Rarely is it not windy and blustery atop either Rough Tor, or Brown Willy, and naturally, the moor is so often boggy and wet. Yet after weeks of little let-up in the rain fall, the moors were the wettest and most boggy I’d ever known them! A dry afternoon with sunny interludes gave us a few hours for a muddy yomp across the uplands.
Setting out from Rough Tor car park, it quickly became apparent that conditions were tricky as we stepped onto the spongy, sodden peaty soil of the moorland. We weren’t the only ones to seize the opportunity for a rain free hike and many family groups chattered in huddles as they ambled from boulder to marsh grass bank as we ascended the valley towards the ridge of Rough Tor.
Framed by giant boulders, uninterrupted views from Rough Tor reached to the north coast, the sea glistening on the horizon. Retracing our steps back along the ridge and over to Showery Tor, the
winds really started to pick up, so we descended into the shelter of the De Lank valley and began our
climb to the summit of the highest point in Cornwall.
Standing at 420m above sea level (and just 20m taller than Rough Tor), Brown Willy is the tallest point in the Duchy, its modern name a distortion of the Cornish Bronn Wennili which means ‘hill of swallows’ – much more beautiful!
A winding climb through boggy grass and slippery granite boulders took us to the summit, where the winds were now violent enough to make it difficult to stand, and a photo on the trig point was impossible such was the ferocity of the gusts! Happy with our achievements, we rambled back
along the same route, reaching the car just before the next deluge arrived!