The UK's County Tops. Jonny Muir
mountains. The highest of all is Scafell Pike, one of the so-called ’Three Peaks’ (along with Ben Nevis and Snowdon), as well as being the summit of Cumberland. Writing in one of his pictorial guides, hill chronicler Alfred Wainwright described Scafell Pike as ‘the ultimate, the supreme, the one objective above all others’.
From south to north, England’s county tops are at first lofty, with the highest points of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset all exceeding the 400m mark. The summits of the Home Counties and those around London come next: all low-lying and all under 300m.
Vertically challenged they may be, but these hills are not without attributes. Terrific views are guaranteed from Black Down in Sussex, Leith Hill in Surrey and Dunstable Downs in Bedfordshire, while the county tops of Cambridgeshire and Essex, and Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, can be combined in entertaining walks. The pimples of the east are the lowest in England, with Huntingdonshire’s Boring Field the ultimate nadir. The high points of Norfolk and Suffolk are not much higher, but at least breach the 100m contour.
The westerly hills – Black Mountain in Herefordshire, Shropshire’s Brown Clee Hill and Worcestershire Beacon, as well as lovely Cleeve Common in Gloucestershire – will reaffirm the walker’s faith in the county tops. And from then on the hills begin to soar. First there are the boggy summits of the Peak District, with Derbyshire’s Kinder Scout – the scene of the Mass Trespass in 1932 – the best known of their number.
And finally England’s crowning glory: the Lake District, where Scafell Pike, The Old Man of Coniston (Lancashire) and Helvellyn (Westmorland) lie in wait. Here the walker treads in the footmarks of Wainwright and Wordsworth as he crosses England’s highest and most superlative mountains. Rising just 2km from the Scottish border is England’s last county top, The Cheviot, a brooding moorland mountain often immersed in swirling mist.
England’s 39 county tops, described here in 36 walks, encapsulate the vast array of the country’s high places, found in virtually every National Park and numerous Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
1 CORNWALL
Brown Willy 420m SX 1587 8000
| Location | Bodmin Moor, 6.5km SE of Camelford |
| Start | Car park (free) at Poldue Downs road head. SX 1383 8191 |
| OS map | Landranger 201 (Plymouth & Launceston), Explorer 109 (Bodmin Moor) |
| Difficulty | 3 |
| Enjoyment | **** |
| Distance | 7.5km (4.5 miles) |
| Ascent | 390m |
| Time | 1.5–2hrs |
The name ‘Brown Willy’ normally raises a titter, but there is nothing funny or frivolous about Cornwall’s highest point. Surveying brooding Bodmin Moor and the spectacular north and south Cornish coastlines, Brown Willy is a splendid hill that regularly features in lists of the UK’s best-loved high points. The moor’s most famous inhabitant (allegedly) – the Beast of Bodmin – needs no introduction; many claim to have spotted a black panther-like creature slipping through the mist. Brown Willy also features in an annual out-and-back race from Jamaica Inn (best known on account of Daphne du Maurier’s novel of the same name, published in 1936) on New Year’s Day, which is run ‘regardless of the weather’. The route described here takes the walker through wild moorland scenery and among rocky outcrops synonymous with Bodmin Moor.
Summit of Rough Tor
Did you Know?
Famous native
Newquay-born poet and writer Sir William Golding (1911–93) is best known for his 1954 novel Lord of the Flies. Sir William, whose other books include the To the Ends of the Earth trilogy, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983.
Interesting fact
Lizard Point on the tip of the Lizard peninsula – some say the name derives from the underlying rock, serpentine, which when wet resembles the skin of a snake – is the southerly extent of the British mainland.
Route
From the car park, cross a stream to reach the moor, where various tracks lead uphill to a trio of tors. Head ESE for the easternmost one, Showery Tor, from where a terrific high route can be negotiated S around rocky outcrops to Little Rough Tor (pronounced ‘row’), and then WSW to Rough Tor. Look W for views of the china clay works at Highertown. From the summit of Rough Tor, head downhill in a roughly SE direction towards the De Lank River which drains Roughtor Marsh. Shortly before reaching the watercourse, a bridleway will be met, which climbs the NW slopes of Brown Willy. A trig pillar and a large cairn stand on the highest point.
Descent
Return by the same route to Rough Tor, from where a path leads downhill to Poldue Downs.
Jamaica Inn
Bodmin Moor is famously associated with Jamaica Inn, an 18th-century coaching house at Bolventer, off the A30 Exeter–Penzance road. The inn once provided a night stop for travellers, among them smugglers, crossing the moor. Pirates used the inn to secrete goods such as brandy and tea that had been smuggled into Britain. Jamaica Inn, which is now run as a hotel and restaurant, is also reputed to be one of the country’s most haunted places.
2 DEVON
High Willhays 621m SX 5803 8922
| Location | Dartmoor, 6km S of Okehampton |
| Start | Car park (free) at Meldon Reservoir, SX 5616 9180 |
| OS map | Landranger 191 (Okehampton & North Dartmoor), Explorer OL28 (Dartmoor) |
| Difficulty | 3 |
| Enjoyment | **** |
| Distance | 10km (6 miles) |
| Ascent | 400m |
| Time | 2–3hrs |
High Willhays is one of the two UK county tops situated on Ministry of Defence land, although access is less complicated than on Yorkshire’s Mickle Fell, the other summit in a ‘danger area’. The Okehampton firing range, which includes High Willhays, has traditionally been open on weekends and large chunks of the spring and summer, but it is always sensible to check the Dartmoor Training Area website (www.dartmoor-ranges.co.uk) prior to setting out; and do not attempt this route in mist unless competent in the use of map and compass. Dartmoor is also the home of the Ten Tors Challenge, held annually in May and featuring 2400 teenagers who carry all they need to survive for two days and a night on the moor.
High Willhays
Did you Know?
Famous