2025 felt like a long year and we’ve definitely been busy, with some walking, lots of work done setting up the new house and garden and some nice trips away as well. As with previous years I’ll start with the review and look later at what’s in store for 2026 with some exciting stuff planned.…
Boxing Day walks seem to be a popular activity, as many people try to get out and walk off Christmas Day excesses. We have managed a walk on two of the last three, so make that three out of four now as we headed up for Dartmoor. The weather has taken a bit of a…
Well we nearly reach the end of the calendar year and we decided to try something different, a walk around South Hams, Aveton Gifford to be precise. We figured that Dartmoor was probably a bit wet and we’d done coastal last time out, so I’d picked up a book I’ve had for a while and…
After four Dartmoor walks in a row we looked for something by the sea, without driving too far. This ruled out a new coastal area for me as I’ve done all of south Devon and Cornwall, so a revisit was in order. The area around Noss Mayo is superb and on a day like today…
Buoyed by a lovely walk the week before around Bag Tor, with some lovely sunshine and the odd heavy shower, we set off for Dartmoor again. Unfortunately this time the weather was very dull and the palette on Dartmoor is fully brown and yellow now. It felt very bleak out there on this walk. We…
As we progressed into November, the weather worsened, the days shortened and our want to walk waned a little. However this was our 3rd week of walking, so we were just about hanging on in there. We decided to head to the Haytor area, and do a nice loop walk, which start along a lane…
So another trip to Dartmoor but without driving too far, also somewhere I haven’t been around these parts since 2021, so they were due a revisit. Linda hadn’t been to either of these tors, nor the Dartmoor squares involved of Corringdon Ball and Henchertraw, so with the decision made and the weather set fair (and…
Heading through October the weather was very mixed, continual weather fronts bring rain, some bright spells but the mild weather meant rain was never far away. This Sunday was due to rain in the morning and then clear from the west around 1pm. We figured a drive up to the moor, a short ish walk…
So we were back from the Lakes and we had a week away from proper walking and instead headed for a bit of culture, and a bimble around a small town on the southern edge of Dartmoor. Buckfastleigh is a nice little town with two churches (or one church and one Abbey to be precise),…
So after our Lake District week, we moved south, firstly to visit family and secondly to have a look around Liverpool. My auntie and uncle live in St Helens along with my cousins, my birth place, so I wanted to see them, and we did which was superb. Including a watch of my cousins eldest,…
The last walk of our Lake District break before we were due to head off to Liverpool, for a couple of days sightseeing. The weather was still superb but we were still feeling the effects of two longer walks, earlier that week. We’d also got used to being a little lazy in the morning, so…
So the main reason we were away in late September, was a birthday for myself, one with an 0 in it (yes you are all correct I don’t look 40 do I? 😁). After two big walks around Coledale and Newlands, we were a bit knackered. Our legs knew what they should be doing but…
You wait all year for a horseshoe and two come along in consecutive days!! After completing the Coledale Horseshoe the day before, we headed out again on another glorious day to complete the Newlands version. We were taking advantage of the stunning weather, despite some stiff legs and we figured we could take our time…
After our drizzly walk over Ling Fell the previous day, we’d looked closely at the weather. Unbelievably it was forecast to clear, not just for one day but the rest of the week, bingo! Being in the northwest corner of the Lakes, gave us great access to the fells around Braithwaite and it was there…
So the first proper day of our holiday in the Lakes, done to celebrate a birthday with an 0 in it for myself. Unfortunately the drizzly weather had followed us to the Lakes, and as you saw, from the fields around our previous walk to Scout Scar, they’d had rain up here as well (that…
It had been 13 months since our last visit to the Lake District, when I completed my 214 Wainwright mission. This time we had the advantage of picking walks that we wanted to do, revisits to good places, seeing some summits that I’d had no views from previously and taking our time. The weather for…
This post was something that I had thought about when I got that 10 year anniversary message earlier this year, I’d also passed 750,000 hits on the site as well, so I thought that I should do a celebration post to mark the event. Its true that I started in 2015, mainly out of a…
Bank Holiday Monday at the end of August and time to get out for a walk. We’d done house stuff on Saturday with a family get together on the Sunday, so we were ready for a bimble somewhere. Avoiding the obvious spots on a bank holiday is a normal tactic however on this day we…
So with the mind firmly focused on a walk with better paths, less long grass, but also including some of the boggier bits if possible and continuing to take advantage of the dry year. We set out on a walk from Postbridge with the plan to reach Sittaford Tor but pick off the tricky White…
So the end of our coastal walks had arrived, we’d completed 9 walks in a row by the sea and Dartmoor’s Shipley Bridge with the Zeal Tramway seemed a long time ago at the start of June (here). So it was back to Dartmoor and choices of where to go endless, because it felt like…
So the boys were with us for one final day and we’d decided to head to Land’s End for a wander around. They had been 2 nights before, doing a whistle stop tour to St Michael’s Mount, taking a quick photo or two, then trying to race the sunset to Land’s End. They made the…
As mentioned in the previous walk, myself and Linda were not alone in our trip to the most south and west area in the country. Both boys came with us and they joined us on the next two walks, they followed us down, with my eldest driving (they are growing up a bit quick aren’t…
So after having 6 walks in a row on the coastal path, we decided to keep the run going with another trip away. Only just back from Bideford and walks around Hartland Point, and we were off again, this time towards St Ives and Land’s End. We also had company, with the boys also coming,…
Day two of our stay in Bideford and we decided to just carry on from where we left off yesterday. We’d previously walked around to East Titchberry Farm, before heading inland and back to the car at Hartland. This time we parked at Brownsham (lots of National Trust car parks in this area, so I…
In writing up this walk I’ve been considering if I’ve actually got the name of this site correct, not too many tors for the last 5 walks, including this one. Infact it was the 8th June since I last stepped on Dartmoor and I’ve still got 4 more walks to write about, all of them…
So this was our second walk of our Weymouth stay, the previous day we’d been inundated with butterflies and today was no different. With all the dry weather its certainly helped our flighty friends and they have taken advantage of it. Today we saw lots of the same as our walk from Abbotsbury, with Meadow…
So I’ve completed a few walks over the years that have had plenty of insects, mainly butterflies, in the pictures. I make no excuses for the next three or four walks, where they will be inundated with butterfly pictures. This walk on the Dorset coast extends my coastal path efforts further east, pushing it towards…
So we’d stayed overnight in Barnstaple and as a result we were able to make an early start without the need for a 90 minute drive. We started again from the Long Bridge in Barnstaple, this time on the northern side of the estuary, heading for Saunton, hopefully. The route hugs the estuary again for…
So time for a bit of a change, after lots of Dartmoor, the Erme/Plym trail and South Wales we needed to redress the coastal balance. So far this year we’d only walked once by the coast (here at Rock) and that wasn’t enough. Normally during the year we look to book a longer section of…
It had been 4 years since I’d done a similar route and walked out to Redlake from Shipley Bridge. Since then they had installed pay meters at the car park and managed to re open the toilets. If the money from the car park goes into keeping the loos open then I’m for it, but…
So a slight change from the norm, we are still on Dartmoor, just, but not on the open moor or amongst the tors. This is a lovely village and National Trust spot, full of greenery, high cliffs and the river, the cause of the gorge. We’d had a little rain before visiting so we were…
And now for something completely different as Monty Python once said. The Erme Plym trail is a track which runs from Ivybridge down to Wembury/or on to Hooe and runs for around 15-16miles. The trail links to the Two Moors way, and effectively completes the Devon coast to coast. This isn’t my usual coastal walking…
It had been a couple of years since we had been to Holwell at bluebell time and we were due a revisit. The display we had seen in 2023 was truly superb, and probably difficult to beat (you can see that walk here), but we thought a loop over the tors to the west before…
We’d really enjoyed our last trip out to Dartmoor, along the western side around Bagga Tor and Standon Hill, so we decided to repeat a trip to that side of the moor. The area around the Corn Ridge has the same far reaching views as those from Standon Hill, with added tors and the West…
So the good weather continues, dry, sunny and warm seems to be the order of the day and no doubt these words will be added to, soon, with mentions of drought, hosepipe bans and leaky pipes! Whilst the weather is good, we look to head off into areas which can be pretty wet in normal…
After 6 weeks without any rain at all through March and into April, the Easter period brought a few showers and some cloudy weather. In the main it was still dry, but the ground, and particularly Dartmoor, needed some rain. This walk was after a rainy night, and walked in improving weather as the morning…
So we were looking for a walk which would take advantage of the lighter evenings, plus somewhere we hadn’t been for a while. Haytor is always good for a short walk and visiting at this time means it is far quieter than in the day. We’d also checked the weather, with a small chance of…
I’ll start this post with a bit of a warning, those with a squeamish disposition scroll down to picture four below the map, after reading this, and miss out the knee x-ray pictures! So to explain what happened, we’d been to South Wales and had three lovely walks, visited Linda’s daughter and seen lots of…
So the last of our walks in the Brecons for this year and we had a plan to meet up with Andy at Surfnslide, and you can find his fine version of the walk here, where we had, as he writes, “the meeting of the two great blog houses”! He’d planned a lovely circuit, up first…
So the day after our Pen y Fan walk, we woke to sunshine (typical) but felt a bit sore, and given that we wanted one last good walk before leaving, we needed a day off between the two walks. So regardless of the weather we headed for Abergavenny for a more gentle day. We’d seen…
So big walk time for our little holiday in South Wales, and one of the classics in these parts, the Pen y Fan Horseshoe. The weather was a bit unconvincing in its accuracy, with it changing 2 or 3 times in 24 hours, but we went for it anyway, with hope for some cloud free…
So another visit to South Wales, with family and friends to visit in the area and plenty of walking on the cards. Our trip last year had more normal March weather, with clouds and some rain at times. However this year the weather was excellent, with plenty of sunshine, with the exception of one walk…
So this was the weekend before our trip to the Brecon Beacons and the good weather of March is still with us. Its been a superb month for blue skies, with barely any rain, no doubt the water companies will have hosepipe bans in force by the end of April. But I’m happy, as it…
We were out looking for a newer car, we had two and decided that one was enough, so we would look to sell both of ours and combine for something with lower mileage that we liked. Two to three year old cars provide a decent value for money so we were looking around that year.…
Another Sunday and another half decent forecast, dry, some bits of sunshine, warm but a little hazy with the distance views. No complaints from me though as its early March and we could have all sorts of weather at this point in the year, and considering on this walk that I was stripping off layers…
A settles spell of weather had meant sunshine, and a fair bit of it. Not that it was warm, far from it, but the easterly winds usually means good things for us in the South West of England, as the eastern side sees more of the cloud. We probably saw two weeks of dry sunny…
So it was Linda’s birthday and as a good partner I asked what she would like to do? Not shopping, not a meal out but a coastal walk with some sarnies was her choice!! I’d ordered some splendid weather to set off a lovely piece of North Cornwall coastline to perfection. The scene was set…
So I have an apology to you all, I’m sorry that I said I was fed up with the grey cold dank overcast weather we’d had for the last few weeks. From the minute I hit publish on that walk the weather has clearly gone, right Steve, your wish is my command. Lots of rain…
So again the forecast was for cloudy skies and not much sign of sunshine. Up until the Saturday the weather had looked decent, with sunny spells, but on waking up this clearly wasn’t the case. The last 3 or 4 weeks seem to have been some sort of groundhog weather day, with a biting easterly…
A fine weather day and a chance to get out, walking plans were made and forecasts checked. The forecast had blue skies in the morning, with cloud building from the east as the day went on, so we were planning on a trip to the west around Lynch Tor and Stannon Hill. A really poor…
So a walk to pick off a couple of tors for Linda, one that I needed for my round 2, plus a new Dartmoor 365 square and a couple that we’d been to before, alongside a pub to finish. Chagford is one of the best villages on Dartmoor, there’s plenty of interest to see and…
So we had decided on a visit to the north moor and a quieter corner of a much visited area. Sandwiched between the Okehampton Camp/Yes Tor area and the Belstone Tor ridge the East Okement River winds its way down from Okement Hill between these two areas of higher ground. As it nears Winter Tor…
So the country was covered in snow and all the talk was of the weather, how cold it was and that “back in my day it was always like this in winter”! Plymouth got nothing, zero, nowt but Dartmoor got a decent covering of the white stuff, on a Tuesday and Wednesday, which is of…
I said at this point last year that 2023 had “passed in the blink of an eye”, well I’m not sure I even managed to get a blink in, and 2024 was gone. So here I am typing up what happened throughout last year. As with previous years I’ll start with the review and look…
So it was time for our first walk in 2025 and the weather was playing ball. Clear blue skies and cold, perfect winter walking weather. This walk was done before the snows hit most of Britain, with even Dartmoor getting a fair bit, closing the road where we parked on this walk, for a few…
So this was our last walk of 2024, which meant we’d walked 3 times between Christmas and New Year, which was a good walking end to the year. We decided to head to the coast and Bolt Head as the weather showed promise of maybe a bit of sunshine, rather than the low cloud misty…
This year we were pretty active between Christmas and New Year, heading out for a walk on 3 days, one day in work, one day a party and one day lying around lazing (New Year’s Eve). This was the second walk of the three and the boys joined us for one of my favourite walks,…
So it was Boxing Day and we had decided to look for a walk, the weather had low cloud for most of the day across the south west, so we decided to look for a walk from home. As it was a Dartmoor walk would have meant cloud inversions, as many photos confirmed on social…
So we were into the middle of December and wanted to keep a little run going, were we had walked each weekend for a few now. Our efforts in October and November had revolved around moving house, so it was nice to be back in a bit of a normal routine. This would be walk…
So at the end of October we moved to a new house in a newly built town on the edge of Plymouth. Some of it sits within the Plymouth boundary and the rest has crossed into South Hams. The building companies have claimed that they have set aside many acres for a country park in…
A walk which is more about bagging tors and having a good nosy around a village than anything else. We decided to head over to Lustleigh to grab the tors in Castor woods, to tick them off Linda’s list, and to tick them off a second time for myself. We would then right a wrong…
We jumped forward a few weeks now, the last walk was at the end of October around Stalldown Barrow and Cornwood. Now its the middle of November, we’ve moved house, wrestled putting up curtain poles, blinds and toilet roll holders and we are in need of a break, and a walk. We decided on the…
Late October, and when the weather is as good as this, it would have been a serious error not to head out and walk on Dartmoor. This despite us being in the middle of packing ready to move house a few days after this (the results of the packing can be seen on the previous…
Firstly a bit of an apology, I’ve been moving house over the past 3 weeks, which has meant very little activity on the site recently, plus I haven’t read the normal websites that I would, so have plenty to catch up on there. I have internet up and running now and most of the boxes…
Into October now and the weather turns a bit, September, and to be fair the rest of October was very good weatherwise. As a result we got out for some very good walks in some decent weather. This weekend, in early October, turned to be a bit drab, with plenty of rain. We managed to…
So after last weeks walk from Pentewan to Mevagissey, we again stayed coastal, and returned to an area of mine and Linda’s most frustrating walk. We’d visited the area north of Bude back in April 2023 with an afternoon walk to allow the rain and cloud to clear as the day went on, well that…
After getting back from the Lakes in early August, we’d lost our walking mojo. We’d done one walk, the previous week, on southern Dartmoor, but this was now my birthday weekend, at the end of September and we really hadn’t been walking properly for 5 or 6 weeks. Time to start changing that with another…
So it had been around 5 weeks since our last walk in the Lake District, and we’d taken a bit of a sabbatical away from walking. Not for any specific reason, although we did start packing the house up, in preparation for our upcoming house move. Finally in mid-September we decided to head out again,…
I wanted to write something about my Lake District journey, sharing what I’ve enjoyed and some bits that I’d preferred to have missed. This might be a long post but then again I am cramming 14 years and 92 walks into one post. This would include my favourite walks and fells, some of the underrated…
So we were heading away from the Lakes and we try to look for somewhere to stop off to break up the journey. Normally this would be in Lakeland and involve a longer drive to Plymouth, but this time we drove a bit and then headed to somewhere. Rufford Old Hall was our choice, firstly…
So when you’ve completed a list of something, what do you do next. Well I suppose you look to do it all over again. I’m not one of those people that has to wait until list one is finished, before you can start counting list two summits. So I’ve already been up Helvellyn a couple…
So this was it, 14 years, 30 visits to the Lakes, around 24,000 miles driven and 91 walks. It all boiled down to this final walk, which would be number 92 and would take me to almost 540 miles of walking to bag all of them. Lots of people leave an easier fell to finish…
So having walked Blencathra and Mungrisdale Common the day before, we look to sort out a gentler walk from the house. My auntie, uncle and cousin were also coming up from St Helens to visit for the day, so we decided on a walk around one end of Derwent Water, straight from our doorstep. My…
So it was time to get on with the walks that would finally finish off my Wainwright 214 journey. For some reason I hadn’t done Blencathra, despite it being Wainwright’s most written about fell, and the one with the most ascent routes. It had certainly been one that I’d thought about the most, and when…
So here I am, potentially my last visit to the Lakes to bag new fells from the Wainwright 214 list. I needed just two walks to finish off the list, and join the ever expanding number of members, who have completed them all. Not that this is planned as my final ever visit, if all…
treksandtors 