Dartmoor

It’s so lovely to have my hubby home again! Until the other day when my friend took me up on the moors for a drive, I hadn’t been out all the time he’d been away. Today was a beautiful day, so he suggested we went out for a drive. As it had been so nice up on the moors, I suggested we retrace our steps, and this time I’d take my camera.

By the time we got going, it was mid-afternoon, but it was better that way, because the sun was lower in the sky, and the shadows were lengthening, which is a magical time to be out, and great for photographs too.

Before reaching the moor we drove through Holne Chase, one of my favourite local places. When I was well, I used to park the car where we stopped to take this photo, and I would climb up above the road and walk along parallel to the road, overlooking the river, through the beautiful woods.

We approached the moor via Poundsgate – the road goes up and up from the bottom of the valley, and each time you think you’ve reached the top, there’s more steep hill and twisting road to come! Gradually the trees become more stunted and less dense, and then suddenly you leave the trees behind, and you are up on top and can see for miles, in this wonderful, wild, desolate and beautiful landscape.

We drove over the top and then down to Dartmeet, where the two rivers, the East and West Dart, meet to form the River Dart, and then turned off towards Hexworthy. We stopped by a bridge over the river.

There are some very pretty woods by the river.

Climbing back up onto the moors again, as we passed the Forest Inn, we spotted an ancient Celtic stone cross, one of many to be found on the moors.

When we reached the top we found a tor right beside the road, an outcrop of granite rock.

As we came down off the top, we came to Venford Reservoir, and drove over the dam, and then returned home.

It was great to be able to get out, and although it was windy, it wasn’t really cold. The light was beautiful, and the sky interesting with lots of billowing clouds, and to be in the wild open spaces again was simply marvellous.