I decided at 07:22 hrs that I would get up. After all it’s all too
easy to waste time “lying a-bed”. There was a fair amount of condensation on
the underside of the poncho but it had not affected me. I stowed away
everything pulled on damp socks and boots. Policed my area and shouldered the
bergan, it felt no lighter than yesterday! Stepped out onto the path, took a
few quick photos and by 08:00 hrs was tabbing.
 |
| Belliver Tor from just besides my bivvy position to the left in the trees. |
 |
| I’m headed North up this track. |
They told me they were on a charity walk
and had camped at Sittaford last night. Well I’ve yet to see two cleaner
looking penguins with dry feet. They both looked a bit “sheepish” so with a “I see
lads.” and a nod and a wink I left them to their own devises. As I departed
they started whispering to themselves.
Due N was
my route for now and along a well-trodden path. The day was fine and sunny. Off
to my right on a path that would converge with mine soon I spotted a group of
six lads, all carrying bergans. One of the pleasures of Dartmoor can be the
solitude and I had visions of these young noisy bucks catching up with me and
overtaking. I need not have worried. Despite a slight route detour by me I
would stay well ahead of them until I turned off for Sittaford Tor.
 |
| Hartyland House GR 644795 |
 |
| The Footpath gate at GR 643793 leading onto the moor. |
Delighted at my progress so far, a good
path, dry feet and sun at my back I was seduced by the moment and paid too
little attention to the direction my footpath was taking me. I was walking away
from the river and the footpath that was shown on the left hand side of the
river. In part I was conscious of keeping ahead of the boys. I realised my
mistake when noticing the walled fields forcing me further off route and
potentially up a hill then to descend before climbing again. There was no need
of this. My original planned route plotted a gradual walk up the river, with a
few minor diversions gradually gaining height before striking off East for
Sittaford Tor. Curses. I didn’t want the lads to think I had made a mistake yet
the ground to cover if I continued was close packed gorse and very tall tufty
grass. (Remember Tosh Evans at school? He would sneak up behind you and stroke
your ear and whisper “Do you want to be a member of The Tufty Bunny Tail
Club?” No! Perhaps it was only us good
looking boys he was interested in!)
Anyway. I decided to swallow my pride
and descended towards the river. By now the lads were only 20 metres back. They
had stopped. I thought it might be to witness my embarrassment as I attempted
to cross the river. I was across in one single bound like a young gazelle. It
seems they had stopped for a rest. Having regained my original route I pressed
on. Gradually I lengthened the gap and even had time for a short break where I
ate a handful of dried cranberries and raisins washed down by some of
Dartmoor’s finest.
As I gained height towards the saddle to the S of Grey Wethers I
became aware of three guys off to my right and further uphill walking parallel
to my route. They must have been old guys because they were all using walking
poles. I was reminded of Three
Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the dog) By Jerome K. Jerome. Why? Who knows.
That’s just the way things are wired with me.
They reached the saddle ahead of me and were
through the open marsh on the saddle before I even realized there was one. I
would like to assure you I caught up with them. Which of course I did but by
then they were sat on the far side of Sittaford having coffee from a flask and
bacon sarnies as Mike heaved into view over the stile. The dog fair flew at me.
I did my best Mick Dundee impersonation. No not the one “call that a knife”
but the one with the water buffalo in the center of the road. After a few
minutes the dog calmed down. The owner was most apologetic. They engaged me in
minor conversation. More I felt out of duty due to the dogs reception. Although
they had heard of Ivybridge and seemed impressed that an old fool like me was
tabbing alone. It seems they were looking for the newly discovered stone circle
“West of here”.
I looked up from my map and said “Oh that one there.” “Yes.” They somewhat
awkwardly answered. “Couldn’t have taken much discovery, it’s been there for thousands
of years hasn’t it?” I asked. “Yes, that’s what we were thinking.” “I’ll leave
you with that one guys, see you.” With a grin I was off due East.
Oops! wrong photo. That’s Linda Kozlowski the actress who also starred in the film with Mick who later
married Paul Hogan (Mick)
and became Mrs Crocodile Dundee in real
life. Mrs Linda Hogan that is. Well she might have continued to use her stage
name. Does that make sense? By the way, Jackie has a water bottle just like
that.
 |
| This area is known as Winneys Down. GR 6282. |
This part of the moor is that
“road less travelled”. For a start there are no roads or paths up here only old
shell holes in the peat bogs filled with water. The ground all around is wet
and spongy and pretty featureless.
I was North of Statts House, I
didn’t see it on this occasion, before long I swung South. Cutting the East
Dart River and climbing again up onto the flat featureless tufty waterhole
filled terrain that is this area of the moor. Headed due South now I am moving
towards Two Bridges, my RV with Pete for transport home. There are however a
few more miles to cover yet. Contouring then dropping off the higher part of
the moor I find myself at a point were two re-entrants meet and the two streams
join. This is a seriously boggy area most times. Today it doesn’t seem too bad.
I am wary of the flowering marsh grasses and am following a series of sheep
tracks. Unreliable as sheep tracks are for route following they generally do
not lead into serious bog. That’s all fine till the tracks stop. Were to now
Mike? The route ahead was a definite No No. I’m not back tracking all that
distance. As I surveyed a route out of the present predicament. I know I’ll cut
through the bog. Sure my feet will get even wetter, remember the water filled
shell holes up top? In defence I was nearly finished for the day. I judged I
only had about twenty feet to cross to what looked to be fairly solid ground.
Checking as best I could I walked into the marsh grass and sank in up to my
thighs. This toppled me over forwards I threw out both arms and my arms then
went into the bog. It was a bit smelly. Visions of Lawrence of Arabia sprang to
mind, when he was stuck in the quicksand. For a while I was unable to get to my
feet. I thought I might have to take off my bergan and “swim” out. Not wishing
to get totally soaked I grabbed a few extra handfuls of marsh grass and pulled.
I managed to get one leg out and fell forward again, grabbed more marsh grass
and repeated the procedure and freed my other leg. A couple more manoeuvres
like this and I was out. I giggled to myself, the water, which had fortunately
not reached my crotch felt somehow quite refreshing. I was soaked but this soon
dried out after a while.
Time to move on. Ahead I could see the granite wall than runs
due East from Higher White Tor. I spotted the stile for which I was headed and
passing through was soon at Longaford Tor. Here I took a short breather and
established comms with Cookie Boy back at Plymouth. There was no reply. I left
a message. Ready for pick-up at Two Bridges Hotel. No matter, he would at some
point ring back. I sat there and swigged on my water. Across the far side of
the valley family walkers were wandering about and in Wistmans Woods about 500 metres
below me I could hear children shouting and screaming. Obviously enjoying
themselves. That’s the last of the solitude. The phone rang. Pete Cooke. He’s on his way. We should both
get to Two Bridges about the same time. I set off again. Downhill onto the
footpath turned left and followed it due South to hook up with Pete at the old
disused quarry/car park. I attracted a few glances from the clientele that were
dressed in their finest whilst sitting eating and drinking outside at the
riverside tables as I made my way to Pete’s car. Distance covered
today app 14 miles.
Pete had a litre of water and a
nutty bar waiting for me. I drank the water but passed on the nutty.
We were soon home.
When I had originally suggested to
Jackie that I would not come down to the caravan for “the second” weekend but
would go tabbing she was not too concerned. That is until she mentioned it to Tracey.
Then they get to talking and before long they have written me off as too old
and incapable. They had also conjured up all sorts of scenarios. These ranged
from a broken ankle after stepping in a Rabbit hole to never being seen alive
again. They insisted I give them data sit-reps of my progress which they would
plot on a map, provided by me. Well we all knew this was lip service as the
number of places you can get cell coverage on the moor is very few and far
between. We, that is to say I agreed and was allowed out to play.
What do I think about it then?
The weather on the Friday, all day
till 1600hrs was pretty bad. The photos I have included here do not give an
honest picture. They seem to show pretty good vis most of the time. That is not
the case it is literally “window snapshots”. The vast majority till certainly
1500 hrs at Combeshead Tor was map and compass using bearings. I had worked
these out the previous week and laminated a route card. This definitely helped.
Although when you are on your own in these conditions one tends to pay that
little bit more attention to the compass.
I am
happy with the navigation but cannot believe it took nine and three-quarter
hours walking to cover 17.8 miles according to an online map measurement. As I
have said it was probably more whilst I minced about. That’s 1.82 miles an
hour. In places it was difficult going, in others straight forward. Carrying about 31lbs didn’t particularly
phase me. I felt no strain on back or shoulders. Indeed when arriving at the
bivvy position I didn’t feel particularly tired.
The feet were tender. Wet, but
then again the previous week I had been suffering from some sort of pain in my
left foot beneath the ball of the foot. I put this down to needing new work
shoes. I even “excused boots” myself for a couple of days at work this previous
week. Am I making excuses? I was confident that the weather would be good. The
met check was go and as we know it’s all too easy to make excuses not to do
something. Indeed as Jackie says “You’re the past master at that.” She can be
cruel at times. I need new boots. Gaiters if taken would have helped on the
Friday as well.
I took plenty of rations,
lightweight boil in bag stuff, muesli bars some choc, instant porridge etc but
ate very little of it. Next time I might well try and leave most of the grub
out. Just take dried fruits, the cranberries and dried banana I enjoyed the one
half of a snickers bar I had early pm on the Saturday.
Water 1
litre of water weighs 1 Kg or 2.2 lbs. I knew from my route planning where I
would be crossing streams so intended refilling water from these. I carried
puritabs and as most water tablets for sterilizing these days are set for a
litre bottle, carried that size. I do drink a lot of water when out walking and
am uncertain whether I took on enough in retrospect. Thinking about it
afterwards when I jumped into Pete’s car the litre of water was certainly gone
in a relatively short time on the journey home. Was I slightly dehydrated? I
experienced no headaches or dizziness.
Conclusion
I enjoyed it. Then again I’m bound
to say that. Strangely enough the solo navigation in the mist I found most
rewarding. It has been some time since I have really needed to use these skills
and it worked well on the day. The overnight bivvy was great. A couple of
steaks over an open fire with a few fellow walkers and a few beers would have
made it perfect.
Now there’s an idea!
|
Leg
|
To
|
G.Ref
|
Bear M
|
Dir
|
Mile
|
Acc
|
Time
|
T
Act
|
Notes
|
|
|
The
Mews
|
|
nr
|
|
|
|
|
07:47
|
Move out
|
|
1
|
The
Beacon
|
654577
|
nr
|
NE
|
0
|
1.09
|
|
08:26
|
Cannot
see Beacon from Moorgate
|
|
2
|
Ugborough
B
|
667591
|
nr
|
NE
|
1.41
|
2.5
|
|
09:15
|
Cannot
see anything Mist. Which way?
|
|
3
|
Glasscombe
|
663610
|
6135
|
NNW
|
1.25
|
3.75
|
1hr56m
|
10:12
|
Slightly
clearer in valley bottom.
|
|
4
|
Petras
Settle
|
662634
|
6395
|
N
|
2.37
|
6.12
|
|
11:14
|
Tall
ferns no settle visible!
|
|
5
|
Wall/Re-entrant
|
668658
|
305
|
NNE
|
1.48
|
7.6
|
3hr18m
|
12:30
|
At
river junc
|
|
6
|
Hickaton
Hill
|
672665
|
585
|
NNE
|
0.5
|
8.1
|
|
|
from
river use wide 2MW path
|
|
8
|
Pupers
Hill
|
673674
|
115
|
N
|
0.45
|
8.55
|
|
13:20
|
Rough
going Mist +rain again
|
|
9
|
Tin
Workings
|
673697
|
35
|
N
|
1.54
|
10.09
|
|
|
Mist.
Barely see Vennford.
|
|
10
|
Combestone
Tor
|
670718
|
6275
|
NNW
|
2.47
|
12.56
|
4hr48m
|
15:00
|
|
|
11
|
B3357
Rd Tk Junc
|
660735
|
nr
|
NW
|
1.81
|
14.41
|
5hr30m
|
|
|
|
12
|
Corner
wood
|
646760
|
2685
|
NW
|
1.66
|
16.07
|
6hr10m
|
|
|
|
13
|
Belliver
Tor
|
644764
|
|
NNW
|
1.1
|
17.8
|
|
17:20
|
via
Laughter Tor
|
|
14
|
Bivvy
Position
|
646769
|
|
N
|
|
|
|
17:30
|
Total time tabb 9hrs45m
|
|
15
|
Bivvy
Position
|
646769
|
N
|
08:00
|
07:22
reveille 08:00 move out
|
||||
|
16
|
Postbridge junc
|
646788
|
nr
|
N
|
1.1
|
1.1
|
|
08:26
|
|
|
17
|
Y
river bend
|
640800
|
nr
|
NNW
|
0.78
|
1.88
|
|
|
|
|
18
|
Sittaford
Tor
|
633831
|
nr
|
N
|
2.3
|
4.18
|
|
10:45
|
639814
refill h2o puritabs 09:43
|
|
19
|
East
Dart River
|
621825
|
3900
|
SW
|
1.45
|
5.63
|
|
|
Winneys
Down. Boggy shell holes.Rough
|
|
20
|
Browns
House
|
614798
|
3550
|
SSW
|
0.92
|
6.55
|
|
|
V
Low Ruin
|
|
21
|
Stone
wall
|
614786
|
3200
|
S
|
1.25
|
7.8
|
|
13:15
|
Use
stile to x
|
|
22
|
Longaford
Tor
|
616779
|
3040
|
SSE
|
0.5
|
8.3
|
|
13:35
|
13:35-13:53
Establish comms.Good sig.
|
|
23
|
Wistmans
Wood
|
612775
|
3740
|
SW
|
0.5
|
8.8
|
|
|
Tourists
on tracks now.
|
|
24
|
Two
Bridges Pub
|
609750
|
nr
|
S
|
1.66
|
10.46
|
|
14:40
|
Well
marked path.Tot time tabb 6hr40m
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
