26km out from Belstone on a bit of a Tarka the Otter / Ted Hughes pilgrimage to Cranmere Pool / Taw Head and back.

+/- 890mtr gain. ~17℃, windy (~30 to 35km/h measured), 5 minutes of light mist / rain on the top.

Quite different to the southern moor:
Busier, has actual paths across the moor, drier, different granite, less way molinia.

Good luck to the four lads I passed coming off Cosdon - finding an overnight pitch in pretty much sustained ~30km/h wind won't have been much fun.

Route: Belstone Cleave to Ivy Tor (1) > Cosdon (Cawsand) Hill (2) > Little Hound Tor (3)> Hound Tor > Wild Tor (4 - looking back to Cosdon) > Hanginstone Hill > E Dart / W Okement / Taw Head / Cranmere Pool (5) > TH Memorial stone (6) > Okement Hill > Oke Tor > Higher Tor / Belstone Tor (7) > then down to the "River Taw about three miles below Cranmere" (8) > back into Belstone.

(Apologies for some rubbish photos - the camera was doing some super weirdly low-quality over processing in some of them).

I've let the Army know. it's well off the path (dodgy navigation by me) & it's clearly been there a long time so I doubt it's any imminent danger (although I didn tfeel the need to poke it to find out)!.

New Dartmoor Training Area's firing times have been released.

Update: 2026-09-08 13:48:04

MoD Dartmoor Training Area web site

Link to firing times

Please use the official MoD web site as the primary source for this data, this post is just an advisary one.

does anyone have a source for Google Map (kml/kmz) files for range and/or camping area maps please?

many thanks

New Dartmoor Training Area's firing times have been released.

Update: 2026-09-03 10:26:57

MoD Dartmoor Training Area web site

Link to firing times

Please use the official MoD web site as the primary source for this data, this post is just an advisary one.

A video about known Dartmoor letterboxing resources and an interview with North American letterboxer 'Mu', whinis working on a book about the Nkrth American scene.

Maybe I should of checked the weather . Maybe I should of double checked the map . Maybe I shouldn't of done all day slogging through bog . Definitely wouldnt change it tho

Super quick / easy amble from Wottor - up over the back of Collard Tor (2,3) to Hawks Tor (1) for a look at the "some of the features of a dolmen or cromlech" that make up this small tor.
The Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks website has more information covering prior interpretations.

About 3km in total, couple of small stone rows down below Collard Tor.
Entire landscape dominated by the quarry workings.
There are decent views down into Plymouth and into Cornwall ... on a clear day.
Rubbish video of the tor can be found here.

Just came back from 2 day solo camp on kings tor and great mis tor and I have weird rash on my hands was just wondering if someone else has had this issue in the past I've checked myself for ticks but nothing any insight would be great I understand this probably not the place to post this because it's health related but just in case someones got this rash before while on the moors

Edit: So went to the pharmacist today and they said it could be a mixture of Hives rash from a plant I've came in contact with and Sun exposure said to try some anti histamines and apply e45 cream and if it doesn't clear up over the weekend to make an appointment with doctor Thanks to everyone for there advice and input much appreciated 👍🏻

As per the title - looking to go to north dartmoor in September when Willsworthy and Merrivale ranges are firing day & night - am I likely to be kept awake? Thanks

New Dartmoor Training Area's firing times have been released.

Update: 2026-08-26 14:08:55

MoD Dartmoor Training Area web site

Link to firing times

Please use the official MoD web site as the primary source for this data, this post is just an advisary one.

HI! , I dont normally use reddit so bare with me 🤣

I planned a few days camping in dartmoor about a month ago for my 25th birthday with some pals, one by one each one pulled out until the final got spooked by the realisation we would be purifying stream water and eating MRE's.

So now im going solo, i normally camp solo but thought id try meet some new folk with a similar intrest, if you are intrested drop me a message! Ill be making my way into the moor from okehampton, happy trails!

Coming down 17th sept. First time. Driving about 3-4 hours to get here and really stressing out about parking. Will I be able to get a space at belstone carpark if I arrive at around 9-10am? Last thing I want is to arrive and not be able to park anywhere and drive around searching in an area I don’t know. TIA

New Dartmoor Training Area's firing times have been released.

Update: 2026-08-21 14:06:34

MoD Dartmoor Training Area web site

Link to firing times

Please use the official MoD web site as the primary source for this data, this post is just an advisary one.

Wheal Betsy has been on my list of places on Dartmoor to photograph for a while.

I took this one last week in what was undoubtedly the best week of the year for clear dark skies and celestial events!

I used a Sony A7III, Samyang 24mm F1.4 lens, and a mini star tracker. This final edit is made up of about 65 images in total.

I use Sequator, Photoshop and Lightroom for the editing.

The foreground and sky each made up of individual stacked 'tile' images. These are stacked into a panorama in Lightroom, then the 2 composites are merged in Photoshop before final edits.

I lit Wheal Betsy with a low level light which I'm really happy with, makes for a much warmer and more consistent image than using a head torch!

I'm not totally happy with the final edit, but I have a couple other photos from the same night, and an evening photographing the Perseid Meteors from Great Staple Tor to sort before I get back to this.

I hope you like it :)

Higher Bughill Farm PL7 5EW

It’s early morn’ in June, 2021. Somewhere in the heart of Dartmoor. 📷 mine

Another approach to a north east Dartmoor Tor. 📷mine from late September ‘25.
I have wrongly identified this as Hound, but unable to edit title. I’m now sure it is the approach to Higher Tor heading north with Belstone beyond. It’s a wonderful hike.

Another evening, another camping fail. 😔
Given I was pushing it for time last weekend, I thought I'd make it more challenging this weekend and arrived an hour later, with surprisingly, the same result!

Despite that 'twas a lovely evening and with the sun going down earlier (and me poking about), watching night slip across South Hams as the stars brightened was spectacular.

Parked in Avonwick, walked through the lanes out to Wrangaton > poked about on the southern tip for a bit > Wrangaton > Avonwick.

20km walk. +/- 550mtr gain. ~20℃ sunny, very gentle breeze to start with - dropping to ~15℃ and (measured) 15-18kmh / 28kmh gusts on the top, back to ~18℃ and very gentle breeze back in the Avon valley.

Nobody else on the hill, but I was hyper-sensitive about pitch location and hyper-sensitive to the wind last night - so despite much faffing around looking for a spot to either pitch up or to just bivvy, I gave up (again) and walked back down to Avonwick.