Moor and Road Walking in West Dartmoor

Travelling the Highways and Byways and the Moor.

Rambler

*** See bottom of page for info on Dartmoor guide books ***

Walking is by far the most popular pastime for visitors and locals alike in West Dartmoor. The countryside lends itself to such pleasures. One has such a wide and varied choice that one is literally spoilt!

The moor obviously appeals to very many visitors as it is possible to walk just a quarter of a mile off the road and one can imagine one is miles from anywhere. It is truely amazing that so many people can enter on to the moor and the place still seems empty. Of course it does cover 365 square miles or there abouts!

Every village has its system of public footpaths and bridleways. Mary Tavy parish in fact has 32 of them!
Each type of walking demands different disciplines. By that I mean that road, lane or footpath walking is less demanding and safer than walking on Dartmoor.

Firstly, walking off the moors requires less in the way of equipment and stamina. It is often easy to find a pub or cafe if you are walking relatively close to civilisation.

It is totally different when you are walking across Dartmoor, facing perhaps a 15 miles hike and the weather changes.

It is then that the clothes and equipment suitable for lane walking becomes worse than useless, and can indeed be dangerous.

'Kountry Kit'

You should also CLICK ON THIS LINK BEFORE YOU GO -It is important!

All footpaths are shown on Ordnance Survey maps of the area and as a general rule are quite accurate. In the case of Mary Tavy those indicated are correct in the most part - only minor errors occur and they will not affect the walk.
The sort of thing one may find is perhaps that one should pass to the front of a building instead of to the rear! Not worth bothering about really.
ESSENTIAL INFORMATION FOR SAFE WALKING ON NORTHERN DARTMOOR
The Ministry of Defense have LIVE FIRING ranges on the Northern parts of Dartmoor where they conduct exercises with LIVE ammunition. When these exercises are taking place, red flags fly around the perimeter of the exclusion areas and there is definitely NO PUBLIC ACCESS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Nevertheless, Dartmoor is free of all military use during the month of August. During other months of the year see the front page of this site where I have details of all the latest up-to-date firing periods link.

Get up-to-date information from the HOME page link set up especially for this.
Click on 'HOME' at bottom of this page to get to it

DARTMOOR BOOKS!

Many may be obtained from here. Pay a visit!

"Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor"

William Crossing, a long dead but famous Dartmoor historian and guide wrote wonderful books about Dartmoor and its people. He lived at Mary Tavy and is buried in the parish churchyard there. It was he who wrote an excellent guide to Dartmoor obviously called "Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor".

This is an excellent book and is widely available in all bookshops that border the moor. Well worth the few pounds for its purchase.
It lists in minute detail hundreds of paths, tracks, antiquities and prehistoric hut circle locations all over the Dartmoor National Park. It is never missing from the bookshelves of anyone who professes to love Dartmoor.

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