Looking back to 2017 and on to 2018

Firstly may I wish everyone a Happy New Year, I hope 2018 brings you all some great walking weather.

2017 has been a pretty good year for me and my boys on the hills, tors and fells of Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor and the Lake District. There have been 67 walks over some 375 miles in total, which isn’t too bad. More importantly the targets I set for myself last January have been met, although one of them could do with improving some what. My first target was to complete the tors of Dartmoor, well I did that back in February on Brent Tor. Since this point I’ve added some lesser tors to my list and I’m busy ticking those off as well. Secondly the plan was to add to my list of 89 Wainwrights in the Lake District. Well in 3 visits I’ve added another 32, taking me to 121 fells now, which I’m very pleased with.

Third was to walk in Cornwall, well I managed one and this needs improving really as they are just as rewarding as Dartmoor. My final target was to complete a long distance walk. This was completed when I managed the 37 mile West Devon Way which runs from Okehampton to Plymouth. This was a good introduction to walking day after day for me and I’m planning something similar this year. The 3 day walk can be found on the links below.

West Devon Way – Day 1 Okehampton to Lydford

West Devon Way – Day 2 Lydford to Yelverton

West Devon Way – Day 3 Yelverton to Plymouth

Of the 67 walks I’ve done, a few stand out. 6 actually. Alongside the West Devon Way walk above these listed below are my favourites this year. The Quintins Man walk was a real highlight, it first brought me close to finishing my tors list, but secondly the weather was freezing and the ground frozen over what would normally be boggy ground. The walk around the Cheesewring was my first into Cornwall, Kilmar Tor was a great tor and absolutely huge. I also had one of my best sunset walks, Pew Tor again provided a great setting for a fantastic orange sky. Two of the walks are in the Lake District, Skiddaw is the highest hill of the year and the highest my boys have ever been. The second walk is Fleetwith Pike and probably gave us the best view of the year (see pic at the top). The final walk was a long walk around the western side of Dartmoor, in great weather around Great Links Tor.

6 great walks, hopefully more to come in 2018

Quintins Man and Whitehorse Hill

The Cheesewring and the Hurlers

Now what to do with 2018. What sort of targets do I want for this year.

More tors on Bodmin Moor. Including the highest point in Cornwall, Brown Willy
Try to complete a second round of the Dartmoor Tors. I have around 130 to do round 2
Another long distance walk, either 3 or 4 days on the south west coastal path or a few days wandering Dartmoor and wild camping
More wainwrights, although this is getting harder as each walk tends to yield 2 or 3 each time now as I’ve done most of the horseshoe walks. If I can get to 150 by this time next year I will be pleased.

Happy 2018 everyone