Bovey Woods Bouldering

On the eastern side of Dartmoor close to the Devonish town of Bovey Tracey lies an epic granite bouldering playground. The boulders are spread over a beautiful woodland. This meet is timed to capture the dying rays of  sun, the temperatures dropping to allow maximum adhesion to holds.

Bovey woods covers a  huge area comprising of five main sectors – Shaptor Rock, Lower Shaptor, Rock Copse, Bearacleave and Stonelands Waste. There are 700 problems of all grades but be prepared to invest a little time in ‘getting orientated’.

Camping.

Please book yourselves into Hennock Hideaways who offer camping field with the usual basic facilities at £8/person/night or if you prefer they have glamping bell tents. Ensure that you aslo sign onto the event below.

Conduct

Some of Bovey woods is  owned by the National Trust, and other areas are ecologically sensitive. the BMCs Respect the Rock Code must be adhered to throughout the meet. The following is copied from the BMC RAD database

Bearacleave Wood is owned by the National Trust and contains some fantastic quality bouldering with something for everyone. Access problems have arisen recently at this and other bouldering areas on Dartmoor due mainly to excessive cleaning of boulders, but also some other issues. Please follow the Respect the Rock code as well as the following site specific access code of conduct:

• • No new development - there are in excess of 700 exisiting lines across Bovey Woods as a whole and further development would mean more cleaning and removal of important mosses and lichens. This is a real concern to the landowners and continued development and new cleaning could result in loss of access.

• • Keep cleaning to a minimum. A completely clean boulder might look good to a climber, but to the landowner it looks a lot like environmental damage. Keep individual holds clean, don't strip entire faces of vegetation.

• • Chalk really stands out in the environment, so remove as much as possible from the rock before leaving a problem.

• • Please don't use this area for lantern sessions (night bouldering) - this has been a contributing factor in the developing access concerns of the landowner.

Take your litter home with you as well as any other litter in the area. This includes things like pieces of finger tape which can be easily forgotten.

Equipment

Not much is required other than rockboots and boulder mat. Contact the club gear secretarty  for access to the boulder mat, beg borrow or buy if you don’t have one.  Bouldering success depends on having a safe landing. However sharing mats is entirely possible as no-one can go at bouldering problems without long rests.

Capabilities

Bovey Woods contains routes suitable to all. Nobody need feel that they are too inexperienced.

Alternatives

if you really don’t like bouldering you could climb at Chudleigh which has a mix of sport and trad routes on limestone. You’ll need ropes and what-not!