Sheeps Tor climbing

Crag: Sheeps Tor, Dartmoor, Devon
Routes: Play Crack (D:sol), Slanting Crack (VD:sh), Mushroom Wall (VS 4c+:sh), Burdock (HS 4b:sh), Overhang Crack (HS 4b:sh), Barking Crack (VD:sol/sh), Sheltered Crack (VD:sol/sh), Flake Arete (D:des), Flake Wall (VD:sh), Shallow Corner (VD:sol)
A few days in Devon at the start of our summer holidays, with rather unstable weather throughout. We had visited Saunton Sands and Wembury for bodyboarding, and I'd done a cross-border run across the Tamar Bridge to Plymouth from outside Saltash yesterday. Opportunities to sample a bit more Dartmoor climbing were limited, so I left the motel at 6am and arrived at Sheepstor in classic Dartmoor conditions of dank drizzle and mist half an hour later. Wonderfully atmospheric, and very nice to be back after enjoying the area two years ago. Sheeps Tor is an obvious crag which gives its name to the tiny, tranquil village that nestles below it. It is made up of characteristic Dartmoor granite, rough and steep throughout. Conditions were hardly ideal, with mist swirling over the moorland and intermittent drizzle, but the climbs are straightforward, short and enjoyable. After nipping up Play Crack, I set up a loose shunt, finding the steep and sustained Slanting Crack rather undergraded: a tricky jamming crack, unless I missed something. An eliminate up Mushroom Wall for training purposes was steep and sustained up small positive holds. On the face further right, the two cracklines of Burdock and Overhang Crack are probably the best routes here: both building to difficult crux moves over a final overlap. All the climbs were enjoyable, though, and the rock was so rough that the drizzle didn't affect things too badly. Back to Saltash in time for breakfast.