Wildcamp Phil: Dartmoor - First Multiday Adventure

Having parked up in Princetown I set out into Northern Dartmoor, on what was to be my first multiday adventure. The weather was glorious the first day but then closed in for the following three. With reduced visibility, navigation was only possible by compass and by the end of the trip the only dry piece of clothing I had was my fleece. I can only describe my experience on Dartmoor as harsh...and I was glad it was over at the end.

Television station on North Hessary Tor.

Great Mis Tor

DD Superlight Tarp @ Great Mis Tor.

Sunset.

Dartmoor Day 1. From Great Mis Tor I headed to White Tor for brunch (and to dry off after falling in a bog), then continued northeast to Lynch Tor and Standon Hill before dropping down into the Tavy Cleave valley. Harsh terrain and vegetation made the climb up to Hare Tor a bit of a mare, but I made it . Fearing to attract attention from the cattle below I hid my camp behind some rocks, but only had space to deploy my micro tarp. Tomorrow brings heavy rain....it's gonna be a test of myself and my gear. Watch this space, Phil out.

Rise and shine Mr Freeman.....rise and shine...

Harvesting solar.

Heading Northwest.

River Walkham.

Standing Stone.

Beware the bogs!

Erm….facking bogs! Drying out gear on White Tor.

Lynch Tor.

Standon Hill.

Tavy Cleave with Hare Tor in the background.

River Tavy.

Hare Tor.

Fearing to attract the cattle below I camped amongst the rocks utilising my micro tarp.

Dartmoor Day 2. Starting out from Hare Tor I headed up to Sharp Tor and Chat Tor, then up to Great Links Tor for lunch. Poor visabily made me rely heavily on GPS and compass. It's crazy how far off course you can veer in between readings. Oh and rule no.2 of Dartmoor...there are no bastard paths. Footing here is wild and treacherous, thank the lord for hiking poles. I then headed across to Kitty Tor, north to Steng-a-Tor, then down a steep boulder field into the West Okement River valley where I made camp. My rain jacket didn't cope as well as I would have liked, but my merino wool base layer kept me warm even when wet. Overall I think the day went OK.

Weather took a turn for the worse. Great Links Tor. Navigating by compass now.

Bleak House.

Heading down to Sandy Ford from Steng-a-Tor.

Camped out by the West Okement River.

Rear end of tarp configured for weather protection.

Dartmoor Day 3. Stayed at camp today till after lunch, trying to dry stuff out unsuccessfully. The rain would not abate, so I packed up and walked through the lovely Black-a-Tor woods. An uphill slog through the horizontal rain came next, up to Black Tor and then onto the lofty High Willhays. From there I actually used tracks to get to East Mill Tor, and finally ended up at Oke Tor, which was an absolute shit hole. Animal poo everywhere. To make things worse I pitched my tarp in a bad place and was too tired to change it. Damn thing was a wind and drizzle funnel...had to get bivvy bag out again. A cow stalked me for awhile, laughing at me no doubt.

Black-a-Tor Copse.

Heading up Black Tor.

Black Tor.

High Willhays.

Camped out at Oke Tor. Place was full of animal crap.

Dartmoor Day 4. I packed up and got the fuck away from Oke Tor as soon as I could, heading South up to Steeperton Tor. I used the fuel shed there for some shelter, to cook some breakfast and charge my phone a bit. From there I proceeded South to Hangingstone Hill then doubled back a little and struck West, Great Kneeset my goal. And it was a bog fest... but I persevered and eventually got there. I definitely felt as if I was pushing my luck though. It was all bog again then to Little Kneeset and then the final steep climb up to Fur Tor to make camp. Absolutely 100% soaked and morale low I needed to make a good shelter. What was gonna be a pleasant 5 day stroll/camping trip, has literally turned into survival.

Steeperton Tor

Hangingstone Hill.

Ockerton Court. This area was dangerously boggy...a nightmare to navigate.

Pushed through to Great Kneeset.

Camped out on Fur Tor after a particulary harsh day.

Purifying water using the Sawyer Mini.

Dartmoor Day 5. Endless bog again today, although the weather was better. Fur Tor it seems, is the most difficult and remote of Tors to get to. On top of that, my feet were starting to fail on me. Trudging through bog was now even more gruelling. 6 hrs of bog later I finally got to a road and made my way back to the car in Princetown. I was glad to see the back of Dartmoor...it taught me a lot tho. I then drove 5hrs back home, and was greeted with a Maz fry up. Dartmoor is a harsh environment.