By: Blonde Two
When you take the time to explore the outskirts of Dartmoor National Park, you find tors in the most unusual of places (our most loyal followers might remember Blonde Tor). For example at Mapstone near Lustleigh, there is a sizeable rock at the roadside (not necessarily good for paintwork but great for wall reinforcement).
We Blondes were out collecting a few Dartmoor 365 squares last weekend and were very pleased to find ourselves at the foot of Heltor (which is much more pleasant than it sounds).
Approached via a lovely permissive path from the lane between Bridford and Westcott, Heltor is on private land and can be viewed from the road (as can the cows), but well worth the extra walk up the path.
Copyright Ordnance Survey 2016
We had a cuppa in the very welcome shade of Heltor Rock and then contemplated exploring the summit. I am ashamed to say that B1 succeeded in doing just that, whilst I attempted two scrambles up, managing to get myself a little bit ‘stuck’ both times!
Heltor Rock is a rock of two halves. There are apparently rock basins on both summits (B1 found the northern ones). There is also a rather interesting gap between the two rocks. Known as Heltor Gap, this provides a little grassy sitting place and a beautifully framed view.
No hellish experiences occurred during our visit, neither did we spot King Arthur or the Devil who are rumoured to have had quoit competitions between Heltor and the nearby Blackingstone Rock. We did, however, enjoy exploring this little known tor very much indeed.
It is very lovely, I’ve especially enjoyed listening to the music from a wedding in the farm below, and dancing madly along whilst on the summit.
Maybe you should try Blackenstone, which has a handy staircase to the top!
Aha! We did visit Blackingstone as well, a blog post is coming soon and you can find out whether or not I was brave enough to get to the top! Dancing will maybe have to wait 😉