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Off to Dartmoor today!
So, I learned a lesson today - if you're in Dartmoor you need a proper GPS. Or a car. Or both haha. I got... not lost but stuck shall we say because I didn't want to keep going down some random valley in the bushes and get lost. There are no signs in the paths and there are a lot of intertwining ones so having the map with you doesn't even help… What a shame.
Ok backtrack. I bussed up to Newton Abbot and wandered around the village for a bit - small and cute - before heading up to Haytor Vale in Dartmoor. Basically as soon as I started the hike I was like 'yep this won't end well' haha. Right from the start there are four paths generally going in the same path - I had downloaded an audio guide which was my saving grace and I managed to take the correct one up the hill and then down into the old quarry. The quarry was quite lovely - there’s a little manmade lake down there as well, very cute. There were also a bunch of these little itty bitty frogs - at
first I thought they were crickets or something, but no adorable itty bitty frogs.
I managed to find my way to these other rocks (I can’t remember the name?) - I saw rocks, they were ginormous boulders and were pretty great to look at. I could see Hound Tor off in the distance - I was supposed to “carefully climb down the side of the hill into the valley” according to the audio guide… except there was no marked path? Well. There were bits of path, then it would disappear, then reappear, etc. It was all overgrown and you can’t see where you’re stepping which is problematic for two reasons: boulders/rocks/uneven ground… and poo. Oh so much cow and sheep poo. I’m sure I stepped in some, it would have been impossible not to.
ANYWAY. I got maybe a third of the way down and just looked around and was like… fuck it. I didn’t want to get fully stuck in a bunch of ferns and trees and be totally lost. Also the wind was picking up and it was supposed to rain… I figured it wasn’t worth the aggravation. On the way back up I had a
moment of hope when I thought I found the actual path path… but after 5-10min walk down it, it disappeared again. Rage. I mean, at least I got to see the Hound Tor even if it was quite a distance away..? Like I could see it from my side of the valley. Nevertheless I'm going to play the entitled tourist card (which I can't remember ever thinking before) and say they really should put in sign posts or some sort of marker for their paths.
I headed back towards Haytor Rocks because they were big and I figured I wouldn't get lost haha. I actually had planned to go the way I came but I lost that path (... oy) so I just walked aimlessly towards Haytor haha. It worked? I got there in one piece and with relative ease.
Haytor Rocks are pretty impressive in their own right - two giant collections of rock. People were rock climbing up the larger one - with harnesses and hard hats and all that. The smaller/flater one had iron anchors near the top to vertically pull yourself up... but the winds were still really strong and after watching a couple
youngsters try to get down with much difficulty I decided not for me lol. I was content to sit about 3/4 of the way up on a big flat boulder and that was my perch for the next hour and a bit. I tried to read, but it was too windy haha - my poor book took quite the beating in those few minutes. I managed to eat my apple without it blowing away - that's a win. I ended up just people watching (mostly those rock climbing) and got to say hello to a lot of random dogs because people don't keep them on a lease. Most just come over for a quick sniff hello but my fav was this Golden Lab who walked straight over and just stood there for 5 min wanting to be petted haha. I was happy to oblige.
I headed back down to Haytor after that - it didn't matter there were 3 paths down on the one side because all I cared was getting down to the main road. Back at the car park I got a nice cup of tea and managed to actually read for a bit - the wind
was much gentler down on the ‘ground'.
The bus ride back to Newton Abbot was amazing - first off we went through a field with a bunch of ponies and they were right up against the road and I now want to come back in a car one day just so I can see the ponies up close. There was this one foal - its hair was so poofy! I loved it. Ahem, anyway. Our driver was the sweetest old man - he was pointing things out as we went along and telling us some folklore of the region. Really lovely.
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Keep Smiling
Mike Fossey
It's a great part of the country
Pleased you enjoyed Haytor, despite the lack of footpath markers. My wife and I returned just a fortnight ago after a week at Haytor - blog (and photos of ponies!) will follow soon. Oh, and perhaps I should get around to completing my blogs of our five-week visit to your homeland in 2011 - omg was it really that long ago?! Enjoy the remainder of your stay in the UK.