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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 walk 21 of Round 2 of my D365 square hunt and involves  L7, L8 and J8 and the…
We started out on Walk number 20 of Round 2 with a good weather forecast, the winds from the east mean that clearer weather will be found on the western side of Dartmoor, meaning we should be good for squares D4, E4 and E5. Now its not often that this happens, mainly in the winter,…
Time for Walk number 19 of Round 2 of the Dartmoor squares, picking up just square R6 on this walk. Those of you that have read my walking blog for a bit will have seen that I quite like a sunset, its rare that I’m up in time for a sunrise but a sunset is…
We’d had 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 on Walk number 18 on Round 2 a little later to allow the road conditions to improve a…
A late start to this walk (number 17 on Round 2 of the D365 squares, picking up I20 and J20) 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…
Mid January and a typical weather day for this time of year, cloud too low to head up high but the odd break in the cloud to give a bit of brightness. As with the rest of the country we had, had a lot of rain recently and I thought a look at the River…
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 and walk number 15 of Round 2. Again it worked out nicely for us, picking up G21, H20, H21, H22 and I21 and…
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. This was walk 14 from Round 2 of the Dartmoor 365 and…
First walk of a new year and a year to hopefully take us to new places for some new adventures, alongside old places with new people for some better adventures. This was walk 13 of Round 2 of the Dartmoor 365 and visits squares Q7 and R7. I’m really looking forward to getting out 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 which carried on my Round…
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, the walk fell when it was at least dry,. This was walk number…
We’d had a Sunday off walking when we’d returned from the Lake District so despite the low cloud and dull conditions we headed out ready for another Dartmoor walk. The week’s break has allowed me to catch up a bit on the number of outstanding walks I had to post and I am exactly one…
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 is number 8 on my D365 round 2…
This is a walk which is my 7th on my 2nd round of Dartmoor 365 squares and picks up just I22 this time. It’s 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,…
This was a walk to pick up some tors in the north eastern side of Dartmoor alongside being walk 6 of my second Dartmoor 365 quest and therefore bagging squares D15 and E17. I have been meaning to come back to Whiddon Wood now for a while. Lots of woodland here, and at this time…
Another walk on Dartmoor here and walk 5 of Round 2, taking in squares O7, P7 and Q8, 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…
Some of the best walks that are on the moor, will include Tavy Cleave at some point within it. This walk is number 4 of Round 2 in my Dartmoor 365 quest, taking in G6, G7, H5, H6, H7, H8 and H9. This route not only walks the length of it but also heads out…
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 Walk 3 of…
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…
Time for another Dartmoor walk and also time to start a second round of the Dartmoor 365 book. For Walk 1 on round 2, we headed out to the eastern side of the moor around Lustleigh to pick up square I19. I hadn’t been to Lustleigh this year and I think it was April 2021…
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…
Plenty of July and now on into August has been pretty hot for us here in the south west of England, as a result I’ve avoided walking on occasions and instead headed for a swim. This one is from mid July and previous wild swim spots of Shilley Pool, Sherrah Pool, Spitchwick and Cadover Bridge…
Having missed my annual trip to see the bluebells at Holwell Lawn, I was determined not to miss this outing for a sunset at Cox Tor/Pork Hill area. The really hot weather at the start of July gave plenty of evenings with the right sunset conditions, plus walking in the day would have been madness.…
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 every 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…
Arriving back from the Lakes after my Easter holiday, I had a look through my stats page after posting a walk I did before heading 400 miles north, and noticed that I was sat on 490 odd posts. As I ogt back and posted all the walks of the Lakes I kept an eye on…
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…
treksandtors 