# Tomorrow we do our annual dartmoor walk



## craigxcraig (Jan 4, 2012)

Can't wait - been looking forward to this more than I have Christmas!

Leaving London tomorrow afternoon and meeting mates in Bristol, we then head down the M5 to Princetown from where we begin our four day, three night walking and camping extravaganza (or something like that!)

Our route is here:

http://www.corbetteer.co.uk/public/drawmap.php?un=crashwilliams&rn=OpRafter

30ish miles coming up!


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## fractionMan (Jan 4, 2012)

*Jealous*

If you change your route everso slightly in the bottom left you can walk past all the bronze age ruins at merrivale and also merrivale quarry (njot the modern one, the disused one)

They're both awesome sights imo.


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## craigxcraig (Jan 4, 2012)

fractionMan said:


> *Jealous*
> 
> If you change your route everso slightly in the bottom left you can walk past all the bronze age ruins at merrivale and also merrivale quarry (njot the modern one, the disused one)
> 
> They're both awesome sights imo.



Thanks for that tip fractionMan will have a look and see how we're getting on. Weather wise its meant to be sunny though I take that with a pinch of salt as the weather is nuts at the best of times.


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## fractionMan (Jan 4, 2012)

craigxcraig said:


> Thanks for that tip fractionMan will have a look and see how we're getting on. Weather wise its meant to be sunny though I take that with a pinch of salt as the weather is nuts at the best of times.



To clarify, draw a line from the bottommost point of your journey to the point at great miss tor to see what I'm on about. It goes through the part marked "stone circles". You've got it going past the transmitter which I don't think you can actually get to tbh and it's not very exciting anyway.

Ah, I remember now, it's called foggintor quarry.  It's en route to the stone circles.


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## craigxcraig (Jan 4, 2012)

....just consulting my OS Map now....


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## dylanredefined (Jan 4, 2012)

3 days on dartmoor in january  A cruel and unusual punishment if ever there was one imho. Have fun if that's your thing.I hate the countryside and Dartmoor is up there with Scotland and the breacon beacons as places i would happily never return too.


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## fractionMan (Jan 4, 2012)

craigxcraig said:


> ....just consulting my OS Map now....




Ah, here's the exact walk I'm on about: http://www.dartmoorwalks.org.uk/walk/merrivale.html


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## craigxcraig (Jan 4, 2012)

fractionMan said:


> To clarify, draw a line from the bottommost point of your journey to the point at great miss tor to see what I'm on about. It goes through the part marked "stone circles". You've got it going past the transmitter which I don't think you can actually get to tbh and it's not very exciting anyway.
> 
> Ah, I remember now, it's called foggintor quarry. It's en route to the stone circles.



I think I've been here (whilst in basic training with Marines many years ago, 1988) or something very similar - I'll def swing by and have a look.

Looking at my map, just south of Gt Mist Tor is Little Mis Tor and west of here is a number of old settlements continuing south - I might detour this way, cutting out North Hessary Tor taking in Foggintor and then back on route to South Hessary?


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## craigxcraig (Jan 4, 2012)

dylanredefined said:


> 3 days on dartmoor in january  A cruel and unusual punishment if ever there was one imho. Have fun if that's your thing.I hate the countryside and Dartmoor is up there with Scotland and the breacon beacons as places i would happily never return too.



We try to go most years generally around this time.

In the past we've had snow, horizontal rain, bright sunshine and more rain!


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## fractionMan (Jan 4, 2012)

craigxcraig said:


> I think I've been here (whilst in basic training with Marines many years ago, 1988) or something very similar - I'll def swing by and have a look.
> 
> Looking at my map, just south of Gt Mist Tor is Little Mis Tor and west of here is a number of old settlements continuing south - I might detour this way, cutting out North Hessary Tor taking in Foggintor and then back on route to South Hessary?



I can't see south hessary on the map.

I'd recommend going from little miss to the stone rows at merrivale, then to fogintor quarry then on to north hessary.  Or skip north hessary and walk back to princetown from the quarry, it's an easy walk along an old (it think) rail track (minus rails).

The main bronze age site is all around the stone rows. There's cairns, standing stones and the remains of a village. Around the quarry there's all sorts of crumbling mine workings that are well worth a look.


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## dylanredefined (Jan 4, 2012)

craigxcraig said:


> We try to go most years generally around this time.
> 
> In the past we've had snow, horizontal rain, bright sunshine and more rain!


  Maybe if I'd spent less time playing soldiers in places like that I could appreciate their beauty more as it is rather you than me.


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## fractionMan (Jan 4, 2012)

I love dartmoor in the snow. Last time I visited foggintor quarry it was frozen solid and surrounded by massive 6 foot long icicles. It was like something out of a fantasy movie. All this was after digging ourselves out of our tent which was a couple of feet under the snow! Awesome


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## craigxcraig (Jan 4, 2012)

fractionMan said:


> I can't see south hessary on the map.
> 
> I'd recommend going from little miss to the stone rows at merrivale, then to fogintor quarry then on to north hessary. Or skip north hessary and walk back to princetown from the quarry, it's an easy walk along an old (it think) rail track (minus rails).
> 
> The main bronze age site is all around the stone rows. There's cairns, standing stones and the remains of a village. Around the quarry there's all sorts of crumbling mine workings that are well worth a look.



I'm def going to do this detour and cut out North Hessary (South Hessary is a KM SW of Princetown 597723.)

We'll be coming through sometime on Saturday having wildcamped up near Great Mis Tor. We'll skip Princetown as we're heading to another wildcamp spot up near Bellever.

Can't wait for tomorrow and having rx'd this additional info I'm even happier!


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## craigxcraig (Jan 4, 2012)

fractionMan said:


> I love dartmoor in the snow. Last time I visited foggintor quarry it was frozen solid and surrounded by massive 6 foot long icicles. It was like something out of a fantasy movie. All this was after digging ourselves out of our tent which was a couple of feet under the snow! Awesome



we were so hoping for snow but the weather reports are showing sunshine - still as we know, it probably will snow!


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## fractionMan (Jan 4, 2012)

p.s. there's a pub two miles south of great miss tor on the road and it's all down hill to get there 

(merrivale inn/arms/something)


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## craigxcraig (Jan 4, 2012)

thanks for the tip though we're all carrying whiskey!

We do however, start/finish at the Warren House Inn - theres a danger if the weather is honking tomorrow that our walk descends into a three day bender!


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## craigxcraig (Jan 9, 2012)

Got back late yesterday and had a great weekend though at times the weather was proper grim. setting off from the Warren House Inn (after a couple of pints of Otter, which was very 'moor'ish(!) we walked onto the moor arriving at our camping spot sometime around 11pm on Thursday. Friday morning was glorious but the weather closed in as the day went on, to the point we had horizontal rain - crossing the one of the plateaus was very trying as we were pretty much ankle deep in bog with the wind and rain in our faces.

We climbed into our sleeping bags sometime around 4pm and didn't emerge until the following morning around 9am - our tents were battered during the night! Having lost quite a lot of time we decided to cut short the walk and walk the 12 or so KM off the moor, back to the Warren House Inn to sit next to the fire and tuck into some more Otter!

Heres some photos from the weekend:


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## ChrisD (Jan 9, 2012)

sounds good.   Which tent stood up to the winds best?

Spielberg was impressed by Dartmoor...
"I have never before, in my long eclectic career, been gifted with such an abundance of natural beauty as I experienced filming "War Horse". With two and a half weeks of extensive coverage of landscapes and skies I hardly scratched the surface of the visual opportunities that were offered to me."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jan/08/steven-spielberg-war-horse-dartmoor?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487


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## rubbershoes (Jan 10, 2012)

looks a great trip

I'm planning to do the Chagford Challenge this year. Probably the 20 mile route.


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## craigxcraig (Jan 10, 2012)

ChrisD said:


> sounds good. Which tent stood up to the winds best?
> 
> Spielberg was impressed by Dartmoor...
> "I have never before, in my long eclectic career, been gifted with such an abundance of natural beauty as I experienced filming "War Horse". With two and a half weeks of extensive coverage of landscapes and skies I hardly scratched the surface of the visual opportunities that were offered to me."
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jan/08/steven-spielberg-war-horse-dartmoor?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487



Its such a beautiful place and cannot wait to see his new offering.

As for tents, both types faired up well - mine was the quaser and I was very happy with it, though my friends wild country was equally as good. Only difference was the quaser is slightly quicker to put up.


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## likesfish (Jan 11, 2012)

dartmoor january think i'll past
  nearly killed some ramblers  who'd manage to walk onto a range  or somebody had set the range up on a footpath also mortared a part of pony trekers fortunatly with smoke bombs.  got told the three step rule first rule up to your ankle next step up to your knee next step backwards.
 total bollocks one step up to your waist


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## craigxcraig (Jan 11, 2012)

likesfish said:


> dartmoor january think i'll past
> nearly killed some ramblers who'd manage to walk onto a range  or somebody had set the range up on a footpath also mortared a part of pony trekers fortunatly with smoke bombs. got told the three step rule first rule up to your ankle next step up to your knee next step backwards.
> total bollocks one step up to your waist



this post and your profile piccy is making me smile!


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## likesfish (Jan 11, 2012)

remember the British army is the most professional military in the world.
  unfortunatly the standard is pretty low


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 7, 2012)

When you do another Dartmoor walk, if you end up anywhere near Buckfastleigh I highly recommend The Globe Inn on Plymouth Road (sounds like a major thoroughfare, but it's not much more than a lane). They do B&B which I haven't used, but their food, ale and friendliness is something I want to experience again. I was down for a family funeral and they did us proud at very short notice.


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