Move to Exmoor

After a leisurely breakfast we packed up our tent and camping gear and set off for Exmoor. On the way we stopped at South Molton for lunch where a livestock market was in full swing.
Later in the afternoon we had a quick trip to Lynmouth and parked at the small car park above Watersmeet before walking down to the National Trust café there for a snack and a short walk along the river.

We then made our way to Porlock on the coast near Exmoor where we booked in at a large campsite for the next two nights. This was busier than the site at Harford Bridge near Tavistock and was largely sloping but we managed to find a location away from the busy family large tents and with a gentle slope.

Grey Wethers Stone Circles from Postbridge

We drove to Postbridge and parked in the National Trust Information Centre car park which cost only £1 in an “honesty box” which was surprisingly cheap and followed a path along the East Dart River. The path was fairly busy until the river veered from a northerly direction to the west where everyone else continued on a path along the river heading for Sandy Hole Pass. Most seemed to be clutching some sort of walking guide so it was probably a popular route.
Our route continued along the valley northwards and after rising up the rough grassy valley head, we followed a wide path of shorter grass for a kilometre or so soon arriving at the twin stone circles called Grey Wethers.
It was cooler today, a welcome relief after the recent very warm weather and we both sat with our backs against a couple of the metre or so high stones to have convenient wind breaks as we ate our lunch.
We then continued onwards the junction of several drystone-walls at Sittaford Tor where we climbed over a stile to begin crossing a large open rough grassy area, heading south-westerly to arrive back at another section of the East Dart River where it poured over some rocky steps at Sandy Hole Pass.
From there we followed a path towards the south-east and we could hear the gun fire sounds on the nearby Merrivale Range. We had been planning to go straight back to the car park at Postbridge but near Archerton House the route became a bit vague and we ended up at a field gate leading to a small enclosed area and then a second gate leading onto the road. It was here I spotted a public footpath sign the other side of a bank forming the field boundary.
So, we returned a short way back to the first field gate and followed the footpath sign by a stile leading to a narrow strip of land the other side of the bank and soon the footpath sign by the road.

We followed the road for a short distance and then crossed a couple of fields with a couple of ponies following us closely in the first until we had passed through a gate into the second field. This brought us to bridleway which was close to the NT car park and then back to our starting point.

Wild Camp on Dartmoor

We woke up after a fitful sleep around 08:00 and saw that the mist had largely dispersed and we were joined a by a small herd of young cows not far away.
We had breakfast (I had some “Oat So Simple”) and once everything was packed away, we set off back towards Dinger Tor following a grassy track and then near the tor another land rover track.
We followed the land rover track with an overcast sky but still a warm day and eventually arrived back at a junction with the track we followed yesterday evening by West Mill Tor.
From here we followed yesterday's route back to where we had left the car and after dropping off our rucksacks at the car and changing from walking boots to sandals, we walked across to the railway station which had a sign advertising a café to get lunch as it was now past noon.
We found the café on the station platform but it wasn't open. Oh well. So, we returned to the car and drove to the town centre and after parking in a car park, found a café on the main shopping street to have lunch. Luckily it was next to an out door gear shop as we needed more gas for the stove.
We were planning to remain in the Dartmoor area for another couple of days so we found a couple of brochures with camp sites listed in the Tourist Information Centre and decided to try out one which was conveniently located at Harford Bridge by the river Tavy on the way south from Okehampton towards Tavistock by the A386.
This was a large organised site charging £17 for the two of us with a tent and a car each night.
It was nice and sunny now as I pitched our “base camp” tent: a Vango Force Ten MkV which I bought brand new via eBay a while ago and this was its first outing.
It was an excellent camp site with flat pitches and a well-stocked shop. There was no crowding and separate areas for tents and caravans: most pitches even had their own picnic table, which was very handy!
Once the tent was up and sleeping bags, etc. sorted, we layout the Mythos Duo flysheet to dry in the sun ans also draped sleeping bags on the Force Ten to air.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening reading and having a meal.

Wild Camp on Dartmoor

We both had the week booked off work as holiday for a walking trip in Dartmoor and Exmoor and originally were planning to travel down on Saturday but as luck would have it, I got a stinker of a cold on Friday!
So we had a restful weekend staying at home and today packed the car and drove down to Okehampton on the edges of Dartmoor.
We parked near the Okehampton Youth Hostel by the railway station and got our boots on and got our rucksacks on and started walking along the road for a short while before passing through a gate onto a short path through some woods.
This brought us to a concrete footbridge spanning the A30 dual carriageway. It was a very warm afternoon and soon we were sweating as we followed a route across a sloping open area to reach a narrow tarmacced road leading to the Okehampton army camp.
We passed the camp and a small shed which was the firing range centre – we had checked on the dates when the Okehampton firing range would be out of bounds and it was luckily clear for the remainder for the month and August as well.
Crossing a cattle grid and signs warning road users were only allowed further with permission we followed the still tarmacced road as it rose upwards along the moor and passed a group of soldiers performing some sort of exercise on the moorland nearby.
The tarmac eventually ran out and continued as a rough land rover track as it veered around the side of West Mill Tor to gain the top of Yes Tor at 619m.
After a quick look at the views, we followed a more level path across to the neighbouring summit of High Willhays which is slightly higher at 621m and is the highest point until you reach the Brecon Beacons further north in South Wales.
We sat on a boulder to cool down a bit and have a short snack before dropping down the south-east side of High Willhays and crossed the tussocky ground towards Dinger Tor where we could see others nearby.
We veered off from near Dinger Tor down towards a brook flowing into the West Okement River and started to keep an eye out for a place to stop for the night.
We found a small flat area next to the brook but the water seemed to have a lot of slimy growth so we kept on going down towards the river where me soon found a small flattish are not far from the water.
The sun would be out for a while longer as I started collecting water and filtering it through the “Travel Tap” purifier. I fired up the Primus Eta stove and 1 litre pot and then we placed two “Wayfarer” Sausage Casserole ready meal pouches into the 1 litre Trangia pot we which we had also brought along as it was shallower and wider than the Primus Eta pot.
As we waited for the water to boil the breeze died down and the midges attacked! I got my Mountain Equipment Ultrafeece jacket on and put a Buff over may face and quickly pitched the Robens Mythos Duo flysheet which we had brought along to sleep in. Of course the damn midges had collected under the flysheet as I pitched it so it didn't help to keep them off at all.
Once the food was ready, I ate mine while walking around to avoid the midges. Soon we realised that we would be better off moving elsewhere to avoid our tormentors and so Karen walked up the slope towards nearby Lints Tor to see how things were a little higher up. She was soon back to report that there was still a bit of a breeze up there and no midges. So we quickly packed everything away and headed to higher areas. We eventually arrived at a more than large enough flat grassy area among the lumpy grass tussocks prevalent around the area and near an old iron sign which appeared to be some sort of survey marker in the area marked on the map as Kneeset Nose.
Soon I re-pitched the flysheet and we had our sleeping mats (I had a an old Karrimat and a 3/4 length very old Thermarest Ultralite) and sleeping bags placed in Goretex bivvy bags and at around 21:40 were ready for the night's sleeping after a quick hot chocolate.

Karen was up early in the morning for a loo break and saw that it was very misty but there was a bright moon above.