Tor Bagging
What is Tor - Bagging?
Bagging – that is visiting –a series of hill tops such as the Munros of Scotland (peaks over 3000 feet) or the Wainwright Fells of the Lake District has always been a popular sport. On Dartmoor we do not have such tall peaks, although the highest spots on Dartmoor are the only tops in Southern England over 600 metres.
The granite outcrops on Dartmoor, however, are in many cases spectacular, having been formed by nature into many scarcely believable shapes. In some cases huge rocks appear balanced on smaller ones, in some cases (logan stones) even rocking. All are worth visiting.
Although many of these granite outcrops form the tops of hills, the processes of weathering by which they were created has left some on the slopes of the hills. Nor indeed are all called by the name tor (the derivation of which is by no means agreed). Indeed the highest point of Dartmoor (High Willhays) has the typical granite outcrop but not the name of ‘tor’. For the purpose of ‘tor-bagging’ all such large granite outcrops are included.
Dartmoor is not a wilderness but has for many centuries seen diverse working communities. Nomenclature is therefore always a problem. Even if there is agreement over a name, there will not be over spelling.
Cornwall & Devon Group of the LDWA have initiated a register for those who have bagged a number of Dartmoor tors. Our aim is to encourage all to explore the moors, searching out not just the ‘honeypots’ like Hay Tor, but the less frequented parts of the moors. It is open to all.
Send an A4 sae to:
Terry Bound, 3 Alpha Street, Heavitree, Exeter, EX 1 2SP
Ollie Milverton of 1st Tedburn and Cheriton Scout Troop has very kindly provided us with an excel spreadsheet which can be used as a log to record the tors as you bag them. It also maintains a running total of the number of tors bagged. This can then be emailed to Terry rather than printing off and posting your paper record.
Download Excel Tor Bagging Log here
Terry's email address is: terry.hazel@blueyonder.co.uk
