After our break away around Cheddar Gorge we returned home to another week of poor weather. By Sunday we decided to get out, but any thoughts of tors, hills and coastline were ignored as the cloud was down, even sat at home. Ashburton is a place we have normally driven through on our way off…
So Linda was back from her mum and dad’s, and what would the weather do? We are still very much keeping it quiet here, it was very sunny, again!! Blue skies above with some white fluffy clouds flying through as this time a gale force wind was blowing, especially on our one excursion on the…
So January had been soggier than a teabag recently taken from the cup, and we moved into February, where surely the weather would get better. This might turn out to be true but for the first week (as I type) its rained every day, again. The weather forecast promised much for this day, damp low…
So our first walk of 2026 and we headed, as we normally do, to Dartmoor. We only wanted a short walk, nothing too challenging, but away from the crowds that may well still be out in the holiday period. The area around Arch Tor is normally very quiet, most will head into Bellever Forest when…
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…
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),…
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…
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…
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 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. The Dartmoor square was E13 and Gidleigh and was walk 68 on my Round 2 of…
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…
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…
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 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…
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 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,…
Back to Dartmoor after our mammoth coastal walk last time out and an area on the eastern side of the moor, not too far from Widecombe. The walk would pick up a number of Dartmoor 365 squares and was walk number 56 on my second round, this one grabs squares Q16, L14, L16, M14, M15…
A walk before we headed to the Lake District and I’m not quite so sure why I picked this area. When you head to the Lakes you will need your fell walking legs, this area around the centre of Dartmoor is reasonably flat and involves a bit of road walking. So perhaps not the best…
This was a walk to pick off 3 of my tors that I needed for my Round 2. To be honest there is very little need to go to Water Cleave Rock otherwise, as its a horrid walk in, especially near to the main path which drops down from Water to the Clam bridge. There…
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 would be walk number 50 in my attempt to bag…
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,…
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 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. This was walk 44 of my second round picking up squares G14, H13, H14 and H15. I’ve…
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…
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…
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