Walk · Devon

Princetown to Nun's Cross by South Hessary Tor

Princetown · PL20 6QF

6MILES

3h 5mON FOOT

170mCLIMB

Out & backSHAPE

The route A-road B-road Lane Track Path Water Woodland

Off-road 94% 6% shares tarmac with cars

Field & moor path 22%Lane & track 72%Road with traffic 6%

Our drawing of the route, over road and path data from OpenStreetMap. It shows where the walk goes and what it goes through. It is not a survey and not a navigation aid — carry OS Explorer on the hill. Off-lead information here is what walkers reported or what signage allows — never our advice. Whether and when a dog is off the lead is the owner’s decision and legal responsibility; keep dogs under control near livestock and follow signs on the day.

Starts at

Dartmoor National Park visitor centre car park, Princetown PL20 6QF

Parking

Paid car park at the Princetown visitor centre, around 100 spaces with toilets; free roadside space on the Tavistock road fills first

Directions to the start →

Six miles out and back across the high central moor on a clear stony track, three hours with 170 metres of climbing, past South Hessary Tor and the boundary stones to the medieval cross at Nun's Cross and the leat above Foxtor Mires. Start at the National Park visitor centre car park in Princetown, which is paid, large and the last reliable toilets and water tap before the moor; the route is a track all the way so it is navigable in mist when the surrounding moor is not. Dogs get miles of open running here, but this is working common with sheep, cattle and ponies everywhere and skylarks nesting in the grass, so a lead is required between 1 March and 31 July, the mire either side of the track will swallow a dog that wanders, and there is no clean water until the leat.

THE SMALL PRINTDartmoor access land: dogs must be on a lead between 1 March and 31 July for ground-nesting birds and lambing, and under effective control near stock at all times. Keep to the track: Foxtor Mires beside it is genuine bog.

House rules, decoded

Off-lead allowed

Livestock — leads on

REGION · DEVON

GRID · 50.5450, -3.9910

SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.DARTMOOR.GOV.UK/ENJOY-DARTMOOR/PLANNING-YOUR-VISIT/VISITING-WITH-YOUR-DOG

Princetown to Nun's Cross by South Hessary Tor

House rules, decoded

Bachelor's Hall

Duchy House B&B

Fox Tor Cafe

Dog-friendly cottages you can book

Tell us the pub we have not walked into yet.

Get the new stamps first.

Your patch, watched for you.