Dartmoor

Day 1: The Drive

I was invited to join my partner Min on a holiday to Dartmoor, and I’d never been to Dartmoor before, I’d loved the idea of going there, but never, so I accepted. I never actually looked into Dartmoor, I just went with my own assumption of what it would be like, flat boggy land, a thick low lying fog, nothing to be seen for miles. Something along the lines of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJHIL0A3WA4 mixed with the Swamp of Sadness from the Neverending Story. When we drove over the hill and Min told me there it is, I was gobsmacked, in awe, shocked, surprised, pleasantly so, it looked so beautiful on a sunny day like this. I was genuinely touched and amazed by the sight before me, filled with something that made me feel happy!

We took ourselves to Woodland Spring which was neatly tucked away near Whiddon Down, then parked up and got ourselves sorted. Hooked up the van and then went to stretch our legs down a little path that ran nearby, up a hill for some lovely views of the moors in the distance, it was breathtaking and the weather was spectacular for it.

This was my first time doing a trip in a campervan, so Min showed me the ropes, what to do, how to do it, and I did my best to help. The site itself was lovely, an adult only place so it was peaceful and quiet for the most part, a very relaxing atmosphere. It was the beginning of a holiday. We slept quite early as we had a busy day tomorrow – My first walk in Dartmoor.

Day 2: Beware the moors, lad, and stick to the path.

The drive to the moors on narrow country roads was interesting in the van, but as we climbed up on to the moors and peered over the top to see what was before us, I was hit by a sense of amazement once more. It was so pretty, beautiful, just spectacular to behold. I’m rather sure my jaw may have dropped a few times as we drove through on our way to Warren House Inn where we parked up and prepped ourselves for a walk. Today we were planning on a walk to Grimspound, up to Hookney Tor, then back to Warren House via a different trail.

We began our walk and not too far in we came face to face with three sleeping cows who had found a nice patch of shade, which just so happened to be where the bridge was. So we made a slight detour over the little stream before getting back on to the trail.

As we continued we came to a short stop just outside Headland Warren Farm, where we watched a few ponies galloping around the area to do a circuit. It was beautiful to watch them, they looked magnificent racing around in the sun, their manes flowing.

We then continued our trek up to Grimspound and found ourselves a small home to settle in and have a little snack, hydrate, take some photos and rest a bit before we continued with the next part of our walk, Hookney Tor, which was just to the North. It was a lovely spot to stop, we could sit down and look out to the South West and see for miles.

The climb to Hookney Tor wasn’t too bad and well worth it, the views were spectacular! The air was fresh, the breeze was cooling. We took this oppurtinity to take a few photos before heading North again and linking up with the Two Moors Way to take ourselves back to the Warren House Inn.

We were fortunate in our timing so slipped into the Inn and ordered some lunch, which we then enjoyed out in the garden on a bench with a view of the walk we had just complete. I had a cheeseburger – It has become this tradition of mine to have a cheeseburger, or some sort of burger when I do a walk, so I had no choice. It was a very nice burger, not quite the flame grilled smoky flavour of Happy Cheese, but a good burger, one of my top 5 most likely.

We then went back to Woodland Springs to sit around outisde, cool down, and take some weight off our feet. It was an amazing day, one I won’t forget.

Day 3: A Day of Rest

We decided to have a bit of a rest day and just hang out, enjoy one another’s company, it’s not often that we get to do that so it felt very nice to sit around the campsite.

After some time our legs got the better of us and we got that itch, so we went for a little walk to Spinsters’ Rock just down the road. It was quite a walk as it was all mostly on country roads, so we were constantly looking over our shoulders to see if something was coming, or darting into the hedges to make way for traffic. On our way down the final road we came head to head with a jeep which if it had decided to head down the road, well, we would have had to literally climb into the bushes. Fortunately he waited at the end, then we had a little chat. He was driving around trying to find a decent spot to take some photos of the milky way.

We reached Spinsters’ Rock then made our way back via the same route. Walking on roads like this was completely different to walking out on the moors, or on a national trail, it felt a lot more stressful, in future I’d much rather avoid roads, roads are evil. But we did it, then crashed at the camp and continued with the relaxation. It was a stupidly hot day today, so we spent most of the afternoon sat out on our own little patch of grass whish was lovely to do, very peaceful.

On a whole, Day 3 was a day of doing very little and just enjoying the company of one another, which is something we don’t often get to do.

Day 4: The Return

We woke up relatively early and started our day quite promptly as we had a lot to do. I had learnt quite a few things about the van over the course of the past couple of days and was confident in helping out. I emptied the water tanks and put the bed back to sofa mode without any assistance, it felt good being able to do things like this, like I was pulling my weight with some of the stuff. It was only minor things, but it was something and made me feel good for doing it.

The drive home was relatively good, although busy, very busy on the roads into Devon with long tailbacks of campervans and the like, obviously hitting Devon for the weekend.

We talked a lot on our journey back, about all we had done, it was sad to be leaving Dartmoor and felt like the time had gone by so quickly, but we had fit so much in, and saw so much. On the way back we planned for future trips, to do more.

On a whole Dartmoor was an amazing trip for me, a place I would love to go back to, to see more of. Warren House Inn was a lovely place to visit and somewhere I would like to visit again once the whole Covid thing is over, so I can see more of the inside. I’d also love to try wild camping out on the moors, to see more of the moors, and venture into wilder country. I loved my time there, escaping from my responsibilities, the weight of reality, and just being me, my own person. I have tasted Dartmoor and have left wanting more, to see more of this country, to see more of the world.