Walk a stairway to Heaven.

This walk encompasses the ancient stone rows of Merrivale and is one of my favourite moorland walks.  Best explored on foot, the dual rows of granite stone are barely visible from the road but easily accessible if you know how to find them!  Park just off the B3357 heading towards Princetown and park in the small car park on the right, on the opposite side of the valley, just past the Dartmoor Inn. 

Head in a westerly direction and carefully climb the bank aside your vehicle. Keep walking in this direction on a gradual incline, until the end of the rows become visible either in front or to your left (Northerly). On reaching the rows, follow their path, as I hasten to add, many have before. Their purpose was defined long before written records existed and thus, no one explanation can confirm their existence, but suffice to say, they are reputed to have associations with the seasons and the sun; the stones becoming an indicator of the direction and height of the sun, as it casts its shadow across their surface, and subsequently an indicator of the change in seasons.

However, the version I prefer is their significance during burials or cremations as a marked pathway for the spirit to follow on its spiritual journey to Heaven. Their proximity to Bronze Age cists (graves), allude to this theory and they evoke a notion of religious, cultural and historical value as you wander their path.

Having done so, the walk can be extended by continuing North until a larger car park surrounded by trees, (the site of an old school) becomes visible.  From here, you can either follow the water channel (leat) back to the start point or, as the OS map reveals, discover the numerous stone circles in the vicinity, and a large standing stone (menhir), which in good visibility will stand proud in the distance from the direction whence you came.

An interesting walk to lift your spirits as well as the heart rate....”killing two birds with one stone”, I could say....or should it be the other way around?!