Walks 2020

The year of 2020 has turned out to be quite challenging, which has resulted in our being able to hold the fewest number of walks in a year, certainly since 2005. We had a very good start to the year with an attendance of twenty walkers for the Christmas walk, on 17th January, with six more joining us for the meal at the Drewe Arms in Drewsteignton. We then lost the February Walk to the severe weather being forecast in the days leading up to the walk. Then came the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and subsequent lockdowns which resulted in our losing three further walks (April, May and November). We also lost the August walk to the weather, but we were able to rearrange it at short notice for 4th September. In between these disruptions we have managed a total of eight walks for the year, of which the latter ones have certainly been appreciated as an escape from the limitations of lockdown.

User notes for viewing the walk Photos, Research Notes and Track are shown at the foot of the page.

Tuesday 15th December 2020		Distance: 9.20 Miles
Walkers	Route	Lunch Break	Weather	Wildlife	Notes
David M	Princetown, South Hessary Tor, Cramber Trig Pillar, Cramber Tor, Crazywell Pool, Crazywell Farm, Norsworthy Plantation, Leather Tor Bridge, Leather Tor Farm, Devonport Leat, Meavy Falls, Hart Tor, Devil's Elbow and return along the old Princetown Railway track.	Leather Tor Bridge.	Cloudy & mild, with a strong south westerly breeze and a couple of short showers of rain.	Buzzard, Crow, Gulls, Robin and a small flock of unidentified Waders.
Maurice
Bob W.
Roy

Tuesday 27th October 2020		Distance: 8.52 Miles
Walkers	Route	Lunch Break	Weather	Wildlife	Notes
David M.	Harford Moor Gate, around Lower Piles, through Higher Piles, Piles Copse, Harford Moor, Left Lake, Redlake Tramway Track to Weatherdon Hill, Tor Rocks and return to the car park.	Sheltered from the wind on the banks of the Left Lake, below the Tramway.	Cloudy in the morning, with rain clearing as we started the walk and a light shower at lunchtime. Clearing up in the afternoon with some blue sky and sunshine. Very windy all day.	Crows and Wood Pigeons.
Maurice
Bob W.
Tim

Friday 25th September 2020		Distance: 8.15 Miles
Walkers	Route	Lunch Break	Weather	Wildlife	Notes
David & Peggy	Hexworthy, Down Ridge, Deep Swincombe, Fairy Bridge, John Bishop's House, Swincombe Farm, Royal Hill, Sherberton Farm and return.	At the western end of the Swincombe Track.	Cool and fresh with a strong north-westerly wind. Sunny, with cloud moving swiftly across, some of which brought light showers of rain in the morning.	Great Black-backed Gull, House Martins, Jackdaws, Linnets, Mallards, Meadow Pipits, Ravens, Wheatears, Rabbit & Large White Butterfly.
Maurice
Bob W.
Roy

Friday 4th September 2020		Distance: 8.15 Miles
Walkers	Route	Lunch Break	Weather	Wildlife	Notes
David & Peggy	Meldon Reservoir car park, West Okement valley, Red-a-Ven Brook, Black Down, Red-a-Ven Brook, Military Track, Yes Tor, High Willhays, Fordsland Ledge, Black Tor, Longstone Hill and return over the Meldon Reservoir dam.	In the shelter of the rocks at Yes Tor.	Mild, Cloudy and dry, with a persistent breeze a.m., clearing to sunny intervals in the afternoon.	Buzzard, Green Woodpecker, Kestrels, Ravens, Skylarks, Swallows, Wheatears & Large White Butterfly.	Roy and Alison walked straight up to Yes Tor from the Red-a-ven Brook, rather than walking around to the military track.
Maurice
Roy & Alison
Tim

Friday 31st July 2020 (2)		Distance: 7.73 Miles
Walkers	Route	Lunch Break	Weather	Wildlife	Notes
David	South Zeal car park, The Cemetery (Triple Stone Row, Cairn & Cist), Little Hound Tor Stone Circle, Flock O' Sheep rocks, White Hill, Cosdon Summit and return to the car park.	Amongst the Flock O' Sheep rocks.	Very hot and humid. Clear sky in the morning, clouding over from mid-day.	Buzzard, Pipit, Ravens, Skylark, Snipe, Willow Warbler, Adder, Lizard, Dragonfly and Common Blue, Large White, Small Heath and Speckled Wood Butterflies.
Maurice
Bob W.
Roy & Alison
Chris & Tim

Friday 26th June 2020		Distance: 6.88 Miles
Walkers	Route	Lunch Break	Weather	Wildlife	Notes
David & Peggy	Shipley Bridge, Reservoir Access Road, Woolholes, Dockwell Ridge, Shipley Tor, Dockwell Hole, Dockwell Ridge, Smallbrook Plains, Avon Dam and return along the Access Road.	Near a Boundary Stone, just above Dockwell Hole.	Warm, Light Cloud and a little Misty with a threat of Rain which didn't materialise.	Blackcap, Buzzard, Gulls, Heron, Magpies, Raven, Skylarks, Stonechat, Swallow, Willow Warbler and a Yellowhammer.
Maurice
Bob W.

Friday 20th March 2020		Distance: 7.21 Miles
Walkers	Route	Lunch Break	Weather	Wildlife	Notes
Maurice	Scout Hut, Track towards Eylesbarrow, Drizzlecombe, Ditsworthy Warren House, Legis Tor, Brisworthy Stone Circle, Ringmoor Down Stone Circle & Row, Gutter Tor Trig. Pillar, Gutter Tor Cross and return to the Scout Hut car park.	Hunkered down in the gorse bushes, sheltered from the wind, near the Brisworthy Stone Circle.	Light cloud and dry, but with a very strong and cold north easterly wind.	Buzzard, Crows, Fieldfare, Gulls, Partridge, Pied Wagtail, Skylarks, Starlings.
Roy & Alison

Friday 17th January 2020		Distance: 6.28 Miles
Walkers	Route	Coffee Break	Weather	Wildlife	Notes
David & Peggy	Drewsteignton Village, Two Moors Way, Rectory Wood, Fingle Bridge, path along the south bank of the River Teign to Coombe, up towards Castle Drogo and return along the Hunter's Path and Two Moors Way.	At Fingle Bridge.	Very wet with rain and hail showers, with blue skies and sunshine in between.	Crow, Robin & Woodpecker.	Dave B, Shirley, Brian, Mary, Steve and Sue L. joined us for the meal in the Drewe Arms.
Maurice
Roy & Alison
Colin & Ann
Dick & Jenny
John & Brenda
Glenn B. & Di W.
Sus S, Gary & Val
Chris & Tim
Hywel & Sandra

Notes:

1) Photos
a) We are now moving away from using Flickr for the photo albums and, from January 2020, all the presentations have been put direct onto this website, which will make access to the photos much easier and quicker.
b) To view the photos for a particular month, simply click on the red 'Photos' button at the head of the month's walk (above). This will open a new browser window and take you direct to the first photo of the presentation.
c) Photos can be navigated forwards and backwards by clicking the arrows on the right and left-hand sides of the screen.
d) The photos, normally 25 to a set, are numbered and a brief description is shown below the photo.
e) There is also a photo reference and a name to show the photo's owner towards the top of each page. This makes it easier to contact us if you would like a copy of any of the photos
f) A link is shown in the top right-hand corner which will take you back to the walk details of that year.
g) Some photos may also show a link to the research notes, at the top left-hand corner of the page, and this can be used to read up more about the photo.

2) Research
a) If we have written up research notes on any walk, a red 'Research' button will be shown at the head of that month's walk details.
b) Clicking on this link will take you to the correct year's research page, at the point where the month's research notes are shown.

3) Walk Track
a) A prerequisite of being able to view the walk track is to have Memory Map, or similar compatible software, loaded onto the computer that you are using to view this website.
b) Click the red 'Track' button at the head of a walk month's details and this will start the track being downloaded to your computer.
c) You will be able to see the download take place in the bottom left-hand corner of your computer screen.
d) When the download is complete, click the 'Open file' option and this will automatically start up Memory Map, if not already open, in your computer and the track will be shown as a continuous red line of the route we took for the walk.
e) Once showing on Memory Map, a track can be deleted or saved by right-clicking it, on the red line, and choosing the option you wish to take.

Friday 10th July 2020 (1)		Distance: 6.96 Miles
Walkers	Route	Lunch Break	Weather	Wildlife	Notes
David	Scout Hut, Eylesbarrow, Drizzlecombe, Ditsworthy Warren House, Legis Tor, Brisworthy & Ringmoor Down Stone Circles, Gutter Tor & return.	At the base of Legis Tor	Warm and Dry, with Clouds rolling over all day.
Maurice
Bob W.

Friday 15th May 2020
The walk scheduled for Friday 15th May was been cancelled due to the isolation measures introduced by the Government to limit the effect of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.