Dartmoor Walks: Rippon Tor

A video tour of our beautiful hike in the heart of Dartmoor. We followed this circular route from a guide book (Pathfinder Guides). Unfortunately, since the release of our edition there have been some changes to rights of way which affected our ability to follow the given track. One field is now unpassable, and we had to do a lengthy detour to get back on the original track (check out what some other annoyed hikers did to the ‘private’ sign at the field…😉)
The walk starts at Cold East Cross car park (after having enjoyed a coffee from the friendly coffee van ‘Hope Coffee Van’), then up the moorland to pass a rocky outcrop called the Nut Crackers. The next stop is wonderful Rippon Tor, with some stunning 360-degree views, probably some of the nicest views on Dartmoor! A short distance away is Top Tor and Pil Tor, were we had our picnic. The spot might have been far from ideal as we were eaten alive by swarms of beetles, garden chafers. After the detour we were descending to Buckland-in-the-Moor with its ancient church after visiting some wild flower meadows full of wild orchids and talking to some friendly Dartmoor conservationists. The final stop of the day was Buckland Beacon with some more fabulous views before returning to the car park again.
Overall, the hike was 12.5 km long and we spent about 6 h in the outdoors.