Random Ramble – Dovestones – Part 2 – Across the Tops!
Many take a walk around the main reservoir, which is a lovely walk in itself, but across the width, is a huge cliff face, a big hill, or a few hills! I’d longed to go and see ‘whats up the top of there’, so one bank holiday in August, I did just that!
I knew there was a path from Dovestones that goes all the way up to Chew, so off I hiked up it, all excited! The path up to Chew is lovely in itself, quite long, and as you would expect, lots of uphill, but fine at a casual rate. It’s a proper path, and you get to see water flow down from Chew to Dovestones. See the photos below.
From the top you will see Chew Resevior, and can turn right to go over to the stones at the head of Dovestones, or you can take a walk on wild side, and turn left, to go over the tops which straddle three reservoirs!
You’ll see a sign from Chew reservoir saying public footpath, beware casual walkers, there’s not much of a footpath, more like trampled grass and the direction of hardy walkers in front of you.
The initial hike across is mainly grassy with lots of peat bogs, you have to have your wits about you to make sure you are putting a foot onto solid ground (a smooth looking patch of black might be muddy water, not dried mud, I learned the hard way, but it was quite cooling on a warm day!).
Once you get past the initial peat bog / muddy section, you’ll come to a small water feature which you can walk over between a ridge, once you are over that, then a trail opens up which is more akin to the footpath you might look for initially!
Aside of muddy puddles, as you head toward the edge of the tops, the view opens up over Dovestones and does begin to look quite lovely, take at more photos below!
Make sure you have good boots, and balance, and walking sticks as it’s still stony and rocky, and you’ll find you use your arms a fair bit.
The walk across takes you over what looks like a former quarry, and an old house on the top built into it (which was nice for a bit of shade in the August sun).
You’ll enjoy the views over the tops, the to get from the section looking over Dovestones, to Yeoman, takes some more work with the arms, as you cross another ridge to the next hill.
Sadly I never quite got as far as Greenfield Reservoir, as that walk up to there getting over to Yeoman had done me in by that stage, Part 3 to come! It did amuse me to see people look strangely given my mud covered appearance on a warm summers day, told them to try it!