The Storyteller: Off to Summer Hill in search of a poignant tribute

Since arriving in Torbay back in 1987 and starting my love affair with Dartmoor, I’ve covered virtually all of it, thanks largely to the addictive hobby of Letterboxing. However, there are still some artefacts of interest that have eluded me. One of these is known as Panda's Memorial Rock. This is a large rock on the edge of the remote Summer Hill, near Rough Tor stands out due to the fact it is covered in “army furniture”, plus a flagpole.

To this rock has been attached a small plaque that contains the inscription “Panda  26-6-75 – 17-12-93  Run Free”, a lasting memorial to a beloved pet dog. It has been there for many years and has been a goal of mine for a while now...Well, the other Sunday I finally reached it.

I run regular monthly walks for friends, based around my hunts for boxes, and during June, with the longer daylight hours, I always attempt a longer walk to celebrate the Longest Day.

Last year we made a pilgrimage to the Dartmoor Mecca of Fur Tor, the most remotest tor on the north moor. This year the aim was to find Panda’s Rock, visiting Devil’s Tor and the impressive Beardown Man menhir along the way.

On the chosen day, I was joined by my walking buddy Colin, who has been a regular on my walks for over a year now, everyone else being otherwise engaged. We met at Holming Beam, a strip of land adjoining Dartmoor Prison property, overlooking the River Cowsic which, is often frequented by the army as it boasts its own flagpole. On non-firing days it’s safe to park there.

Boots on, we headed along the track, passing many photogenic ponies as we went, presumably happy to gather there as that’s where the army probably heard them to during their manoeuvres for safety. Then it's down to the sturdy wooden bridge that crosses the Cowsic. From here you have a choice of tracks, either uphill, to the many outcrops of Beardown Tors, or along towards Lydford Tor with Devil’s Tor beyond, a route which crosses paths with the well-worn Lych Way, or Way of the Dead...

The Lych Way was established before the 1200s, for it was the law of the land that all burials of deceased inhabitants had to be carried out in their Parish Church, Dartmoor falling into the biggest parish in England, known as Lydford, which lies on the north-west side of the moor. This meant that anyone dying on the south side, had to be transported, either by pack animal or teams of pallbearers, on their final journey north, which was why the Lych Way was followed, as it provided the safest route across the most inhospitable terrain imaginable for such a trip.

During the 1200s, the dwellers on the southern moor petitioned Bishop Branscombe, the then Bishop of Exeter, to have burials closer to home. He took pity on them, understanding the hardship the law caused them and so from then onwards graves could be dug in the grounds of other churches, such as in Widecombe in the Moor and Manaton.

However, the Way of the Dead is still marked on the map and makes a worthwhile challenge to many a Dartmoor walker, but our route that day only touched on a segment that passes below Lydford Tor and down to a crossing of the Cowsic, known as Travellers Ford. A nearby letterbox stamp acted as a suitable souvenir.

From here, we headed up to find a small body of water amongst the peat banks known as Methern Pool, affording us views of the surrounding landscape and our route to Devil’s Tor, over the next rise. Reaching the outcrops of the Unnamed Tor, we had a clear sight of our first destination and achieved it quite easily, where we found another couple of hardy walkers enjoying a well-earned lunch break.

For us, there was a brief rest whilst we took some photos of the tor and the accompanying standing stone, an intriguing combination. Then it was time to pick up the surrounding letterboxes before using another clue to find our second destination. This took a bearing off the aforementioned, Rough Tor, and the box itself was to be found at a spot called Horse Hole, on the edge of the remote Summer Hill, with a second bearing off the elusive memorial rock. This really is a good example of how useful and educational Letterboxing actually is, for without these clues I wouldn’t find as many of the points of interest in Dartmoor’s barren landscape as I do.

Reaching Horse Hole, it was Colin who found the box at home in its hiding place and from there it was easy enough to spot our target, just a short walk away. Finally, I had reached Panda’s Memorial. The inscription is quite hard to read, but taking a photo of it, and blowing it up...there it is. More pictures were taken, and then it was time to choose our route home. I always like to make my walks circular, as you get to see different perspectives, and, as the outward route had proven to be heavy going in parts, through long wet grass, making my feet uncomfortably soggy for the duration, I decided upon the ridge that joins Rough Tor to Crow Tor, as it was closer and looked better walking conditions.

Crossing the tiny Summer Brook, giving the hill its name, we reached the heights of the tor, and, after admiring the “army furniture”, we made our way towards Crow Tor, aptly named as from certain angles it does resemble a bird’s head and beak following the line of range poles.

From here we crossed another brook and up another slope to a stile in the direction of Beardown Tors, which gave us an impressive view down onto Wistman’s Wood, home of the Wisht Hounds, not so far from the tor named after their master, and the sleeping dragon shape of Longaford Tor on the opposite ridge.

Once over the stile, we picked up the well-worn track that would lead us all the way back to our cars at Holming Beam, below the heights of Beardown and back across the wooden bridge to where the ponies still waited.

Back at the cars, Colin informed me we had covered nearly 9 miles that afternoon and, having picked up 6 boxes and ticked another artefact off my list, I was well satisfied with the result. The weather had probably been in our favour; not full sun, which would have made for an arduous walk over already tough ground, but cloudy conditions with occasional drizzle helped keep us cool. As time was now getting on, a couple of phone calls were needed to ascertain that our best chance of an evening meal was pizzas at the East Dart Inn.

So we headed off to debrief after that day’s challenge and to look forward to next month, July’s trek up the spectacular Tavy Cleeve, with more Letterboxes to find...