Page 39 - 2017 AMA Summer

of contrasting crags which vary from multi-pitch classics to single pitch micro routes”. The disparate climbers, therefore, had the opportunity to progress individual and pair skill sets and experience within this multi-pitch environment where a good number of climbs were achieved. As with Crazywell Pool, The Dewerstone is steeped in legend. The Devil incarnate or Wisht Huntsman in other stories, Dewer roamed the moor with his hounds, chasing unsuspecting travellers to their death over the crags of The Dewerstone at which point they were devoured by his ravenous hounds.
The walkers headed north out of Princetown over North Hessary and Great Mis Tors and on to White Tor taking in the surrounding scenery and further treading the historic Bronze Age timeline. The route included yet more examples of stone circles, huts, cairns and enclosures. Uniquely, White Tor is also the site of a late Neolithic/ early Bronze Age fort believed to be over 3000 years old although the remains are quite hard to detect. Over Cox Tor and down to Merrivale Quarry with its very own Inn (The Dartmoor Inn), we pushed on to King’s Tor to meet the disused railway that once transported granite from the surrounding quarries to Plymouth. At Swell Tor quarry, corbels that were originally carved for the purpose of widening the old London Bridge can still be seen. Walking aside, this old railway is also an ideal location for ‘leisurely’ mountain biking that can be linked with other routes including the recently open Drake’s Trail (by road) and National Cycle Route 27 for a longer outing to Tavistock, Plymouth and Ilfracombe. The route back to Princetown was level, quick and afforded enough time for yet more afternoon tea at the popular Two Bridges Hotel before this classy and civilised cohort went their separate ways. This coincided with the final ‘tip of the hat’ from the climbers who, with arms like lead and knuckles raw from ‘dragging’, were now making their own journeys home following another successful day on the crags. They all made it off in good health, so I can only assume that the infamous Dewer was left unfulfilled from the hunt – at least on this occasion.
ARMY MOUNTAINEER 37
Great Mis Tor