Oct 2020 - Ascent from Fernworthy Reservoir. Just a gorgeous walk. Didn’t see another soul! Forestry to begin with and then onto the open moor. Watern Tor is superb. Along with Haytor Rocks and Great Staple Tor, Watern is one of the most distinctive tors on Dartmoor. Thin strips of granite appear to have been carefully layered one on top of another and then sculpted to produce extraordinary shapes. Then there’s the Thirlstone, a cool gap between outcrops. This name is supposed to be derived from the appearance presented by the two northern piles, which, when viewed from certain points, give the idea of being one in which is a large aperture, the thurl, or thirl, stone being thus the perforated stone. Spent a while up there just climbing around. Great fun. Views opened up over north Dartmoor from here and Wild Tor. Wind got right up at this point. I love the walk from Hangingstone Hill via Quintin’s Man to Sittaford Tor. It has a really historic feel, and you can just imagine the folk, many ancient, that have passed this way, especially as you traipse through the peat pass. I thought I’d encounter others on Sittaford Tor but no. Lunch was enjoyed here. After Sittaford, I had a real look at the Grey Wethers Stone Circles this time. This magnificent double stone circle is located at the foot of Sittaford Tor on a bridge of land between a pair of valleys formed by tributaries of the North Teign River to the north and the East Dart River to the south. The question as to why there are two circles here remains unanswered, could the fact that they stand on an almost north-south axis be important, or was it that the two valleys on either side marked an ancient trackway or trade route with each valley belonging to separate family or tribal group? Did they form the separate meeting place for men and women before some kind of wedding ceremony, perhaps on Sittaford Tor, or were they a place where the recently deceased passed from the land of the living in one circle to the realm of the ancestors in the other? This is a site that poses many more questions than it answers. Back down through the forestry to the car.