A run around Aune Head

The view from Holne Moor

Once a month on a Sunday the Dartmoor Runners head out to run a route set by one of their members. Normally around 15 km long the route will not take advantage of paths much. Instead the runners are given a list of control points and the rest is up to them, through thicket, bog and mire. I've been an occasional attendee at these events for two winters now and I'm still awestruck at the fitness of these runners. I bumble around the courses in nearly twice the time of the faster ones but it's always a real challenge and the sense of achievement is fantastic.

Last Sunday the start point was from Combestone Tor but as I was running late I didn't follow the set course and instead decided to use the time to see if I could find a good crossing point over the Avon West of Riders hill. I also wanted to recce a north south path that features in a half plan/half daydream of mine which is a marathon length run from Belstone  gate at the north of the moor to Harford Moor gate at the south.

Venford Reservoir and the view beyond

The overcast sky wasn't great for landscape photography as I hurried up Holne Moor. Views from here stretch from the south east slopes of Dartmoor to the Haldon hills down the Teign estuary  and then around to the South Hams. Picking out towns among the rolling farmland is surprisingly hard. In the foreground is Venford reservoir built to provide water for the developing town of Paington in the infancy of the last century.

A mine Shaft now a home for rabbits

Pushing on up hill I crossed the top of the Holne Moor mineworkings. Long since disused these
gullies now provide shelter for plants and animals alike. A particularly tenacious Hawthorn tree caught my eye. Its twisted branches seemed to record a slow motion struggle against the prevailing wind. A wind that was starting to leave my face damp with a misty rain, blowing in from the west.

I trotted along the path to join an old track known as the Sandy Way. Named for its well

drained, crushed gravel surface this path is a useful way to access this part of the south moor. I followed it's course and threaded my way between Bourne's pit and Rounder's hole (even the language of the moor reminds you that one person's idea of natural wilderness is an other's industrial past). Once onto the saddle and into the Aune Head basin the moisture in the air became the dominant sensation. Grasses, flowers and even spiders webs carried droplets.
The visible water reminded me of my purpose here which was to find routes through the mire that has spread around the source of the Avon. (The difference, I am told, between a Dartmoor bog and a Dartmoor Mire is that the former is caused by rain falling into a hollow while the later is a spring or stream rising through the peat.)






Running around the north west side of Aune Head Mire I picked up a good track that snaked and contoured it's way south wards towards Naker's Hill. This is the track that I hope to use on my North-South trip and the outlook seems to be promising. It isn't always obvious but it appears to be run-able for a good bit of the way from Aune Head to Green Hill. This is good news on the one hand but on the other means I have one less excuse to stop thinking about the trip and actually get out there and do it!
At this stage I had been out for just under an hour so I turned to my other objective which was to find a usable crossing point on the Avon that would avoid marsh and mire as much as possible.

terra firma in a soft wet world

Accordingly I turned my feet eastwards and paralleled the little Aune keeping it on my left hand side. The Harvey's map showed a distinct gap in the wet ground here and sure enough the river banks were well defined and firm. A flash of colour caught my eye and I walked downstream a bit. A foxglove bloom was slowly heading downhill.

The over-all effect was quite surreal, episcopal purple in a sooty stream. Dartmoor is like this though. When the weather is not conducive to grand vistas it's often the detail that grabs you and demands your attention. So far it had been a day of small delights, rabbit squatters in mine shafts, water drops on webs and blossoms in foamy flows. I wondered how far my foxglove would get towards the sea.

Mine-works on the Aune, visibility 400 metres

Stepping over the brook the ubiquitous hand of the miner was again evident. Troughs and channels had once been dug here to stream and launder ore, hidden among the moss. Courses of dry-stone  walls can still be made out. The craftsmanship so rudimentary and unchanging  for centuries on end make dating the work purely speculative for an amateur like me unless there is a written record for guidance. (the works of Crossing and Worth are great sources).

Ryder's hill ten minutes later visibility 50 metres

On the eastward bank a narrow trod makes a straight line up to Ryder's Hill. in all it took me 10 minutes to cover the kilometre in distance and 100 metres of height between the Aune and Ryder's hill. In that time Dartmoor played it's favourite trick; The Disappearing View.
This is where experience in the hills pays off. When faced with sudden loss of visibility and thick mist, rely on your compass and not instinct.





I headed north north east and soon picked up the path back down across Holne Moor. Horne's Cross a reassuring presence on the landscape loomed ahead of me. Decoding the marks on this monument will be a blog post in it's own right but for today it was the final way-point before the car park again. Runners, returning from the full route smiling and discussing the route choices they'd made milled about in the car park. They're a small group probably about 30 or so regulars but they made quite an impact on this year's Saunders Mountain Marathon in the Lake District.  If you like a run and can find your way on the moor you should maybe look them up.

Lessons learned

Mist, spectacles, map navigation and running need some thinking about.
I cant stop to take video clips when running as my pulse makes the 'phone jump.
Harvey's maps give a really clear and practical view of wet ground on the moor.
get out earlier on a Sunday!

For route details and GPS trail click here