As we neared the end of April the weather started to turn a bit, more sunny days in between others with rain. But at least we now had the drier weather we would expect at this time of year. We decided on a National Trust property as one of our outings this week, and headed…
The boys are back in town, as the 3 of us undertake a walk around the western side of the moor. The reason for this area was to give my youngest a look at this side of the moor for his 10 tors yomp in the middle of May. Our last outing was at Christmas,…
After two walks where the sun shone at Mawgan Porth (here) and Willsworthy (here), we’d had two dull walks at Princetown (here) and Shipley Bridge (here). So what would we get this time, well a bit of a mix to be honest. It started very nicely with some warm sun, before clouding over a bit…
A walk of a much shorter distance than normal for us, but this was due to the strong winds still in evidence from a storm, whose name escapes me now. I also wanted us to stay pretty low, so we decided on an area which I had last visited in 2021 (when ridiculous comments about…
Easter Sunday and we were out again, keen to make up for a sluggish start to walking in 2024, with 2 walks in 2 days. This was was a bit more leisurely than the previous days efforts, when we headed up to Hare Tor. This time we walked out along the good path to South…
After almost a month away from Dartmoor, caused by our trip to South Wales and the previous week’s stunning walk along the North Cornwall coast (here), we were back. This was Easter Saturday and I think we’d missed the sodden ground and greasy mud too much!! That said, we’d picked another sunny day to walk,…
So after our little trip away to South Wales, we rested a week before looking to head out again. We’d remembered that last year, we’d got some free parking before Easter at Porthcothan, and needing to complete the section to Mawgan Porth we headed off to grab a walk the weekend prior to Easter. On…
So time for our last walk in the Brecons, and we’d been talking to Andy from SurfnSlide about walks in his local area. We’d agreed a meet up time and a walk around the Grwyne Valley, which he’d done before, admittedly in some lovely warm conditions with sunshine. After a long drive down a long…
Walk number two of this visit to the Brecons (Bannau Brycheiniog), and after a day of fairly heavy and persistent rain, we stayed on the eastern side of the National Park, to avoid the worst of any showers coming in from the west. It worked pretty well and we only had one long ish batch…
Well it has been almost 3 years since my last visit to the Brecons (Bannau Brycheiniog) and it was a long overdue return. As mentioned on my last walk around the Granite Way and Meldon reservoir, my next outing would be Wales. As with last time I visited these parts (and for that matter when…
Birthday time for Linda and I’d decided to take her away for her pressie to a nice hotel in the middle of North Devon, Northcote Manor. Known for its good food, it has a spa, nice grounds and some good views to Exmoor. We’d headed up on the Saturday and spent a fun and relaxing…
February and March are busy with birthdays in my calendar, with my youngest first up, then my mum and finally in February is Linda. Then I have two of my nephew’s early in March before my eldest at the end of that month. We started out with my youngest, he’d had a rucksack for his…
It had reached the middle of February and we had still not ventured to the coast for a walk. In fact we hadn’t done any coastal walk since 8th December at Brixham (here) and before that a proper walk from Holywell to Crantock near Newquay (here), it was well overdue. We put this right with…
Another weekend and another head scratch to see where we could walk. The weather was looking pretty good around the south and southwest edges of the moor, but not so good when heading into the middle. Not that it would have been raining in Princetown and Postbridge, but more that there wouldn’t be any sunshine.…
The first difficult walk of the year, and probably the hardest walk since we headed out to Flat Tor and Kit Rocks in September. We’ve had lots of walks of around 6, 7, 8 miles at most recently, but nothing with the steep rise and fall of this area. The area around Poundsgate always surprises…
So after a couple of weeks of drier weather, the murky thicker clouds returned to the South West of England. Not to worry however as Dartmoor has plenty of walks around its outskirts, allowing us to enjoy walking through woods, lanes and villages whilst picking off the odd tor and a Dartmoor 365 square or…
The second walk of 2024 and not our fastest of starts for our year of walking, but then again we have plans for more evening walks which may help with the totals, especially when the nights draw out. I’ve been around this route once before (here) and this time I had a plan to add…
The first walk of the New Year and unlike last year, where we’d walked 3 times by this point, this was our first one. A mix of bad weather and Linda picking up a bad pain in her neck, had meant we’d stayed away from walking. We also chose a short route with very little…
So that was 2023 gone in the blink of an eye and we all start to look at walks and places to visit for 2024. I’ll save talking about 2024 for lower down in this post and first look back at 2023, which will go down as one of my best walking years with plenty…
So the last walk of 2023, New Years Eve, and where should we head off to? I’d looked at Shipley Bridge, Horrabridge or further afield to Lustleigh. But the weather wasn’t looking that good anywhere, we didn’t want to travel far (mainly because we were late getting up) and nothing too high up. Burrator fitted…
The Christmas walk, and due to working a bit between Christmas and New Year, it was a day or two later than it normally would be. The boys were also back together, for the first time since our walk up Snowdon in August. This was due to my eldest working every Saturday, he’s saving for…
So the day before Christmas Eve and we were scouring the weather reports, to decide on the best day to walk over the festive period. Both myself and Linda were in work between Christmas and New Year, meaning we had a 4 day window to plan at least one walk. Looking at the weather, we…
With the winter months comes lots of walks along lanes, through woodland and picking off the odd village. This walk certainly had the first two of those, but no villages to speak of, just a house or farm beside a lane to change the view. However what we did have was tors, and lots of…
Not since Bonfire Night have we had a proper walk with some sunshine in it, this walk was done in the second week in December and still no yellow disc in the skies above us. As I type here I can hear the wind howling outside as another named storm barrels through. Its not been…
We’d booked a couple of days off work and had a few things planned, one was a day just bimbling around, record shops, lunch, that sort of thing. Another was a proper walk somewhere, and finally some sanding on a dark stained dresser. The sanding took 2 of those days, and still isn’t finished, although…
A walk that suits the winter weather, with plenty of lanes, villages, Dartmoor squares and a short dart on to Dartmoor proper for a couple of tors, before leaving via the lanes again. The walk started from the little village of Walkhampton before we headed down to Huckworthy Bridge and then onwards to Sampford Spiney…
November weather has been, well, awful. Week after week of rainy days, even when they forecast a dry day, it would have heavy showers in it. Confidence on the reporting was low, as the weather companies only seemed to accurately report when it would rain all day. Photos online of cold frosty blue sky days…
I always enjoy walking in Shaptor Woods, and when looking at the tors I have left to complete my 500 list for a second time, I realised that a few were in or around this gorgeous woodland. It wasn’t just the changing colours on the leaves that I enjoy in here, but the size of…
I’m enjoying our walks on this side of the moor recently and no doubt over the winter period we will look for others in this South West corner of Dartmoor. Setting out from Peter Tavy gives a few options for a walk, you could head towards Mary Tavy along the Dartmoor Way, or up to…
A revisit to a brilliant museum, providing plenty of education for the adults and additional knowledge for the two boys. Both my boys know lots and lots of information about the exhibits in here, and as they have in the past, they shared that as they went around. It is apt that I post this…
Despite October being pretty wet in the main, especially after the first week of the month, we seemed to get lucky each weekend, with some nice sunshine to accompany our walks. This walk in the centre of Dartmoor was no exception, again the sun was shining and reasonably warm for the time of year and…
So a walk in an area that probably doesn’t get enough attention, considering its the area on Dartmoor nearest to my house. I’ve walked a lot around the Trowlesworthy Warren, but heading back to Hen Tor doesn’t happen very often, and that’s a mistake. This would be walk number 36 of my second Dartmoor 365…
After a run of 7 walks in 8 by the coast in the summer months, September brought a run of Dartmoor walks, with four in a row. The weather in early October was pretty good, so we decided that another seaside trip was needed, this time to North Cornwall and Watergate Bay. This a popular…
Four walks in a row on Dartmoor now, although the next walk will be back to the coast. This is a lovely area, with some nice quiet lanes, villages and a gorgeous woodland valley with a river running along the bottom. The river in question is the Teign as it winds on its way east…
Since we had got back from Snowdonia we’d been on a run of Dartmoor walks, not for any reason, it was just the way it fell. This time we headed east for my birthday walk, and a walk from the village of Haytor Vale (it has a pub so we parked there!), this was walk…
A year after we walked up to the East Dart Waterfall in some of the hottest weather I’ve walked in (remember the long hot summer of 2022), we again started out from Postbridge on a similar walk. We walked in the opposite direction this time, and headed out the back of the waterfall, through Sandy…
So the first walk after our Snowdonia trip and the weather was set warm and sunny. This was the start of September, and that one week of nice sunshine that we had, before it disappeared again and returned to the same rubbish we had in July and August. This was a walk that I hadn’t…
After our Snowdon walk, we had two days in three that involved car journeys. Firstly, on the Wednesday, I had to bring my eldest down to Gloucester, so he could return to Plymouth with his mum to get his GCSE results. Then on the Friday we were leaving Snowdonia, and heading to Bolton, for my…
So after a couple of warm up walks of Cnicht and Moel Siabod, we’d reached the big one, Snowdon or Yr Wyddfa in Welsh. This walk would see us all break through the 1000 metre barrier and for Linda and the boys its their highest walk. After a bit of research on the best routes,…
A bit of sunshine on this Sunday as we headed out again, the day after our blowy walk up Cnicht. The clouds were still skudding across the sky, but at least we got plenty of views, blue skies and no rain on this walk. Instead of the normal starting point of Capel Curig, we decided…
So this was to be our summer holiday, not this time to the Lakes, but Snowdonia (Eryri) alongside a couple of special events. My cousin was getting married in Llangollen, so we booked a Premier Inn in Oswestry and stayed a couple of nights there. Then we had a week in Penmachno, and looked for…
One last walk before we packed the car and headed off for an adventure around Llangollen, Snowdonia and Bolton. This walk was decided on to make sure I could walk the planned Snowdon and Moel Siabod routes and would slightly extend the length I walked around Falmouth, the week before. This was walk 31 of…
I’d had a couple of weeks off walking in order to try and give some rest to my feet and the Plantar Fasciitis that I was struggling with. I had managed to calm things down a bit and I was felling a bit better, aware though that I had holiday booked in Snowdonia on the…
With a run of walks by the coast (5 in a row) we were ready for another adventure on Dartmoor. It had been over a month since our last outing, a sunset walk around the Staple Tors, so we looked far afield for a place to see some tors and pick off lots of Dartmoor…
The boys had both finished school, well my eldest had finished his GCSE’s a month earlier and my youngest only had an activities week to do before his summer holiday, so basically he was finished as well. We headed up for another night in Bideford, using up some Christmas hotel vouchers we had. We’d previously…
You’d have thought that having walked around Land’s End on a 3 day expedition that we’d be sick of having the sea on our left hand side. Not a bit of it, this was a revisit to Start Point for myself and a first proper look for Linda, in an area that never fails to…
Our final day of our 3 day walk and all change on the weather front and the path front. Gone are the wide paths and high cliffs, the cloudy, dry weather or very warm and sunny weather. Instead we had grey dank clouds, drizzle with overgrown paths full of gorse and bracken. The drizzle itself…
We woke refreshed and the place we stayed in had supplied a good selection of breakfast items, plus plenty of milk to make a flask or two of coffee to take with us. We knew that we only had a 7 mile walk to complete, with a bus at around 2.15pm at Pendeen, it meant…
This walk was done on the same day as the St Just to Pendeen section and the weather was just as good here, as it was on the north coast, all very hot and sunny as we walked the seafront. There isn’t much to this part of the coastal path, although I liked that it…
Back in the depths of winter we were holiday planning for 2023, we’d booked a week in the Lakes for early May, which we booked whilst we sat in the Lakes on our previous holiday in November. We then decided that we needed a week in March split between Lancashire (visiting family) and the Yorkshire…
So 3 weeks after bringing the boys here for the first time, I returned again, this time with Linda for another walk around the Staple Tors. This walk is number 29 of my Round 2 of Dartmoor 365 squares, and picks up L5, M4, M5, N4 and N5. However the main reason for being back…
A short drive today to the South Western corner of the moor and a point which is probably the nearest to home. This area is full of man made scars on the landscape with clay works and tungsten mines to name two of the newer ones. The area is a forever changing landscape, and it…
A hot and humid Saturday and time for another walk with the boys, my eldest had finished his GCSE’s the day before and we’d had a lazy Saturday up to then and decided we needed a bit of outdoor exercise. As I type this it was a good job we did as my eldest now…
Another walk in early June, not quite the hot blistering sunshine we have had previously, this was the weeks where the weather reports forecast thunder on a regular basis. As a result I changed tack away from the high moor and chose lanes, along the southern edge of the moor. This walk is number 27…
The day after I had walked with the boys around the Staple Tors, myself and Linda headed out to the West Dartmoor area for a walk from Peter Tavy. This one picks up a few Dartmoor 365 squares on Walk number 26, including I5, J3, J4 and K3. The weather was extremely warm, and I…
A blisteringly hot day near the start of June but another chance to get the boys out and away from phones and GCSE revision for my eldest. I was looking for a place to take them, and for some reason I’d never taken them to the Staple Tors, which seems baffling considering we’ve been walking…
It had been a little while since I had been in this area (here), over 18 months, which considering how much I enjoyed the last walk here is a bit remiss of me. Time to put that right and also pick another perfect day to walk the Roseland Peninsula. This area is definitely one of…
So we had been to see the Rannerdale Bluebells 9 days before this walk and decided that we needed a comparison, with our own Devon version, the Holwell Bluebells. The walk was hardly any distance but took forever as we constantly stopped to admire the blooms, plus there was 11 tors and two bridges to…
Now we were back from our Lake District holiday, I was looking for a decent walk to take the boys out on. We, well I, decided on a trip to the Eastern side of Dartmoor and Shaptor Woods, for some tor bagging, woodland style. My eldest was in the middle of revising for and taking…
So our last walk of this visit to the Lake District and our 5th one. Only one walk (the Scafell Pike one) had been a little disappointing. What would this one bring us? The weather was set, as it did on Scafell two days before, to clear as the day went on, hopefully clearing the…
For our week in the Lake District we had managed to secure a little terraced cottage in the grounds of Irton Hall, the important thing about this cottage was its location on the edge of Wasdale. When we weren’t enjoying the delights of walking the fells of Wasdale, we also had one day of heavy…
Having summited the highest Wainwright and mountain in England two days earlier, we figured that we would also summit the second highest. This was a walk made to shorten the number of walks I have left, by one at least, and as a result I conjured up the longest walk I’ve done on any of…
Day 3 in the Lakes and 3 walks already, after yesterday with a long walk of 12 miles but not too much steep walking, today was different. A short walk of only 6 miles but a never ending staircase trudge both up and down. The only break from the constant line of people heading up…
Day 2 and walk number two for us. This was the day of the Coronation and we expected the fells to be a little quieter. Not so, even on this side of the Lake District where seeing other people can be a novelty, the place was fairly busy. And not just with humans, first the…
Another visit to the Lakes and another long drive north setting off early (5am). The reason for the early start is to try and squeeze a walk in on arrival, thus starting our week away on the right foot, plus ticking off a Wainwright which I needed from my list. Last time we walked up…
One last walk before our week in the Lake District and we thought that a coastal walk would help get some ascent and descent into our legs. The various books on the coastal path seem to suggest that the hardest section of the whole path is that from Bude heading north around to Clovelly. Well…
This is a walk around one of the more popular spots on the eastern side of Dartmoor. This walk picks up lots and lots of Dartmoor squares with G15, G16, H16, H18, I16, I17, I18, J16 and J17 all on this route and Walk 25 of round 2. The area around Hound Tor is always…
A post about a couple of days out for the two of us, firstly to Buckland Abbey, where I used to work and volunteer. Secondly to Totnes and a proper look around this brilliant little town, crammed full of history and around 25 coffee shops. Both places are well worth a visit and give a…
Where to walk? That was the question this weekend, we looked at East Dartmoor and also coastal, but an early start meant that we might be able to get some parking at Two Bridges, and a walk out to Rough Tor. This would be Walk 24 of my Round 2 of Dartmoor 365 and includes…
Having walked a fantastic section of the South Devon coastal path from Bigbury at the end of February, we were ready for another coastal outing. No doubt these walks will become more frequent in the summer, but by the start of April, this was only our second visit to some sea views. The North Cornwall…
Back from our trip to the Yorkshire Dales and back on Dartmoor for a walk out of the village of Holne. This one was walk 23 of Round 2 picking up squares Q14 and Q15. I remember doing this walk the weekend before the very first Covid lock down, and remember seeing very few people…
Our final day left us with a decision to make. Where to walk before our long drive back down to Plymouth? The weather was due to be pretty good, lots of sunshine with occasional showers so we now needed a walk near to a decent A road running towards the M65 and importantly, running south.…
Now any first trip to the Yorkshire Dales wouldn’t be complete without a trip to see Malham Cove. I remember this walk from a TV programme called Britain’s Best walks, and I think it was at number two. Ade Edmondson (The Young Ones and Bottom fame) walked this route on the show, and I particularly…
Over the last 15 years I’ve made a fair number of trips north from Plymouth heading to visit relatives in St Helens or further on for holidays in the Lakes. Not once did I head east of the M6 to see any of the sights on offer in the Yorkshire Dales, this, it would seem,…
A nice walk around the north eastern side of Dartmoor and one to keep the miles up in preparation for some walking in the Yorkshire Dales. This walk picks off a number of tors, hills and a number of Dartmoor 365 squares including the diddy hamlet of Sloncombe, this was walk 22 on Round 2…
treksandtors 