One of Dartmoor’s Most Remote Tors

Watern Tor is one of Dartmoor National Park’s most remote tors. Fur Tor is commonly recognised as Dartmoor’s most remote tor, but that doesn’t mean Watern Tor is easy to get to. Far from it.

In Discovering Dartmoor Episode 5 I walked to Watern Tor from Batsworthy which was a distance of 5.5 km. If I was to wait for sunset, the walk back could be tricky as it wouldn’t stay light long enough for me to safely get back to the car. However, wild camping solves this problem and also provides the additional benefit of being able to photograph Watern Tor at sunset and sunrise.

Watern Tor is not only remote, but it is also spectacular, so ever since filming there for Discovering Dartmoor, I’ve been eager to get back. However, I wanted to see if there was a quicker route there. One that didn’t require me to wild camp but rather allowed me to walk back after sunset.

**Watern Tor #1, Dartmoor National Park** - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 18mm, f/11, 1/10 sec at ISO64

Dartmoor’s Military Roads

Like it or not, we must share Dartmoor National Park with the military. While this means that sometimes access to certain parts of north and west Dartmoor is prohibited, it does also mean that if you need to walk somewhere fast, there might be a road you can make a fast walk on.

My idea was to pick up the road at East Okement Farm and follow it south until I was adjacent to Steeperton Tor. Cars are prohibited just past East Okement Farm, so you’ll only find farm and military vehicles using it, and while the surface isn’t the greatest, it’s more than suitable for a fast paced walk.

I managed to walk to Hangingstone Hill in good time by taking a more direct path that runs along the base of Steeperton Tor. Once at Hangingstone Hill it was a simple case of turning east and tracking to Watern Tor. Distance wise it was actually further than walking in from Batworthy. However, the 7km walk took almost as long, but importantly, I could be back on the road for the bulk of return walk after a relatively short walk from Watern Tor. It’s much easier to walk along a road in the dark than a path.

**Watern Tor #2, Dartmoor National Park** - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 18mm, f/11, 1/10 sec at ISO64

Photographing Watern Tor

After all that walking and navigation, did I capture any photographs? Of course I did, and I’m pleased to say I found some different compositions from my previous visit.

Unsurprisingly though, the conditions were challenging. Around Watern Tor the sky was relatively cloud free, but to the west where the sun was setting it was rather cloudy. So even when the cloud cleared a little and I got some light on the tor, they sky wasn’t very interesting. It’s at times like this that I find the best approach to composition on Dartmoor is to try and make the tor large in the frame.

At first, I was struggling to do this as I was focused on one particular composition. The side on view of Watern Tor is iconic (in Dartmoor terms), but it also means shooting wide making it difficult to appear large in the frame. Thinking I need to do something different I put the tripod away and went for a walk with the camera until I found the composition you see in these photographs.

I have included both a colour and B&W version of the composition. Both work well but for different reasons. When there isn’t direct sunlight on the tor, I prefer the B&W version, and when there is light on the tor, I prefer the colour edits. What do you think? They do look very similar, but when the light on the tor isn’t the soft warm light you get directly from the sun, the tor can look very uninteresting and a bit flat. Converting to B&W brings out the texture and contrast of the tor.

As is the case more often than not, the photographs are a bonus to me. The real treat was the walk. Now that I know I can make the walk for sunset without having to camp, I’ll be returning to Watern Tor again soon. It is a location with huge potential and I can’t wait to return.