Day 1: Up to Yes Tor along peaks and rocky outcrops.
Heading towards the Moors - view back to Okehampton, Devon
We found the path! and some pretty gorse
The National Trust pays farmers to continue farming the moors like they did back in the day
Richard checking the map
Sheltering from the wind in a small mound along the track
Top of Yes Tor (2nd highest point in devon at 619m)it was so windy we crawled up the rocky steps to get up here and were hanging on to this post
View from Yes Tor to the next peak (or hilltop)
Follow the yellow brick road...
The point at which we were regretting having only sneakersnot only were we being blown along with the wind, but water was seaping into our sneakers with every step from the wet spongy ground. I miss my Mendels.
Rocky outcropa.k.a shelter from the wind
Camp!The only campsite we found after 6 hour walk. We could just fit in both tents (note the cattle in the background)
Cooking dinner
Richard chasing sheepDay 2: we were planning to head down further into the moors and then back out and up on day three. When we set out on Friday we knew there was a rain forecast for Saturday/Sunday. On Friday night it started raining. We thought it would stop by the morning.... but oh how wrong we were...
Breakfast in tent in the morning and windburnt from the day before
Thank goodness for our NZ Macpac tent. We were snug and dry in the morning and could leave our tent fly up as a shelter while packing up our belongings and tent inner. We don't think our tent has ever had a better wind and rain test (even in Fiordland).
The scenic route to the pub
Even though our legs and feet were soaked the rest of us was quite dry and we were still enjoying ourselves! (from back to front - Alice, Richard and Rebecca)
A peak and rocky outcrop along the way
Finally reaching the town
But alas it was Sunday and the pub was shut for another 2 hours. So we gave up on the idea of waiting around for a pint fairly quickly and hiked back to Okehampton - hoping that the YHA had 4 spare beds for the night and a hot shower!
Breakfast in tent in the morning and windburnt from the day beforeThank goodness for our NZ Macpac tent. We were snug and dry in the morning and could leave our tent fly up as a shelter while packing up our belongings and tent inner. We don't think our tent has ever had a better wind and rain test (even in Fiordland).
After packing up site we changed our plan to walk out that morning - along a tarsealed military road - to the nearest town and pub. About an hour in we changed our minds and decided to take the scenic route to the pub and head off the road along the peaks again... in our defence it did look like a short cut on the map!
The scenic route to the pubEven though our legs and feet were soaked the rest of us was quite dry and we were still enjoying ourselves! (from back to front - Alice, Richard and Rebecca)
A peak and rocky outcrop along the way
Finally reaching the townBut alas it was Sunday and the pub was shut for another 2 hours. So we gave up on the idea of waiting around for a pint fairly quickly and hiked back to Okehampton - hoping that the YHA had 4 spare beds for the night and a hot shower!
All in all walking in Dartmoor was an enjoyable experience and we now understand why everyone thought we were mental wearing shorts and wanting to camp out in the Moor - however our tent is AWESOME and if we had our boots we would have stayed dry during the day as well as the night! We did make the most of what we left of our long weekend in Devon - but I'll put that in another post.
No comments:
Post a Comment