A Tale of Two Hills

No blip yesterday as I was working and had too many other things to do. Today I parked at Mary Tavy and walked around Gibbet Hill. Both the Dartmoor Way and the West Devon Way skirt the hill and provide some great views in fine weather west towards Brent Tor. The steep-sided tor is capped by a church which can be seen in the distance in my blip photo. According to one story the church was built by a sea captain in thanks for delivery from a great storm.
Close to the northern end of the path is the lower entrance to Lydford Gorge and a welcome stop at the small National Trust Cafe. The Gorge was once the haunt of the Gubbinses who  were greatly feared preyed and on passing travellers. When the law finally caught up with them dismembered human remains were found in their lair.
My return journey was up and over Gibbet Hill. A Gibbet or gallows once stood here where criminals were either hung and left to rot or placed in a suspended iron cage and left to starve to death. Those who perished here were usually murderers, sheep stealers or highwaymen. As I walked up onto the hill there was a shower of hail. Few people come to the top of the hill and it is hard not to think of those who were brought up here to die and have their bodies left exposed to the elements as a warning to others.