Wistman's Wood

Why the cache is not in the wood

Wistman's Wood is one of the highest oak woods in Britain, sitting at about 380 metres on the west side of the West Dart. The trees are pedunculate oaks, but they are not the oaks you have in mind: they grow to perhaps four or five metres, they are contorted, they root in the gaps between granite boulders rather than in soil, and every branch carries a load of mosses, lichens and ferns that is heavier than the canopy itself.

The wood is a National Nature Reserve, and it is fragile in a way that is not obvious. The trees regenerate mainly by layering — a low branch touching the ground and rooting — and by seed in the few open patches. Human traffic compacts the thin litter layer, breaks the lichen crust, and damages the shallow roots that run across the boulder tops. That is why the cache is outside the boundary wall, and why the description tells you where the good view is instead.

The approach

From Two Bridges, take the path north-east along the West Dart and cross at the footbridge below Longaford. From there a clear path runs upstream to the wood, about forty minutes in total from the car park.

The route is on open moor and the ground is wet for most of the year. There are two boggy sections on the flat before the footbridge, both of which have a dry line if you look for the tussocks rather than the mud.

The find itself

The cache is at the northern boundary wall of the reserve, in the gap beneath the capstone of the stile, wrapped in a bundle of moss. It is a small clip-lock with a logbook and a pencil.

Please do not walk into the wood to reach it. The stile is on the public right of way and the container is reachable from the path side. If you find yourself moving boulders or pushing through branches, you have taken the wrong line.

The wood itself, from outside

You can read the whole wood from the boundary path without entering it.

• The oaks are shorter in the interior and taller at the edges, which is the opposite of what you would expect in a plantation and is a sign of how much shelter the boulders provide.
• Look at the boulder tops: the roots run across them as flattened grey cords, not down into the ground. The trees are effectively growing on a stone floor.
• The wood is in three separate blocks, with open moor between them. The gaps are not recent; they have been recorded since the seventeenth century.
• The moss on the branches holds water like a sponge and drips long after rain has stopped. On a still day after wet weather the wood is audible before it is visible.

Terrain and footing

• The moor is wet all year and there are genuine mires on the flat approaches. Test ground with a pole or a stick.
• The granite around the wood is loose and lichen-covered; lichen this old does not grow back quickly.
• Midges are severe on still days from June to August, and there is no shelter.
• The wood is closed to visitors for a period in spring to protect nesting birds. Check the notice at the car park.

After the find

Longaford Tor, twenty minutes north-east, gives a view back over the wood from above: from that angle the three blocks and the intervening moor are obvious, and you can see why the wood survives where it does and nowhere else.