By: Blonde Two
Ever since our Blonde Dartmoor pilgrimage walk to visit Cranmere Pool and its bogs, I have been keen to tick off another very important square in the Dartmoor 365 book. High Willhays is Dartmoor’s highest point and, when you stand next to its summit cairn, you are almost certainly the highest person in Devon and any other counties further south than the Brecon Beacons. At 621 metres High Willhays is only 2 metres taller than its more flouncy, nearest neighbour Yes Tor (a short walk across the plateau) and is often said to look shorter (image Yes Tor trig).
When you look at the list of hills in Devon, High Willhays and Yes Tor are the only ones with summits over 600 metres, which makes them, by some definitions, mountains. I was thrilled to discover (after the event of course) that High Willhays is a Marilyn. So although I am not doing as well as B1 at collecting Munros (I only have 1 plus 3 Corbetts), I am at least (slowly) increasing my (not very impressive) count of Marilyns.
- Kinder Scout 636 metres
- Cleeve Hill 330 metres
- Bredon Hill 299 metres
- High Willhays 420 metres
- Dunkery Beacon 519 metres
- Selworthy Beacon 308 metres
- Long Mynd 516 metres
- Worcestershire Beacon 425 metres
- Snowdon 1085 metres
- Pen y Fan 886 metres
- Sugar Loaf 596 metres
- Fan Fawr 734 metres
It is at this point that I become confused, as hills in Scotlands appear to have so many different definitions. Did Marilyn ever go to Scotland? I guess we will never know!
What really matters however is that Mr B2 and I were treated to the most wonderful (if bitterly cold) weather when we were up on Dartmoor’s High Willhays plateau; a show of bright sunshine, winter blue skies and a low angled light that picked up each patch of snow and ice and cast the surrounding tors into wonderful silhouette. I am imagining it looks a bit different today.
Whether High Willhays is a mountain or not, it is a stunningly beautiful spot and I feel honoured to have seen it in weather that has defied most people.
Maybe I am the Blonde who went up a hill and came down a mountain!
I had what sounds like a tougher ascent than you on 15th April 2013 coming from the north. That was during a longish stay in the south of England with the caravan ticking off all the Marilyns in the south. I eventually finished all the 175 English Marilyns on 18th October 2016 climbing Kinder Scout.
“I finished Devon and Cornwall today with an ascent of High Willhays (SX 580 892). This has been the best hill day so far, a bit like being back on the Munros. A pleasant contoured path above the reservoir was a good start until it was barred by an impassable padlocked, deer fenced gate, necessitating climbing a barbed wire fence and earthen banking. Further on the footbridge was similarly barred at one end, but this had been fairly ruthlessly dismantled, but still difficult to negotiate with my dodgy knee.
A pleasant ravine lead to a strenuous thrash up pathless tussocky grass to Black Rocks and upwards again to High Willhays. Good ridge walking followed to Yes Tor with its trig point and remnants of military installations – this area has been used for military training.”
A descent to the starting point ended a satisfying circular walk. For anybody interested, High Willhays at 621 metres or 2038 feet, is the highest point in England south of Kinder Scout.”
There are 3 more hills over 600 metres on Dartmoor. Cut Hill, Hangingstone Hill and Whitehorse Hill all pop out above that height. Not sure if they are on any Nuttall or marilyn list though!!
Some more to collect then although I have been to Hangingstone Hill many times.
Don’t forget Hampster Tor (618m) which is the lesser-known Tor in between Yes Tor and High Willhays 🙂
A tor for hamsters! It must be tiny 🙂 🙂