Field Trip to Dartmoor National Park

In our three trips to this part of England, we have travelled all around Dartmoor National Park but never have visited it. Last Friday was a sunny but cold day, and because there was no threat of rain or fog, which can be dangerously thick up on the moors, Christine and I decided to go and explore the geology of the park. It's actually quite close - only a twenty-five minute drive to the east. This is what it looked like from the first few steps of our hike. Looks like a warm, sunny day, doesn't it?

Although last Friday was sunny, it was quite cold for this area (around freezing) with a strong wind from the northeast. Christine had researched a nice hike for us to Great Mis and Great Staple Tors. Tors, for the uninitiated, are hills with craggy rock outcrops on top of them. The Dartmoor region, including the ridge on which we live, sits atop granitic rocks. Where the granite is exposed, it has weathered into all sorts of interesting shapes, or tors. Much of Dartmoor lies above 1000 feet in elevation - the highest tors, Yes Tor and High Willhays, rise above 2000 feet. I noticed as we were driving up into the park that the car was being jostled around by the wind. When we stepped out to begin our hike, we realized how windy it actually was. We thought, "No problem! It doesn't really get cold here. We're used to wind." We were sucked in by the view like the picture above. Boy, were we wrong! The stark moor landscape has nothing to block the wind. At least our windy home of Boone has trees to hide behind! Our planned route was to first take us up Great Mis Tor. Unfortunately, this would require us to walk directly into the wind. We went for it, but within five minutes we were freezing and our faces were so frozen that we could barely talk. We retreated back to the warmth of the car where we decided to look for a warm tea room or pub with a cozy fire to regroup. Fortunately, we found the Two Bridges Hotel (http://www.twobridges.co.uk/hotel) in the park, ordered some tea and biscuits, and found a new hike that promised a lower-elevation tor as well as some sheltered valley walking along the West Dart River. An added bonus - a pub 2/3 into the hike where we cold get some lunch!

We began by heading up into moorland. We were a bit more sheltered here, and the wind was not as bad. No turning back this time, but where did the sun go? Ah, there it is ...

Dartmoor is full of other interesting things besides the geology. For instance, there are ponies all over the place and they seem to know how to pose for pictures. This one turned to a better angle as I set up the shot.

There are also many Bronze Age ruins all over the place, such as Dunnabridge Pound near the car park. Pounds were used to enclose cattle or other livestock, and there are many of them on Dartmoor. Here I am sitting within one. What you can't see in the picture is that this structure is a small part of a circular stone wall that encloses a round field.

After a bit of walking in the wind we came to our first tor, Huccaby Tor. The weathering of the granite creates all sorts of interesting shapes. The granite is expanding because it is no longer buried deep within the ground, and as it expands it breaks roughly parallel to the land surface. This is Huccaby Tor from afar

and up close. It's about ten feet tall and described by our hiking guide as "petite".

We were happy to descend into a valley after our first tor experience to get out of the wind, which was still raging. After descending into the valley, we got to walk past a lovely little church, Saint Raphael's Anglican Church, the only Saint Raphael church in all of England, and one, strangely enough, with a chimney instead of a steeple!

The door was open (obviously this is not a Presbyterian Church!) so we went inside and checked it out.

From here, the scenery became what you might think of as a typical English valley. The beautiful West Dart River meanders through the hamlet of Hexworthy, where it goes under the very old Hexworthy Bridge. Christine commented that there was a beautiful swimming hole here, but we elected not to get in.

We had to dodge some dodgy pheasant hunters who were on the trail, but eventually came to Thimble Hall Cottage, replete with a thatched roof!

Here are some local residents. They, like their wild cousins, also know how to pose for the camera!

By now we were cold and hungry. Fortunately, Hexworthy has The Forest Inn, but not much of a forest. We were very happy to see that it was open, and that there was a wisp of smoke coming out of the chimney. A chance to warm up!

This is a great pub and we had it to ourselves for most of our time there. We took care of the essentials first, grabbing some Teignmouth Ale and a seat in front of the fire

while we perused the luncheon menu. Doesn't Christine look relaxed? It looks as if we're in someone's living room, but that's how many of the pubs feel. They all have fires burning, too, which makes them especially cozy this time of year.

We finally settled on the Ploughman's Platter, a staple of pubs and a very vegetarian-friendly meal. This is a fairly standard version and includes two thick hunks of aged cheddar cheese, a warm brown baguette, salad, cucumbers, tomatoes, a pickled onion, and chutney. The chutney was delicious, as was the entire meal. Who says that English food is terrible? 

I have to say that we left the pub feeling great and were ready to complete the circuit back to the car. We were in somewhat of a time-crunch, too, as we had to get back to Harrowbarrow to pick up the girls by 3:10 pm. The end of the hike included some excellent valley walking along the River Swincombe and the West Dart River. On the way to our first river crossing, we encountered a funny sign warning us to not climb on the timber stacks. The sign cracked us up!

One of the appeals of the walk was the varied terrain. To me, the appeal was also the rivers, which we got to cross on stepping stones. Here is Christine crossing the River Swincombe just upstream of where it joins the West Dart.

The next river crossing was in a beautiful setting complete with a swing!

This crossing was quite a bit wider, and the wide stone spacing made it fairly challenging. We were glad that the river was not flowing very fast. We would not want to cross on a rainy day!

From here, we just had to climb out of the valley to return to the car park. The trail took us past ancient stone walls. There is no lack of stone walls, or stones, in Dartmoor, that's for sure.

We made it back to the car and drove home, arriving with three minutes to spare. Several of you have asked about our car. Here it is in Dartmoor in a car ad-type setting. It is a 2001 Peugeot 206, manual drive, and yes, the steering wheel is on the right. It's not that difficult to drive, once you get used to the reversed pedals.

Just kidding!