Firm favourite

I think I have found a new favourite place on the moor!  Come to think of it, I have many favourites, but this one, not previously among them, has possibly just edged it.  I hadn't previously considered Rippon Tor to be a regular peak to visit.  Situated beyond a wall in a 'forbidden zone' for Dartmoor Letterboxes, I felt little desire to make the trek.  That said, I've always appreciated the Tor: A recognisable landmark to the East, with a summit trig point that features in clues up and down the moor.

My most recent walk took me to the area around Bag Tor (another forbidden tor) and Saddle Tor - so I took the chance in the sunshine to wander up to Rippon and see what I could see.  And, wow, what a view! Rippon Tor is quite high, relative to the surrounding peaks.  At 473 metres, it looks down on a vast swathe of Devon.  Off to the South, cargo vessels in the channel could be seen.  Lyme Bay to the East was visible, as were the hills of Exmoor.  The Dartmoor skyline was equally impresive: from Penn Beacon above Plymouth past Princetown, Hameldown, on up to Meldon Hill above Chagford.  Below me were the far busier highpoints of Haytor, yet I sat in crowd-free bliss for nearly an hour soaking up the sight.

I don't resent the lack of Letterboxing on Rippon Tor,  There are plenty of items and artefacts to hunt out up there.  Dartmoor's only incumbant stone cross carved in relief into the granite bedrock is on the summit here.  Millstones, cairns and the Nutcracker make worthwhile distractions.

My Letterbox walk garnered 14 stamps including a couple that had gone unfound for several months.  This is surely an area that deserves further visits soon!