MARCH 2025 · ADVENTURE

Black Tor Camp

Black Tor, West Dartmoor

The plan was the river valley. I had it in mind: shelter from the wind, access to water, level ground by the West Okement. Then I saw the tor and the views from the ridge and made a different decision. Last-minute, on the hill, with the tent already in my bag.

Green dome tent sheltered beneath Black Tor granite rocks with moorland valley views beyond — Camp tucked into the lee of the tor

— A changed plan

The tor provides shelter in a narrow sense — the granite stacks break the wind on their lee side, and if you site the tent tight against the rock you can reduce the exposure. You cannot eliminate it. The wind at Black Tor is constant and the frost comes in hard. There is no water up here; the nearest stream is fifty metres of descent in the dark.

The views earned before the work began.
Black Tor — March 2025

Frost-covered moorland rocks scattered across barren Dartmoor slopes under pale dawn sky — Frost on the rocks at first light

— What the tor gives

What you get instead: total solitude, and a view across the Dartmoor plateau in every direction. The green dome tent beside the granite, the moorland valley dropping away beyond it. In the morning, frost-covered rocks and the moor pale in the early light, the tor casting long shadows west.

White sheep beside moss-covered granite rocks on bare Dartmoor moorland — Single sheep, moss-covered boulder

— What you see instead

I had brought the camera for the Black-a-Tor Copse the next day, but the tor itself offered enough — lichen-covered outcrops in the foreground, the summit rocks behind, the horizon soft with distance. A single white sheep beside a moss-covered boulder. The lichen-covered dry stone wall cutting across the pasture below, barbed wire along the top, the valley green beyond.

Lichen-covered dry stone wall with barbed wire fencing stretching across moorland pasture — Dry stone wall across the pasture below

— The descent

The descent the next morning to the copse took twenty minutes. At the bottom: water, trees, a completely different world. But the high camp was the right decision. The views earned before the work began.

Lichen-covered granite ledges in foreground with Black Tor summit visible across moorland — Lichen foreground, summit behind

Full series — Black Tor Camp 10 photographs

Green dome tent sheltered beneath Black Tor granite rocks with moorland valley views beyond

Layered granite tor of Black Tor rising above sparse moorland with distant valley landscape

Frost-covered moorland rocks scattered across barren Dartmoor slopes under pale dawn sky

Gnarled wind-shaped tree silhouetted on bare Dartmoor moorland with distant blue ridges

Lichen-covered granite ledges in foreground with Black Tor summit visible across moorland

Solitary windswept tree silhouetted against rolling moorland slope with distant hills

White sheep beside moss-covered granite rocks on bare Dartmoor moorland

Lichen-covered dry stone wall with barbed wire fencing stretching across moorland pasture

Moss-covered granite outcrops with Black Tor summit visible beyond on moorland slope

Frost-covered granite rocks in foreground with Black Tor summit visible across moorland horizon

Adventure Black Tor Camp

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