed to the left of the farm.

2

Follow the stone wall to the left, through some more gates, as the track improves and comes to a road. Go left to a T-junction and go right here, uphill. Keep ahead on the dead-end road, signed ‘Wapsworthy’, until the tarmac ends. Follow the track right, signed ‘Merrivale Range’.

3

Go past a military hut, through a gate. The trail becomes grassy and you fork right, uphill, with a small valley and stream on the right. Keep ahead when the wall ends, and near the top, turn right on a more defined track, now aiming towards the corner of a wall. 4

Keep the wall on your right and descend, aiming for the mound of White Tor, past a standing stone. The trail becomes a stone track with drainage ditches. Ride down to a road (with the car park to the right). Go left over the cattle grid, into the farmyard, and fork right. Follow this track through Higher Godsworthy Farm, over another cattle grid, and stay on the tarmac.

5

Follow the road right and soon, when it veers slightly left, turn right through a gate on a bridleway. Bear right at a fork, through the wall. Cross the field and head left, to Great Combe Tor. Proceed on the track to the right, behind the tor, and follow it down through the trees.

6

Cross the stream at the bottom and bear right to climb back up the other side of the valley to a road. Turn right on this, back to the car park to finish.