We’d have some pretty cold weather, even down here in the South West of England. Snow had fallen on Dartmoor and heavy frosts were the norm with the temperature rarely rising above zero Celsius. We set out a little later to allow the road conditions to improve a little, especially around Chagford, meaning we only parked up around 10.30am. The good news here is quite a lot of this walk is on lanes, punctured by some great hills and tors in between them, this lane walking makes for a quick passage. We could see from the top of Meldon Hill that there was snow around the Kes Tor area, and thankfully some of it was still present when we arrived. We perhaps could have gone further into Dartmoor, maybe around Quintins Man, but the draw of a possible pint in Chagford at the end swung it for me. Plenty of Dartmoor 365 squares in this walk with Hole Farm, Kes Tor, Chagford and Holystreet Manor all ticked off here. The story of Hole Farm is a long one, with buildings here in the 1200s and a part in the English Civil War with a Roundhead group besieged in the kitchen. Finding out about these places is what makes the Dartmoor 365 book so brilliant. And to finish we had a drink in the Three Crowns, a 13th century manor house and now pub, another place with links to the Civil War as a poet and Cavalier died in the stone porch after a battle with the Roundheads! History everywhere in this part of Dartmoor.

Start – Chagford parking

Route – Nattadon Tor – Meldon Hill – Padley Common – Hole Farm – Yardworthy Farm – Two Moors Way – Frenchbeer – Frenchbeer Rock – Middle Tor – Kes Tor – Little Kes Tor – Leigh Bridge – Leigh Bridge Cross – Holystreet Manor – Chagford Bridge – Chagford

Distance – 11 miles    Start time – 10.45am   Time taken – 6hrs  Highest Point – Kes Tor 436 metres

Weather – Cold, some snow on the ground, sunny spells and some cloud