DOING THE DARTMOOR WAY

FOLLOW THE BLUE LINE (ROUGHLY)

BURNT OUT CHURCH NEAR CHURCHILL'S FARM

BY HAYTOR ROCK

BRIDGE OVER BECKA BROOK

FARMER WITH A SENSE OF HUMOUR

OXENHAM ARMS IN SOUTH ZEAL

TOUGH WALKING - ONE OF US MIGHT NEED THIS SOON

RUBY MAKES FRIENDS EASILY

Just outside the gate of Churchill's Farm is the burnt out shell of the Church of the Holy Trinity, apparently destroyed by an arsonist. Stories of evil and devil worship are associated with the church, which may explain why it was attacked. Only the tower and spire have been restored, but the church is still consecrated and useable for open-air services.

Leaving Churchill's Farm, we drove down to Northgate House car park. The hotel had kindly agreed that we could leave the car here for a week as we walked the Dartmoor Way.

The Dartmoor Way is a 90 mile long-distance circular walking route that visits many of the towns on the edge of Dartmoor National Park as well as passing through many moorland areas. Rubi and I would undertake this route in an anticlockwise direction over a period of a week, taking a tent and wildcamping on some nights.

We started our walk by passing through the grounds of Buckfast Abbey, crossing the Dartmoor Bridge and heading north to Ashburton. Near to Ashburton we met a couple who were navigationally displaced so we guided them to the town centre where we took our first break.

The route of the Dartmoor Way assumes that you will need a B&B at the end of each day, and the next stop was Bovey Tracey. Rubi, however, suggested that since we would not be staying there we could perhaps improve upon the route by going somewhere more interesting. Thus, we changed our direction somewhere around Sigford and headed straight for Haytor Rocks. I was pleased to be off the roads, farm tracks and footpaths and into open moorland at last.

It was starting to get late by the time we reached Haytor Rocks, but we continued on past Haytor Quarries to reach the north side of Haytor Down where we were permitted to wildcamp. Rubi found a nice flat spot protected from the wind by gorse bushes.

It was rather cool overnight so we were pleased to be greeted by the sun streaming into the tent in the morning.

We had departed from the 'official' Dartmoor Way and now had to rejoin it, which involved a difficult trek down Black Hill and through the scrub of Trendlebere Down until we found a linking path in Houndtor Wood that took us to a bridge over Becka Brook.

Lunch was enjoyed on the village green North Bovey, but were unable to replenish our water. We continued on to Moretonhampstead before deciding that suitable camping sites near Chagford, our target for the day, would be unreachable in daylight. Thus, we decided to forego the section of the Dartmoor Way that took us past Castle Drogo and instead walk more directly to Nattadon Common, just south of Chagford, where we were able to settle down for the reasonably comfortable night.

In the morning we took the short walk into Chagford to replenish our food stocks, then followed the Dartmoor Way north-west to charming South Zeal, famous for the 840 year old Oxenham Arms and the Methodist Chapel located in the middle of the road, and on the Sticklepath where we ate lunch and enjoyed a pint each of lime and soda at the Taw River Inn.

The afternoon walk between Sticklepath and Okehampton via Belstone was particularly pleasant, especially since we were under no pressure, having booked a night in Okehampton's Fountain Inn. Absolute luxury after two nights in the tent! Also, having existed on cold food for two nights, we were pleased for the opportunity to pig out at the local Wetherspoon's. Rubi had a large mixed grill (but she did share much of it with me).