Swailing - Dartmoor

We made a flying visit back to Devon so that Linda could have a small follow up procedure after the cataract operations she had 15 months ago - this was all agreed before we left.

As we drove over Roborough Down I could see the vast clouds of smoke so I pulled in near Clearbrook to take some photographs. Sheeps Tor is in the distance to the left through the haze.

Swailing has been carried out for hundreds of years and the idea is to  burn the surface scrub to promote new grass. It can only be carried out for a short period during winter months. The conditions yesterday were ideal - very dry and with a strong wind. I would estimate that the flames in this photo were  40-50 feet high.