Overview
Discover challenging and dramatic walking trails shaped by the footsteps of traders, smugglers, saints and pirates. Cornish walking trails will reveal ancient tin mines, clifftop castles, timeless fishing villages and wild moors as you travel through a landscape of huge cliffs and hidden coves that goes back to the depths of time itself. In between the coastal drama, iconic harbours such as St Ives and Padstow give walkers access to some of the UK‘s best restaurants and coastal hotels. A county encircled by the wild Atlantic ocean, there is over 330 miles of spectacular world class coast path here taking you around the farthest corners of England - put simply it feels like walking on the edge of the world.
Stretching from coast to coast across the southwest of England, Devon is a richly diverse county with rugged shores and cliffs in the north, and classic Victorian seaside resorts in the south. In between you'll find tranquil green pastures, wooded gorges and the two dramatic wild moors in the National Parks of Dartmoor and Exmoor. Choose Devon for its walking variety, and you'll find that the popular image of cream teas and thatched cottages is true - but that Devon is so much more once you explore it on two feet. Coast to coast routes like the Two Moors Way will offer a journey through it all from the wild northern shores that inspired the Romantic poets to the maritime ports of the south coast.
Free your soul and clear your mind! Walking on the wild moors of these National Parks is a wonderful antidote to modern living. England's last true wilderness, Dartmoor offers 365 square miles of virtually uninhabited freedom with high moors and twisted dramatic granite tors a land of myths, ghosts and legends. Exmoor, its smaller and more gentle neighour, is 250 Square miles of near perfect and unique beauty, with high uplands swathed in heather and steep, wooded gorges and rushing streams. See Dartmoor ponies and Exmoor stags in these wildlife rich areas, home to 30 species of mammals and over 240 types of bird. The moors offer a unique opportunity for more challenging walking where the only human sound you will hear is the rhythm of your own breath.
Avoid the crowds and discover “Secret Somerset” missed by so many rushing headlong for the far South West. The 'land of the summer people' was named in a time when this area could only be visited in the summer months as the sea receded. Today its a rich, fertile and 'for real' landscape crowned by the fine walking ridges of the Mendip and Quantock Hills both protected areas of outstanding natural beauty. Rising up over King Arthur‘s Vale of Avalon along with the magical Tor at Glastonbury, walkers will find hidden gorges, wooded combes and the best inland panoramas of the South West. Also boasting its own Jurassic Coast Path, providing a gateway into the wilds of Exmoor National Park, Somerset offers walking routes without the crowds for those who want to find..... what the rest miss.
Dorset has a comfortable old world “English” feel to it and its walking routes traverse a rather more green and agricultural land of thatched cottages, cream teas.... and fossils ! Walkers here will find the more gentle rolling farmland, pretty villages and chalk ridges beloved by Thomas Hardy that sweep down to end abruptly at the World Heritage Jurassic Coast. Here, alongside the sea, those after more challenging routes can take a walking holiday through time itself amongst the dramatic chalk stacks, cliffs and arches of the Dorsetshire fossil coast. An area that can be very busy in high season but often suits walkers looking for more gentle and less exposed walking than the far west of the region.
Wales offers some of the best walking and outdoor activities to be had anywhere in the world. The 870-mile Welsh Coast Path was only fully opened in 2012 and is the world's first walk along the entire coast of a nation. The terrain is on an equally grand scale with towering cliffs, vast stretches of unspoilt golden sands, imposing castles, offshore islands and to the north there is the backdrop of Snowdonia National Park with its stunning mountains. Wales in general offers walkers great value for money compared to more popular areas like Cornwall with walking options to suit everyone, from those who want the cosmopolitan restaurants and facilities of towns like Tenby and St Davids, through to isolated and remote forests and coastal hills that sit on the very cusp of the Snowdonian Peaks. Bursting with confidence and pride in its “Welshness”, its Celtic history, language and culture there has never been a better time for walkers to enter Wales.
The South West Coast Path is the UK's longest National Trail and one of the top ten walking routes in the world. It snakes, dips and rises continuously on its way through a staggering 1014km (630 miles) of pristine coastline, 450 miles of which is through nationally protected areas. It's a challenge too; walking the entire South West Coast Path is the equivalent to scaling Mount Everest four times! From towering cliffs to hidden coves, ghostly tin mines to lush subtropical wooded creeks. One minute a dramatic rock theatre hewn out of the cliffs, the next a prehistoric fossilized forest or a 20thC Art Deco Island Hotel. What sets The South West Coast Path apart from other trails is that around almost every corner is yet another surprise as you retrace the footsteps and histories of the tin miners, fisherman, smugglers, wreckers and the customs men who chased them.
1st March 2023 - We are now fully booked on our coast path routes until the end of May but please send quote requests in for June onwards as there is availability for the rest of the year. If you do plan to walk between now and June then our inland routes, Coleridge Way, Mendip Way, Saints Way Dartmoor Way and Two Moors Way still have availability for most dates so please get in touch.
Distance : Around 8.6 miles from Tavistock - you can increase the distance today by taking in a couple of extra Tors and Quarries (see below)
Around 11.6 miles from Mary Tavy - you can increase the distance today by taking in a couple of extra Tors and Quarries (see below)
Grade - Moderate grade walking with exposed moorland sections that would be severe in bad weather. One strenuous climb onto the Moor from Tavistock and again after Sampford Spiney. What these grades mean
Overnight stops in Tavistock before your walk
From Tavistock at the bottom of the Valley you now climb on The Dartmoor Way to the highest moorland Village at Princetown –luckily a mix of moorland lanes and the disused railway line make this less effort than it sounds. After crossing the River Tavy its a steep climb out of the town to the open space of Whitchurch Down a lovely gorse covered common often full of Dartmoor Ponies keeping the grassy sections clipped! Yo re-enter Dartmoor National park at this point with the world of the central Moors Tors just opening up now as you stride over a bizarre Moorland Golf Course complete with natural Gorse lined bunkers that you would not want to be fishing your ball out of.
Pass below the impressive Pew Tor (easy divert to climb it if you want) before you drop quickly to the hidden hamlet of Sampford Spiney. This was the resting place for the Monks crossing the Moor en route for Tavistock Abbey and the tiny Moorland Church of St Mary still reminds us of the locations spiritual significance.
A 16th Century cross stands in the centre of the village close to the impressive Manor House which was won in a bet by Sir Francis Drake (of Spanish Armada fame), who spent part of his honeymoon here. This really is the last hamlet before the high moor so its a surprise to find Dartmoor’s Alpaca Farm here and the residents always seem to be particularly interested in nosing over the walls to see the occasional walker heading by.
A steep twisting old drove road brings you to cross the infant River Walkham which thunders past from the moor before a long climb out of the woodland onto Crips Tor Moor.
Crossing a short section of open moor you reach the trackway of the former Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway and this will be your guide for the rest of the day.
Built in 1823 this feat of engineering was the project of Thomas Tyrwhitt the founder of Princetown who felt it his calling to civilise the wildest part of the moor by building a town (Princetown) and linking it by rail to exploit the area of its granite. Irony is of course that rather than “Civilising the place”, Princetown ended up housing the most infamous prison and criminals in the UK – but more of this later.
The track itself ran 25 miles using Horse drawn trucks and later steam trains from the Plym Estuary near Plymouth across some of the loneliest moorland on Dartmoor Before setting off along it however you should quickly scale Ingra Tor – a classic Dartmoor peak with a strange hammer like Tor formation and views as far west as Bodmin Moor and the South Cornwall Coast. The old trackway steadily climbs up the moor every stop bringing sight of more Tors and more distance to the views. Pass under crumbling granite bridges and over bubbling leats and waterways until you reach the fascinating quarries at Swelltor which provided stone for London Bridge and Nelsons Column.
You can divert here to follow the cuttings past crystal clear quarry pools, where rusting chains hang high on the sheer quarry walls or wander through the crumbling remains of the blacksmiths forge and loading platforms. Huge beautifully dressed Corbels of granite 8ft high and 1ft wide lie ready for use but abandoned by the trail left forever by stonemasons departing when the quarries closed in 1903. Those keen to bag as may Tors as they can, should make a short detour here to climb Kings Tor for the highest views in the area from its twisted Cheesewring type rock sculptures .
However those interested in Archaeology and Ancient Stones have a better treat in store with a short diversion to see the remains at Merrivale – Dartmoor’s premier site of Antiquities – in a compact section of wild Moorland you can walk undisturbed with a complete absence of the usual tourist shops and trappings through Dartmoor’s most famous Stone Rows, Menhirs (Standing Stones) Stone Circles, Kists and burial chambers.
CLICK HERE for more information on Merrivale and including it in your Dartmoor Way tour
Back to the railway route and you pass beside Foggintor Quarries an amazing place of sheer rock walls and deep peaty pools with its crumbling buildings , there was even a school here for the quarrymen’s children. That such man made destruction can look so appealing a century after being abandoned is a mystery in itself.
Ahead now lies 2 miles of open moorland into Princetown with new views now you have climbed the ridge, looking south to the photogenic trio of Tors at Sharpitor, Black Tor and Leeden Tor linked by the dark green blanket of distant Burrator Forest. For the first time all you can see in every direction is Moor and Tor. Welcome finally to the centre of mighty Dartmoor and under the wide open skies and endless horizon you will feel true isolation and freedom.
Overnight stops in Princetown - (other than at Dartmoor Prison !)
Distance : 15 miles - Grade Moderate to Strenuous walking with one section on the open moor which would be severe in bad weather. Several strenuous climbs from river valleys. What these grades mean
Summary: Glorious wild open Moorland track from Princetown before dropping to cross three of the River Darts deep valleys with Tors to climb in between on spectacular trails. Great views all day before a gentle finish after Holne to Buckfastleigh through low woodland and back lanes arriving by the impressive Buckfast Abbey
Leaving Princetown this morning an old moorland track the Dartmoor Way uses the route locally called the “Conchie Trail” as it was built during the war by the Conscientious Objectors (Conchies) who were held at Dartmoor Prison. Given the task of toiling on the building of a track that leads to nowhere this was punishment for their refusal to fight and an attempt to mentally break them. It suddenly ends in the nothingness – which was as far as the gangs got when peace was declared and the grateful prisoners were set free.
As you follow the track the menacing Prison starts to recede but ahead is another day of 360 degree panorama s of open and untouched moorland stretching away to the horizon in all directions.
Tors dot the landscape at every angle including - Belliver, Higher White Tor, Longaford Tor and the Beardown Tors – far ahead you work towards the distant and dramatic Sharp Tor that you will be climbing later today.
This is a truly desolate route but one giving a complete sense of big wide skies, openness and freedom the only landmark known as Crock of Gold a single Cairn and Bronze age burial cist. The heavy granite cover slab still there today thrown to one side of the burial pit by whichever grave robber struck lucky and found their riches buried here.
After the open moor you descend to join a more ancient track lined in wild yellow gorse leading you to the abandoned village of Swincombe where crumbling farmsteads and pillars poke through the undergrowth ahead of the most tranquil of high moorland spots where you cross the peaty infant River Swincombe – still a place where modern man has no place and apart from the crumbling village remains one where he leaves no signs.
Then the variety creeps back into the walk with a quick descent into bracken and scrubland for a double crossing of the dark wooded Dart Rivers.
The first at the Hexworthy Packhorse bridge, a hamlet of thatched Dartmoor longhouses with a welcome walkers pub The Forest Inn - the first habitation since Princetown.
A short climb over a valley below Coombestone Tor before another sunken trail to the crossing point at Dartsmeet. Its “modern” bridge dating back to 1782 but the remains of its far older collapsed clapper bridge demonstrating that for centuries this has been the main crossing point of this charging moorland river. Luckily today you can find refreshments here and you should make use of them as looming above you now is the mighty Sharp Tor and you can avoid it no longer.
Climb up and up from the valley to the heights through the heather, gorse and bands of wild ponies that cover the remains of the reaves or ancient field boundaries on the hillside.
Half way up the climb you can catch your breath as was done regularly centuries ago with a visit the Coffin Stone which lies in sight of the old road over the pass to Widecombe. Any death in the higher moor required a team to carry the coffin miles over the moor using routes know as the “ways of the dead” to reach the solitary church at Widecombe for burial and this was the stone that bearers would rest the coffin on as they struggled up the hill side from Dartmeet.
The Rock itself is carved with letters and crosses but is split in two along its length. Perhaps inevitably the local story is of a particularly evil local landowner whose coffin was rested on the stone as usual. God himself took exception to it and a bolt of lightning struck the stone turning the coffin to ashes and splitting the stone neatly in two – true or not spare a thought for the job of the regular coffin bearers who had another 4 miles to go from this point to reach the consecrated ground at Widecombe Church.
Once you reach the top its all worth it, Sharp Tor is a huge and twisted sculpture and a major landmark its slopes grazed by packs of wild ponies. Whilst not right on The Dartmoor Way route the scramble up the Tor is only 10 minutes off the route and is not to be missed.
From its iconic pyramid shaped rock stack you feel on top of the world and the views are outstanding - you can see the whole of this final days walk in one glance - reaching right back to Princetown and the high moor and forward off the plummeting slopes of Dartmoor to the end of the days walk at Buckfastleigh.
The route starts a descent once again this time joining the Two Moors Way Walking route along Dr Blackall’s Carriage Drive a superbly decadent high level carriageway route build over 100 years ago by the local Doctor so that he could drive his carriage down here on his days off.
Linking a trio of peaks including Mel Tor and Aish Tor which all cling to the lip of the deep forested Dart Gorge you can appreciate why he went to the trouble. As you start to drop down the old trackway you notice the nature of the moor quickly change from harsh wide open heather and gorse uplands that give way into deep forested chasms smothered in lush green bracken and ancient woodland out of which poke random contourted boulder outcrops.
There is an option for the final descent to the valley floor that is a classic passing Leigh Tor one of Dartmoor’s more Spooky peaks before what feels like a near vertical drop through the dense woodland to emerge at the now mature Dart river which you track for a short distance as it curls and meanders below low rocky cliffs and wooded valley. Keep an eye out as this section is home to otter and kingfisher and therefore plenty of easy to spot fish !
From the Medieval bridge at Newbridge you start a climb through vibrant woodland managed by the Devon Wildlife Trust admiring the River Darts renewed energy here with rapids, little gorges and crashing watercourses often being ridden by white water kayakers as you pass.
A short climb brings you into the lovely edge of the moor village at Holne, with its community tearooms and an inn still paradoxically owned and let by the church next door ! This is a real Devon heartland village and makes a good stop for refreshments before the final steps of your circle on the Dartmoor Way.
Overnight stops at Holne and Scorriton for those on slower Dartmoor Way itineraries
Its fairly flat and easy walking now for the final few miles into Buckfastleigh as you now say goodbye to even the last glimpses of those moors. Instead you follow the “Holy Brook” past overgrown remains of ruined watermills and wheel pits shrouded in ivy and bluebells before entering the majestic pines of Burchetts Wood.
From there its a simple descent by back lane to the impressive Buckfast Abbey which is free to explore and has welcome refreshments right on the route. Following the Dart River now you finish in the town of Buckfastleigh with its little cottages, tea shops and inns and for those heading out by train you can put those feet up and relax and recover on the South Devon Steam Railway as it takes you further down the River Dart to the mainline and the “normal world” back at the town of Totnes.
Overnight stops and information about Buckfastleigh at the end of your Dartmoor Way Adventure
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