This was not my first ever walk but it was the first that I will using as part of my "Quality Moorland Days". In order to obtain the Hill and Moorland Leader qualification you must have a minimum of twenty days recorded in your log book. Technically I suppose that this walk would not count there were qualified leaders with us who were ultimately responsible for everyone's safety. However, since I have no intention of taking my assessment with the minimum number of days it should be fine to leave in plus it was a good walk; one worth sharing.
Anyway, we started from the car park near Whiteworks. There is plenty of parking along here and makes a good starting point. Grid reference 603 707. From here head to Nun's Cross 604 699. From Whiteworks there are a few different routes that you can take depending upon where you have actually parked. We went directly to the nice straight and recently restored path that runs from Princetown to the car park near Gutter Tor. Nun's Cross is a large and obvious stone cross that has at some point been repaired with two large metal plates. There is also a now disused farm / Bothy. Nun's Cross Farm can be rented and I am told that it is pretty nice inside but I have never been in so cannot comment, what I can say is that it is obvious and difficult to miss so if you do not see it within ten to fifteen minutes of leaving the road you have made a mistake.
From Nun's Cross the next checkpoint is the high point marked on the map as B Rock, Eylesbarrow 599 686. We took a direct route taking a barring a long a rough boundary and checking off the boundary stones as we saw them. However, it is just as easy to stick to the nice new path and then follow the later boundary up as it intersects the path. Either route will work fine but if you hit Eylesbarrow Tin Mine you have gone too far.
From Eylesbarrow, the hill not the mine, head to Combshead tor 587 688. The navigation can be a little tricky here as there are several high points, walls, streams etc in the area. If you have problems it may be easier to head on to the stone row which is to the right of Combshead Tor. The stone row is where we are going next anyway so you would only miss a tiny bit of the route.
As mentioned head on to the stone row 587 692 which is easily visible from Combshead Tor in good weather. The stone row has a handy stone circle at the western end, I stood in the centre of that and took a barring to Down Tor 580 694. Down Tor again is easily visible from the stone row and even in bad weather is only a few hundred yards away so should be an easy barring.
This is where things start to get a little complicated. From Down Tor head to the Tinner's huts 585 698. The land around the huts was very wet and marshy when I was here and the huts were not obvious until I was close. However, there is several large trenches cut into the hill behind the Tinner's huts aim for the largest of these. When we were here we needed to walk a moderate distance out of our way in order to cross the river. There are no footbridges in the near area but if the weather is really bad and the rivers are very high your best bet will be at Norsworthy Bridge to the west. Once you have located the Tinner's hut you will need to head up hill until you hit the path. The path is large and obvious, keep heading north and you should be fine. When we came from we were not sure what we were looking for and actually got pretty lost here with all the old boundary walls. If the visibility is low I suppose you could miss the path but you will not miss Devonport Leat. This is a small man made river, it run parallel to the path and actually has a small path that runs alongside it.
Follow the path or the leat until you reach Older Bridge 598 705. If you are following the leat the path will more or less disappear and you will be forced right, if you are on the path you could almost miss the bridge as it is stone and flush with the path. However, from the path the route will dip and briefly climb steeply just before crossing the bridge, this could be something to look for in poor conditions.
From older bridge you are almost home follow the clearer of the two paths that heads to the left, stay on this path and it will lead you onto the road from Princetown to Whiteworks
