This is a walk around one of the more popular spots on the eastern side of Dartmoor. The area around Hound Tor is always very busy with plenty of people making the short walk up to Bowerman’s Nose to see the amazing rock structure. We started out from the popular spot of Manaton before heading…
Back from our trip to the Yorkshire Dales and back on Dartmoor for a walk out of the village of Holne. I remember doing this walk the weekend before the very first Covid lock down, and remember seeing very few people and buying beer from the pub at the end to take away in a…
Back on Dartmoor this week having had a mixture of walking in different areas. We’d had some coastal and some Bodmin Moor recently and it was time to get back into the centre of Dartmoor. This is a walk around the Cowsic River, picking up the tors situated around the head of this river. The…
We started out with a good weather forecast, the winds from the east mean that clearer weather will be found on the western side of Dartmoor. Now its not often that this happens, mainly in the winter, but we were going to take advantage of it. The plan was to head for the Willsworthy ranges…
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…
A late start to this walk but with good reason to allow the rain to clear and for some sun to come out. The area around Lustleigh is lovely in any weather, but a bit of sun puts a gloss on the views and the houses here. We started out from Pullabrook car park which…
Another day in winter where the weather keeps coming in from the prevailing south west so we headed east of Dartmoor to take advantage of the normally drier conditions out that way. Again it worked out nicely for us and we saw plenty of broken cloud with some sun, plus some heavy showers. We got…
Well 2022 has passed into the annals of history and we all start to make plans for 2023, I will mention some of my plans for this year lower down but for now lets look back at 2022. It started with lots of coastal walks, in fact I’d only done one walk on Dartmoor by…
The second day of the new year and our second walk, I’m pretty sure we won’t continue at this pace (if we do the post updates will be getting a little behind), however its lovely to have the opportunity to get out again. Like Boxing Day the weather was stupendous and it would have been…
First walk of a new year and one to hopefully take us to new places for some new adventures alongside old places with new people for some better adventures. I’m really looking forward to getting out this year and enjoying being out. This walk was done on New Years Day and as I type this…
Boxing Day can be a tricky one to judge, depending on indulgences on the day before, will decide your start time. Also the fact that it will normally be very busy as 26th can be a popular day for getting out and walking and finally the weather, which can be fickle at this time of…
In the middle of December the UK weather finally turned towards winter, after a very warm autumn the snow arrived across the whole country. Even Dartmoor got a bit, especially the high tors near to Okehampton. Princetown had received a small amount so we headed there for a cold walk, with just enough snow, to…
A Sunday in December and the weather has turned over the last week, finally. After a long warm autumn we finally hit some gloomy and cold weather, and some rain. This walk was squeezed in between rainy days and luckily for us, it fell when it was at least dry. The clouds however, were very…
Our first walk after returning from the Lakes and we wanted something easy to get to and also fairly easy to walk, this area is easy to get around due to the Redlake tramway (Puffing Billy track) which runs from just above this parking spot. This walk snakes on and around the tramway heading north…
This is a walk in an area that doesn’t get nearly enough pages on websites. I’ve said it before that if the tors, inside the square mile of Shaptor Woods, were out on Dartmoor proper, then you would have thousands of visitors flocking there. They are stupendous. So much so that a new book has…
This was a walk to pick up some tors in the north eastern side of Dartmoor. I have been meaning to come back to Whiddon Wood now for a while. Lots of woodland here, and at this time of year, plenty of brown bracken to bash through and the odd awkward fence to hop over…
Another walk on Dartmoor here, this one was near to home and the plan was that there wasn’t really a plan. Other than the starting point the only real plan was to be around Burrator, with a hope to get across to Sheeps Tor. As it was we decided to head out a little further…
Some of the best walks that there is on the moor, will include Tavy Cleave at some point within it. This route not only walks the length of it but also heads out to Fur Tor, over the settlements at Watern Oke, before looping back around Cut Hill and Little Kneeset. The finale is a…
It was the day of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral and we’d decided to head out early and take in the blue skies forecast. However we faffed a bit and didn’t get going until after 10am, luckily its a short drive to Gutter Tor so we were off and walking around 11am. This is a really easy…
The end of a list and one which I’d probably only found out about when I was actually half way through completing it. The Dartmoor 365 list will take you everywhere across Dartmoor and I mean everywhere. Villages, tors, woodlands, valleys, churches, ruins, streams, pools, bridges, crosses, farms and one particular square with nothing in…
Back from the Lakes and I was keen to get out for another walk, the only issue was the blistering sun. So I decided again to follow previous plans of staying close to water in order to cool off, alongside lots of stops for breaks and shade. The place was Postbridge, which meant a nice…
Just prior to heading to the Lake District for our family holiday, myself and the boys had a chance to head out for a short walk. We chose the western side of Dartmoor as I don’t think the boys have been to these tors before, which is a big error on my part. The best…
The promise of some nice sunshine, warm weather, but not too warm. Perfect for walking and I figured a good time to head out along the River Erme. Parking at Harford Gate still appears to closed off and as it was Sunday I figured parking on the road at the church might be a bit…
A damp day and not much chance of it clearing enough to do a decent walk on Dartmoor with the boys. I figured that I would take the opportunity to head to Becky Falls (yep there’s a cost to get in) and tick the Dartmoor 365 box to say I’ve been. To be honest there’s…
We are nearing the end of June for this walk and the recent weather had been changeable. As I sit here in baking hot sunshine with sweat dripping from very pore, it seems strange that a few weeks ago we were wondering whether summer had been and gone in a blink. Plenty of heavy showers…
A walk around the lanes on the south eastern edge of Dartmoor, starting out from Ashburton, with a return route which included a section alongside the A38! The main reason for this walk was to mop up a clump of Dartmoor 365 squares that were left together, leaving me with just 5 now which are…
Another day out on the edge of the moor, the north eastern corner of the moor to be precise. I’ve done lots of this walk previously (here), that time I headed straight from Christow up towards Kiln Down and then up towards Bridford. This time I added a section further south to pickup my last…
This walk was my first one back in Devon after the Lake District holiday, the map below looks a bit scruffy and too be honest the walk is a bit of that. I didn’t start out on the best foot, forgetting to take my walking boots, however my Merrells did me just fine, showing how…
A decent stretch of good weather has meant that Dartmoor has dried a little and is perfect for a trek into some of the more central areas, far from roads. This area stacks up the tors, 16 of them in such a small area, some of them are very impressive, others smaller outcrops, some just…
Cold nights and clear days, frost on the ground in the morning and good views to the distance as you walk. Conditions were perfect, as they had been for a week or two now. I decided to head up to the north western corner of the moor for a bit of Dartmoor 365 bagging and…
Now tell someone that you are taking two teenage boys to an abbey on a Saturday afternoon and they will either suggest you make an appointment with a doctor or laugh out loud and think you are joking. Well this is something I did, firstly its a Dartmoor 365 square, so it needed visiting and…
After the false start on the previous walk, which necessitated a different walking plan, I decided to return to the area a couple of days later, park a bit further north and set out again to bag some Dartmoor 365 squares. In this case 4 squares and a nice summit of Manaton Rocks. This summit…
I’d booked a couple of days off work and planned a walk or two, covid in the household meant that I was encouraged to be out all day to allow for me to stay away from it, and the patient, a break from bedroom isolation. Not needing to be asked twice (I had planned to…
This walk was an attempt to tick off a number of Dartmoor 365 squares as far away from home as it gets on Darrtmoor for me. The 3 squares of Blackaller Quarry, Drewsteignton and Greystone are full Dartmoor 365 squares with Crockenwell and Cheriton Bishop being a couple of bonus squares. I also managed to…
This walk involves a fair bit of water and bridges over it. There are weirs and bridges galore in this area alongside a set of stepping stones which also cross the river. The river is question here is the River Teign and in winter is nearly always running fairly high, on this day it was…
Its taken me a while to get round to writing up these walks from Christmas onwards, as I type I’m four walks behind. All four aren’t huge walks, in fact one is barely a mile but the others are 5 to 8 miles ish and all very enjoyable. This one was constructed around picking the…
A day off work and a chance to make up for the previous weekends washout where walking was not possible. The plan was to head out on a short walk today and then bag another one in a couple of days. Fingers crossed for Sunday. This walk is a simple one, heading out from one…
When it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The theme of this walk was again, lanes on the edge of Dartmoor and a walk up to a couple of tors to give some fine views. This was my third of these type of forays and again allowed me to visit a couple of neglected tors in…
A bit of a gap since the last walk with the boys due to my eldest getting a bout of Covid (or Rona as he calls it). He had very little in the way of symptoms and spent the 10 days off school mainly playing games and lording it up over his friends. The 11th…
After the success of a moorland and lanes walk a few weeks ago up at Cosdon Hill (here) I tried another. Again this was a ticking list of Dartmoor 365 spots first and foremost and then an attempt to get up to Dartmoor and a tor but this time from a different way than previously.…
A walk of two halves this one, the first on Dartmoor proper, tors, hills and boggy ground (which is prevalent in this area). The second half is around the lanes of north eastern Dartmoor, picking off the Dartmoor 365 squares. The weather was lovely all the way through, sunshine and a chilling breeze, which made…
It was my birthday, a Thursday, I had 3 days off work (Wed-Fri) plus the weekend, meaning plenty of scope for walks. However as is the way, home chores pile up, gardening here, flat pack building there and plenty in-between. I decided, looking at the weather that any of Wednesday to Friday would do for…
A different day today and not one I’ve done before, first I had a day off work as I had a eye appointment in Ivybridge, which meant I started reasonably early for that. Eye appointment done I had a coffee in Ivybridge and sat in the car looking for a plan. I needed to go…
After a couple of weeks away from a walking path, still on antibiotics and not wanting to push myself too far I sought a route that didn’t involve too much ascent. Distance would be ok if I could find a way not to be heading up and down hills too often. That ruled out the…
No the title isn’t a misspelling, it is the name of the house, a Grade 2 listed property near to Bovey Tracey and is the headquarters for the Dartmoor National Park, despite being a mile or so outside of its boundaries. It offers a simple couple of miles of walking around the River Bovey, with…
We hadn’t camped since our visit and walk along the coast at Boscastle, back in July (here). It was time for another outing and the weather was forecast to be good for the bank holiday weekend. In fact we were in a bit of a warm section of weather in which it had been pretty…
This was our first walk after returning from the Lake District and a pure Dartmoor 365 bagging walk, a list ticker! We’d had a lazy morning and eaten some lunch, before heading out to the furthest point away from our home on Dartmoor. South Zeal takes over an hour to get to and if I…
It was hot, too hot to do anything more than a gentle stroll for 15 minutes before returning home for a cold shower. Typical Britain, in that we all moan about good weather!! This weekend, I had one boy isolating due to being within a quarter of a mile of someone with a sniffle (no…
This is another walk around the Lustleigh area, having visited Knowle Woods previously last November (here) I thought I might have finished finding new things around these parts. Not so, a bit of tweaking to my 500 list has brought 3 more fine outcrops and the last one on this walk is a cracker. I…
Restrictions loosened, I decided to head further into Dartmoor. Still on its southern side but the walk is straight into Dartmoor proper, once at Redlake you leave behind the last few remains of people and head off for some solo time. The best part about this walk is the route to Redlake, using the Zeal…
The last walk before restrictions on distance you can travel are lifted. You can’t stay overnight, but out and back home is all I need for now. This walk however stayed fairly local and included parts of a walk I did with the boys a few weeks back (here). This walk headed up towards Pew…
Another walk on the edge of Dartmoor, however this one also walks a bit into the moor before returning to the edge. This one follows, yet again, a short drive. For those that question it, a week earlier the NHS has seen it fit to send me for a diabetic eye screening to this distance…
Well Spring has sprung, or at least an early version has. We may well get another blast of the cold stuff but for now we all are looking forward and willing to fight anyone who wants to stop our plans, we all know what I’m talking about. This walk was a beauty, the weather was…
I had been watching the weather most of the week and unusually as we neared the weekend it was getting a little better. It was set for a dry Saturday with some sun and the same for Sunday. I thought a walk around the high points, of the north western corner of Dartmoor, would be…
I decided to get back on Dartmoor and repeat most of a walk I had done before (here), with a little bit of difference along Belstone Cleave. I’m a big fan of Cosdon, its on my list of favourite summits on the moor and if the weather is good up here, as it was today,…
This was a walk to pick up some tors in the north eastern side of Dartmoor. I have been meaning to come here now for around 6 months but with the lockdown I haven’t ventured too far from home. This was as far as I have been now and a return to some sort of…
Good weather was in the forecast for the middle part of the week and I decided I would get myself out on at least 2 walks over 3 days. Unfortunately the first day coincided with a sickness bug, which went as fast as it came. However Wednesday I was back up and running again, so…
The weekend weather had changed from the bright blue skies and sunshine of the week before. The forecast suggested a dry day on Saturday before rain came in a teatime, with Sunday being a complete washout. As it turned out the weather on Dartmoor was ahead of time by around 4 hours as the rain…
Autumn looked like it was coming over the previous weeks, and I was planning some last longer walks before the days shorten too much to complete them. The northern moors involve an hours drive each way so these needed to be done soon. I picked this out and back to Hangingstone Hill from Belstone, this…
This walk was much needed, the boys had been staring at phones, games and screens for long enough and they needed to get out and see the world. I decided to head to the far side of Dartmoor from home to extend the time away from the computers, whilst also allowing us to finish listening…
Looking at the weather forecast for this weekend I was downbeat. I sit here typing this looking at nice blue skies and sunshine out of my window. I’d watched the weather all week, knowing that I could only get out on the Saturday, hoping that it would be the better of the two weather days.…
Time to head out east. I’ve had a fair few walks recently on the western side of Dartmoor so to balance things out a bit I went around to Moretonhampstead to visit Mardon Down and the many rocks that spring up in this area. You can walk the Dartmoor tors and hills for the rest…
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…
My second visit to Castle Drogo this year, this time I had a look around the castle as well as a short walk. The walk is one of the published walks available from the shop and is the very short walk of just over a mile. I also added on Hunters Tor as an easy…
The West Devon Way is a 37 mile path that links Okehampton to Plymouth. It roughly follows the route 27 cycle route and at many times it follows it. It also links many other trails together including the Tarka Trail, the Two Castles Way, Devonshire Heartland Way and the South West Coastal Path. Its a…
This turned into a walk which circumnavigated Cosdon Hill, whilst picking up all the tors in the area that I’ve missed for one reason or another. I started out from Shilstone Tor and made a careful plan to avoid as much of the soggy ground as possible. You are never going to be totally dry…
A walk around northern Dartmoor, and a part I’ve not visited before. When you head up along the road to Okehampton Camp your eyes are drawn to the higher tors of West Mill Tor and Yes Tor, as a result you speed past the hills and tors around Moor Brook and the East Okement River.…
Time for one more walk before I head to the Lake District for a week. As is customary before I head to high ground I tend to at least have a walk that will test the legs or at worst put some mileage into them. this walk turned out to be perfect, around 12 miles,…
The first proper long walk this year, with the clocks going back, daylight is longer and the weather is getting more favourable. I have neglected the north eastern corner of Dartmoor, particularly around Belstone so this was a walk to put it right. I took in 9 new tops, plus a couple of stone circles…
It had been such a good week, weather wise, and it seemed right to get out again for another long walk. This one allowed for some new tops for me as well as an old favourite. Unfortunately the weather, whilst dry, was absolutely bitter and a reminder that spring isn’t quite here yet!! I’d also…
This wasn’t the walk that was planned for this weekend, originally I had ear marked Cosdon Hill to Hangingstone Hill as the walk for today. However when I joined the A30 at Okehampton, having driven through some sunshine around Lydford, I hit low cloud and grey skies. I turned around and headed back to Lake…
When you start walking hills and mountains, it is always the highest places that draw you in. South of the Peak District the highest is High Willhays and today was the day for us to attempt an ascent. The weather did its best to put us off but we made it round without too many…
treksandtors 