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| Lee-Stuart Evans and Lorna at the start of the Coast to Coast Two Moors Way path |
Wild ponies, barren moors with hidden pebble streams with waterfalls and a chance to walk past the last ever castle built in the UK was too good an opportunity to miss this summer.
The Two Moors Way is nearly as old as I am. Set up as a route to link Dartmoor and Exmoor and then ‘extended’ with the Erme-Plym trail to allow a Coast to Coast route of 117 miles. This brainchild of Joe Turner now has two inscribed boulders in his honour 30 miles apart facing each other from the edge of each Moor.
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| The Two Moors Way Coast to Coast Route |
My friend Lorna is an experienced long distance runner…and HATES camping so she wanted to grab the beast by the horns and experience some wild camping with me with stripped down minimal gear so that we could potentially have a crack at the Fastest Known Time for this route.
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| Lorna crossing fields on the Two Moors Way near Wembury |
We set off from the coast at Wembury on a hot summer Friday evening in July. The plan was to head north and get to the foot of Dartmoor during the night, then sleep until sunrise so we didn’t have to navigate across the moor at night which we both felt was unwise.
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| Sunset on the Two Moors Way near Wembury |
The South Hams region is beautiful and we enjoyed a glorious sunset and pushed through the muggy night to arrive in Ivybridge around 2.30am for a few hours sleep. The wind picked up as we got just on to Dartmoor as a reminder that temperatures and conditions were more challenging up there and it was time to rest.
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| Coast to Coast Two Moors Way Trail marker |
We quickly found an abandoned old open mine works with small dipped areas out of the wind so we tucked in under a tree and out of the wind with a stone wall and got some sleep with just bivvy bags, sleeping bags and an inflatable mattress. To Lornas surprise she actually got some sleep!
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| Wild Camping on Dartmoor near Ivybridge |
A few hours later the sunrise on
Dartmoor was stunning and we gently climbed out of Ivybridge onto the moor. The views were spectacular in all directions and we followed a gentle meandering gravel track for miles. The moor lulled us into a false sense of confidence and I was surprised how easy the navigation and terrain was despite the hills. We made good progress…for a while.
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| Climbing past Ivybridge on Dartmoor on the Two Moors Way |
Dartmoor is roughly 350 square miles of protected moor with National Park status in the UK. The large hills often have peaks of granite poking through them known as ‘Tors’ and the whole area is steeped in archaeology and signs of very early stone age settlements.
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| Crossing a stream on Dartmoor on the Two Moors Way |
Things changed at
The Red Lake China Clay Works. This is a huge artificial hill made from overgrown spoil tip from a china clay works that existed there nearly 100 years ago. The wonderful and easy gravel track (known locally as the Puffing Billy Track) we had been making superb progress along suddenly ended there as it was originally the railway track down to Ivybridge. From here onwards crossing Dartmoor got rather more ‘challenging’.
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| A typical cool stream through the valleys of Dartmoor on the Two Moors Way |
Most of the Two Moors Way through Dartmoor is a rough approximation. The nature of the moor itself with bogs and mires that move mean that any clear set path would be pointless. We found the going very tough in places and sometimes took an hour to travel 1 mile as we tried to find our way and move through very thick tufts of grass.
At one stage Lorna watched me entirely disappear down a hole I didn’t see in the thick tufts of grass. She thought it was hilarious. For about 2 hours all she could hear was me shouting ‘This is BULLSHIT’ from a distance as I struggled across the moor.
The heat was also fierce which made us have to carry large amounts of water and fill up anywhere we could. I brought a Lifestraw with me which also allowed us to drink safely from the streams and reduced the need to carry more than a few litres of water each.
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| Climbing past Grimspound on the Dartmoor on the Two Moors Way |
The path is very varied, taking you over hills with spectacular views , and dropping down into cooler shady villages with streams running through them where we would take the opportunity to jump in and swim for a minute or two to cool down. The water is fed through the hills so is ice cold. An Ice Cream van in a car park gave us a welcome break from the heat as well.
The opportunities for food and water are few and far between so its important to plan your requirements well so you don’t get caught short of water or food.
Castle Drogo was a rare surprise as we moved past it at night on the Saturday, It was the last ‘real ‘ castle built in the UK 100 years ago and has enormous steep drop offs off the path making it a very thrilling part of the trail. We encountered some Dartmoor Hill Ponies that live wild there too.
We also passed the Grimspound Bronze Age Settlement which was established more than 3000 years ago and is still visible today as a large ring of stones marking out the settlement.
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| Keeping cool in an ice cold stream on Dartmoor on the Two Moors Way |
As the second day wore on the plan to finish the entire Two Moors Way within 48hrs was becoming more and more unlikely. We could easily still finish but the speed across the tough sections of the moors meant we would potentially have to slog very hard and finish a few hours before having to go straight to work on the Monday. A 3am exhausted meltdown from me trying to find a way through a blocked part of the trail was the final straw and we lost more and more time as navigation issues combined with tiredness slowed us through the night.
A decision was made. We could have an unenjoyable hard slog to finish the path, or back off the pace and take in the rest the path had to offer at a more enjoyable pace and finish the weekend roughly half way along the trail having completed all of Dartmoor.
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| Coast to Coast Two Moors Way marker |
Lornas aim for the weekend was to explore a path that she had wanted to do for a long time and get experience camping wild, I liked the idea of an Fastest Known Time on the trail but it wasn’t essential, and the weekend scenery was wonderful and varied. I had no regrets finishing the trail at about the half way mark as I had had such a superb weekend despite the heat, Lorna had found wild camping much more enjoyable than she thought it would be too.
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| Two Wild Dartmoor Ponies on the Slopes below Castle Drogo |
So Exmoor and the second half of the Two Moors Way is still out there for us to explore another time, I like the idea that I will be back sometime in the future to finish it, unlike most times when I ‘fail’ at a trail this doesn’t feel like unfinished business, I don’t want to return to prove to myself that I can do it, I want to go back and continue on the trail because I’m sure the Two Moors Way hasn’t given up all of its secrets just yet.
Further Reading
My Guide to Wild Camping Here
My Multi Day Kit List here
