Author Topic: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!  (Read 8780 times)

WhitstableDave

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #15 on: 16:04:13, 23/09/20 »



My comments yesterday about roads came after a terrible drive along the A382. Our satnav had taken us on some extremely narrow, twisty lanes to Widecombe so we decided to take a much longer route back using 'A' roads where possible. It didn't occur to me that a busy major road would have seemingly endless single track sections. What a terrible road! That on top of the slow crawl along the A303 getting here, means that, wonderful as we think much of Devon is, we're unlikely to return. :-(


The forecast today was for rain so we set off across the moors to visit the villages of Peter Tavy and Mary Tavy and the surrounding countryside.

It was a  fantastic walk with many highlights, but especially the long section by a leat in Creason Wood that runs 100ft above the River Tavy to a reservoir a mile away.

On Kingsett Down (near Willsworthy Range) with one of several groups of horse riders out enjoying the rain!



The weir on the Tavy from where we followed the leat through the woods:


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ninthace

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #16 on: 16:27:03, 23/09/20 »
A382 a bad road?  You're kidding - it's a fine road, though granted a bit tight in places, but lots of it is wide enough for a white line up the middle which makes parts of it a motorway (see previously posted definition)!   Coming from my corner of Devon, it is my main access route to Moretonhampstead and down to Bovey.  A lot of our roads were built for horses and carts and are sized accordingly.  The geography and solidity of our field boundaries between villages, combined with the house spacing in villages, means that road widths are often not negotiable. Think of it as character.
Using a satnav in Devon - rookie mistake made by many grockles.  I was talking to a farmer only last week who told me how he had to pull two young ladies out of a lane when they had lost their sump on the "central reservation" after they followed their satnav down a local road (also see definition in previous post). The purpose of a satnav in Devon is to tell you where you are and no more, certainly not how to get anywhere!
PS The most useful gadget in my car is the button that flips the mirrors in when I meet an oncoming vehicle.
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Jac

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #17 on: 08:30:23, 24/09/20 »
Love the road definitions N ;D

Though I should take issue with the 50 speed limit quoted - the national limit on all roads not otherwise designated is 60 (at least that's what they told us in the speed awareness course :-[ )  It wouldn't do to hold up traffic by adhering to a incorrectly perceived  speed limit just because there is grass in middle.

Incidentally a couple of years ago a coach, following satnav, became wedged in one of the lanes between Lettaford and Chagford with the door jammed shut. Unfortunately, it was carrying a merry bunch of pensioners on the way back from afternoon tea. The fire brigade assisted.

I can only agree with your observation re traffic on the A303 and your decision not to visit Devon again will go some small distance in alleviating the problem - thank you ;)

Glad you enjoyed the walking O0
So many paths yet to walk, so little time left

Ridge

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #18 on: 09:09:27, 24/09/20 »
Nice pics Dave.
You just have to suffer the roads both getting to and once you are in the West Country as the price you have to pay for the lovely scenery.


Is that a grey mare in Widecombe?

ninthace

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #19 on: 09:35:50, 24/09/20 »
Love the road definitions N ;D

Though I should take issue with the 50 speed limit quoted - the national limit on all roads not otherwise designated is 60 (at least that's what they told us in the speed awareness course :-[ )  It wouldn't do to hold up traffic by adhering to a incorrectly perceived  speed limit just because there is grass in middle.
The limits I quoted are not the legal limits but rather the maximum speed that can be achieved by delivery van drivers and mums on the school run.  Personally I never go faster than the speed I can comfortably stop in using half the remaining distance to the next blind bend so I rarely get above 30. O0
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richardh1905

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #20 on: 10:17:55, 24/09/20 »
Shame about all the tourists clogging up the roads around Dartmoor, isn't it?  ;)


Nice shots, by the way, especially of the pony. :)
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thomasdevon

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #21 on: 15:28:15, 24/09/20 »
Perhaps he doesn't understand the Devon road classification system:
Room for a white line up the middle = motorway, no more than 70.
No room for a white line but tarmac all the way across = A road, no more than 60.
Grass up the middle = B road, no more than 50.
Looks like an ultra narrow tank training ground = local road for local people and satnav followers.  As fast as you like  O0
We don't need them broad boulevards like what they have in Cornwall.




Country people drive like maniacs. I'll never get used to it.

WhitstableDave

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #22 on: 15:52:02, 24/09/20 »
Thanks for the comments! :-)

Not wishing to contribute further to Devon's traffic problems, we abandoned our plan to drive to Drewsteignton today to do a walk and instead we did one straight from the cottage. ;-)

We had only a basic plan, which was to follow the Dartmoor Way from Lydford to the viaduct at Lake where we would go onto Dartmoor and ascend Corn Ridge. From there, we would head southwest to skirt Great Links Tor and return past Widgery Cross to Lydford. All went to plan as far as Corn Ridge,  but from there our route varied considerably according to the terrain. 

One of many bridges along the Dartmoor Way:



Soon after an unplanned ascent of Great Links Tor, heavy clouds began heading our way very rapidly! Then, at the highest point of the walk, we battled through a freezing downpour for about 20 minutes:



The rain stopped just as we began the final descent from Brat Tor. We were very cold and the path was clear, so we jogged the entire way down to the River Lyd below - a great way to warm up again!



It was the first time we've jogged in full waterproofs and boots and carrying backpacks. Great fun! :)
« Last Edit: 15:55:16, 24/09/20 by WhitstableDave »
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Jac

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #23 on: 16:26:15, 24/09/20 »
Great pic of what we call [censored] Tussock Grass ( or sometimes simply ******* tussocks) with beautiful sky O0
So many paths yet to walk, so little time left

WhitstableDave

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #24 on: 17:02:27, 24/09/20 »

One more photo from our final Dartmoor adventure today...





We'd been following a rough, but obvious, track for some time when it just stopped dead. We found ourselves surrounded by bog in every direction except the one we'd arrived by... except for a series of boards going the opposite way to our intended route. We followed them for a while in the hope of reaching drier terrain, but gave up and returned the way we'd come. Needless to say, the path we wanted was clearly shown on the map, but there was no sign of it on the ground!
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GnP

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #25 on: 17:10:10, 24/09/20 »

. What a terrible road! That on top of the slow crawl along the A303 getting here, means that, wonderful as we think much of Devon is, we're unlikely to return. :-(



Townie......enjoy :)
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ninthace

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #26 on: 13:12:05, 25/09/20 »
You would like this one from my walk today Dave.  This comes under the heading of "local road" but will appear on a car satnav as a possible route.  This is the road to North and South Coombes as it appears on the map.



And this is what actually exists. 
Top of the descent

Foot of the descent just before North Coombe

Both North and South Coombes are inhabited but it looks like they use the bottom end of the lane for access.It would definitely come as a surpprise to any satnav user.
« Last Edit: 16:13:48, 25/09/20 by ninthace »
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WhitstableDave

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #27 on: 18:31:00, 25/09/20 »
We arrived home from Lydford after a trouble-free five hour drive - which was exactly one hour less than the outward-bound journey. Even the bit by Stonehenge wasn't too bad this time.  :)

We thoroughly enjoyed our week of walking in Devon. We did at least one walk each day and clocked up 80 miles in all, most of which was on the moors and up to the tors of Dartmoor.

It's true that we did get a little frustrated with the roads and traffic we encountered. All but two of the walks I'd planned before we went involved a drive to a car park somewhere, but it hadn't occurred to me that even a 20 mile drive would take much longer than expected. It wasn't so much the number of single-track roads that was the problem, but the amount of traffic on them. We've spent many happy walking holidays on Scottish islands and other places where single-track roads are the norm (we even have quite a few here in Kent!), but the constant squeezing past oncoming cars (as on the A382!) became a bit too much for our liking. So in the end, we did all but two of our walks directly from Lydford and left the car behind.

From the high moorland, we often had wonderful views over the farmland below.



At first, the patchwork of small green fields separated by stone walls looked like an idyllic English rural scene, but we soon realised that almost all of the fields contained either cows and grass... or just grass, and during the whole week we didn't see a single arable crop or orchard or... well, anything that wasn't grass. I'm certain that Devon has a much greater variety of landscapes than what we saw, but sadly, driving to find them was too much like hard work!  ;)

Our favourite things in the area around Lydford were the spectacular tors and the wonderful paths, bridleways and byways.   O0

To be honest, we didn't even know about Dartmoor's tors until we got there, but we found them totally irresistible (well, I did anyway!) and had to climb every one we passed - and pose for a photo...



We didn't see a lot of natural woodland, but we loved what we did see - with gnarled and moss-covered trees which are quite unlike our local woods. Every public right-of-way path we walked was well-maintained too...



We also really liked the great many bridleways and byways - many of the latter being wider than the official roads! And although our routes occasionally took us across fields and past cattle, most of the tracks seemed to be between and separate from fields, which makes for nice, easy walking.



So, niggles aside, we really enjoyed our week in Devon.  :)
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gunwharfman

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #28 on: 20:00:36, 25/09/20 »
I did the Two Moors Way last year and really enjoyed it. I wild camped on Dartmoor the first night, very dark, wild and windy but didn't see any of those tors. Great photos, glad you enjoyed it. I found even walking on some of the roads irritating especially the sunken ones.

Anyway I noticed your reference to Tapatalk, never heard of that one before and had a nosey look at your phone. Did you buy it as a 'special?'

WhitstableDave

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Re: A week's walking on and around Dartmoor!
« Reply #29 on: 21:59:44, 25/09/20 »
...
Anyway I noticed your reference to Tapatalk, never heard of that one before and had a nosey look at your phone. Did you buy it as a 'special?'
Hi GWM. Apologies if I don't go into detail... basically, when on holiday I use the Tapatalk app on my phone to add phone photos to forum posts. The 'SM-G930F' at the end of the post simply refers to the model of my Samsung Galaxy phone.
Walk, Jog, Run : our YouTube video channel.

 

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