Walking on Dartmoor
Frank Chammings

Since I retired my main form of exercise is walking on Dartmoor, as I live in Okehampton where I was born (and went to school with Brian's cousin) my experience mainly covers North Dartmoor. Hopefully, this article may persuade someone to try a walking holiday. The scenery is terrific and there is a lot of wildlife, at one time we were followed by a bunch of ravens who then flew in front of us and perched just like in the film "Birds", some of the ravens from the Tower of London were evacuated here during the war.

Your walking gear is all important, buy the best boots you can afford and make sure they fit, most outdoor shops have sloping boards on which to try the boots walking up and downhill. When I started you could get thin close knit socks to put inside the main socks to prevent blisters, nowadays socks are in two layers with the same principle, there is one range called "1000 miles" socks. You can get trousers, which can turn, into shorts but on Dartmoor shorts can be a problem with heather and bracken. It is advisable to wear gaiters, I prefer the long ones. The jacket is all-important, again, get the best you can. Waterproof trousers are often needed, but kept in your rucksack until it rains or you encounter wet ferns, get the ones with full-length zippers they are easier to put on in a hurry. A rucksack completes the essential gear. I recommend carrying a map, compass and a GPS receiver, I have really needed a GPS just once when lost in a mist and it worked a treat, my companions didn't believe the reading it gave until we walked to a tor we could just see and checked the reading against the map, we had walked in a circle without realising it, we thought that we knew where we were going so we didn't check our compasses. A company called Memory-Map produces an OS map for a PC, I can mark out a route on my PC and transfer it to my GPS and follow the arrows shown at different waypoints as I walk through them, this technology is now at least five years old there could be more modern systems available now.

Without inserting maps into this document I shall just refer to the names as shown in the
Ordnance Survey map 191. Dartmoor has many miles of footpaths and tracks and it is best to keep to them. There are bogs but they are easily seen and you get a warning as the ground around is waterlogged. Having said that, areas of grass are usually firm enough to walk on in any direction. The average speed of walking is about two miles an hour; the time taken includes all stops, for coffee, lunch and comfort breaks.

Although some walks can start from Okehampton a car is needed to benefit from different start points. Parking the car in remote areas has its problems with low-life stealing articles, do not allow anything to be seen through the windows the police supply a notice to put in the car stating that there are no articles of value in the car.

Arriving in Okehampton you will see that is dominated to the south by the northern edge of Dartmoor, which rises 700 feet from the town. At school, our senior cross-country course climbed to the summit and then down the eastern side to a ford to which you had to follow any route you chose though the ferns.
Our first walk starts on the side of the hill, drive to the station and go under the bridge on the left and park in the station and YMCA car park, if you are lucky a train of the Dartmoor Railway might be there. Follow the road up and then take the footpath on the left, which will
take you over a footbridge over the A30. Veer right up over the grass to the gate by the hedge, this will bring you out to the road to the Army Camp, follow this road for a short
distance and turn left up the track to a gate, close the gate and walk through Lower Halstock Farm, farmed by a school friend John Hodge, there may be bullocks and sheep sharing the path but carry on. Always close any gates after you, TAKE MOOR CARE, as they say. Carry on the path and you will arrive at Cullever Steps and you will see a dry stone wall called Irishman's Wall facing you, perhaps another time you could follow it and come out at Belstone but for now we will follow a gentler route. Follow the path to the south and cross the ford at East Ockment Farm, you may have to find a better crossing point if it has been raining, just follow the stream for a bit until it narrows. There are many small heaps just by the stream and these are heaps of spoil from tin miners looking for tin many years ago. Take the zigzag path up the hill and come round Rowtor. On reaching the top of the hill you should see the Army Camp, make for the Camp, as there is a public footpath right through it. The first time I walked through the Camp it was the day before the Ten Tors weekend with tents all over the place. Coming out of north of the Camp there is a path leading back to the Camp Road and the gate that you went through at the start.
The town is spread out before you in the valley. The house by the gate is said to be built on the 1000 feet contour. Follow the path back over the footbridge and eventually your car.

Another walk from the town is around the Meldon Reservoir, the dam was built in the early seventies, but before then we used to go swimming in the river just below the present dam. This walk can start from the town by climbing Station Road and taking the fork to the right at
the fountain as if going to the Army Camp. Then, take the track to the Golf Course and walk

through the course following your nose until you reach an unpaved road, which leads to
Meldon Quarry Pond, follow the road to the viaduct and turn off right through the woods to the footbridge.
Follow the uphill path until you reach a more defined track; turn left down the hill to Meldon Pond, where we also used to swim. Follow the track to the left and climb up to the car park. On the way you will see an adit on the right, this is a drain from an old mine, there are several all over the moor. Swimming in the pond, possibly on my last summer leave from Halton, the Water Board turned up and decided to use the water in the pond to augment the river flow so they could extract more from upstream, they measured the depth as being 90 metres.

If you drive to reservoir car park, take the road from the town towards Tavistock but don't join the A30 carry on towards the small village of Meldon bear right and after going under the bridge turn left and the car park is eventually found on the left. There are toilets there and maps explain stuff about the Pond and the Dam.
The walk around the reservoir starts by turning right out of the car park and when you reach the bridge turn left and follow the track. There is a shorter walk, which turns off before the bridge is reached. Follow your nose again and turn left on a track down to the valley. Cross over the bridge and walk down the other side of the reservoir back across the dam to the car park. Stop a while on the dam and look down the valley with the viaduct in the distance; this is especially attractive in the spring when the gorse is in flower.

More walks can be described if there is a demand for them.