Dartmoor 1999



In 1999 we decided to go to Dartmoor for a weekend trip. We thought it would be a good idea to see a part of England that we can't get to for a Sunday hike.



Some parts of Dartmoor are very remote, Cranmere Pool is the most inaccessible place being around 10km from the nearest public road. Much of Dartmoor is used for military training because of its wild terrain. One characteristic feature of Dartmoor are the carpet bogs. These are an interesting feature - you walk on them and the ground wobbles, however be careful not to fall through the carpet bog, otherwise you could find yourself swimming!



We stayed in a Youth Hostel Association camping barn on a farm called Rummage. We were near the village of Postbridge which boasts the third highest pub in England. Staying in camping barns gives us more freedom as there are less rules than in the Youth Hostels. It is also a lot cheaper.



As we discovered, going south does not necessarily mean that the weather will be warmer. On average Dartmoor only gets 10 days of snow a year; we managed to choose the weekend which saw two of those. We were graced with snow for the first day which meant getting the minibuses to the remote camping barn late at night was a bit difficult but we managed without too many problems. All the same, it was great to wake up the next morning and see everything covered in snow