My adventures on Dartmoor
Nun’s Cross Farm is a well known landmark on the ‘high Moor’ to most of us Dartmoor trekkers. The Dartmoor Rescue Group have used to as a base to co-ordinate call-outs on the Southern Moor and is currently used as a temporary bunk-house and can even be hired out. The house was built-in 1870 by John Hooper who had leased the land from the Dutchy…
I grew up in Yelverton and so know this area of the Moor so well. I’ve spent more hours than I care to remember around Burrator, exploring, fishing, camping and walking. Sheepstor is a village I have passed through literally hundreds of times over the years, but rarely stopped and I’d certainly never been in to the church. One grey and wet Sunday morning a…
Avon Dam Reservoir is one of eight Dartmoor reservoirs. It sits on the River Avon which rises just over four miles away NW close to Ryder’s Hill. The dam was constructed in 1957 to provide water to the South Hams and the reservoir itself covers around 50 acres. Walking up to the reservoir is pretty straight forward. Park at the little car park at Shipley…
As much as I love walking on the Moor I also have a real passion for taking photographs, especially of Dartmoor itself. I don’t pretend to be particularly good at it however it’s something I really enjoy doing. I decided that although this was initially started as a walking blog to record my wanders across the Moor (mainly for my own purposes) that I would…
Postbridge is a small village that sits almost at the very centre of Dartmoor National Park. It’s always been a popular tourist destination and draws many of its visitors because of its 11th Century clapper bridge. The bridge is an amazing solid structure of three large granite pillars and four huge slabs (calculated to weigh 8 tons each!) laid across the top. In total the…
So this is the first of a different kind of blog entry. Sometimes the Moor is too wet to explore or I just fancy something a little more sedate than hiking across Dartmoor. I love photography, I don’t pretend to be any good at it, I just enjoy doing it and thought why not just take my camera out and explore some of the more…
This one has been a long time coming. Originally I set off to bag Hen Tor back in May however had to abort…. and this time I was determined to get up there. I visited Hen Tor many years ago and a longer walk that took in Shell Top and Shavercombe Head but my memory of it was vague at best. I do remember have…
Fox Tor Mire has to be one of the most famous locations on Dartmoor. It has a reputation amongst walkers of being a difficult area to navigate and cross safely, especially after rain, it’s dangerous with several documented deaths, it’s remote, wild and to me represents Dartmoor at it’s best. It’s said to have inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to create the Grimpen Mire in…
This is an old favourite route which takes in some of the best Tors (in my opinion) on the south Moor. Living on this side of Dartmoor I am used to looking across and seeing the three giants sitting there, Cox Tor, Staple Tor & Great Mis Tor. They are visible from so many places on Dartmoor (including places on the very north of the…
This week I fancied something small and not particularly challenging. Looking at my ‘365’ map, I noticed that I was missing a couple of squares fairly close to home and planned on mopping those up. However when I woke up that morning…. the weather had other ideas…. it was going to be a wet walk! Now this is typical Dartmoor weather and happens a lot…
After studying the map and also my ever expanding grid of coloured squares on my Dartmoor 365 map I spotted three squares that could be bagged along with a couple of tors on a part of the moor I know well, the old Princetown railway line. I’d not been that way for several years so decided it would be a nice time to revisit. It was a nice…
This walk was a little different. Originally I had set out to follow the River Plym up to Plym Steps and then climb up over Shavercombe Head to Hen Tor. Unfortunately this didn’t happen as by the time I reached Drizzlecombe I realised that I had lost my Sat Nav somewhere between the Scout Hut and Drizzlecombe. I scrapped my walk to retrace my steps…
After missing Legis Tor a couple of weeks ago (because of not finding a suitable crossing place on the Plym during the Trowlesworthy Tor walk) I had been studying my map and considering tackling it from a slightly different angle. I thought I could combine it with a visit to Gutter Tor and a relatively leisurely walk across Ringmoor Down. I passed Gutter Tor on…
Another beautiful sunny day out on Dartmoor. After last week’s exertions up on Eylesbarrow I fancied something a little more sedate and decided on Pew Tor. I parked my car at Cox Tor car park (SX530751 / PL19 9LQ) on a beautiful, bright & sunny Sunday morning and headed straight for Barn Hill Rocks. As always, this little bit of moorland was buzzing with dog…
All of the years I’ve lived on and close to Dartmoor and as well as I know the Burrator area, I’d never been to either Combeshead or Down Tor so I seemingly chose the hottest day of the year to pay them a visit. I parked my car at Norsworthy Bridge Carpark again (SX568693 / PL20 6PF) and this time headed out along the SE…