Well, That Escalated Quickly

A few weeks ago, I was looking for a new walk to do with the boys. As I rummaged through a box full of walk books (which needed unpacking anyway, now our building work is finished), I stumbled upon this:

I’m not sure how long I’ve had it but vaguely remember wondering about doing it before we had children. Anyway, maps have a way of sucking you in (or is that just me?) and before long it had been decided that the boys and I were going to try to walk the whole thing in small sections. Adam pointed to a random place to determine where we would start (Moretonhampstead), and we agreed to do it clockwise. 

This was where things started to get interesting, as I cracked out the trusty OS map to work out how to make Moretonhampstead to North Bovey into a circular walk suitable for very short people. I hadn’t read a proper map for years, though a recent experience trying to follow an old walk book with minimal hand-sketched maps (and getting us a bit lost in the process) had already suggested to me that I should start using one again. 

I’ll do a separate post for each walk, so suffice it here to say that the first two went very well. The third was less straightforward, but that’s another story. 

Having got into the swing of this trail-walking business, Adam happened to come in when I was watching a tv programme about the Yorkshire Dales. He saw the amazing landscape footage and said in an awestruck voice “Oh Mummy! Can we go there? I bet there would be some great walks there!” Definitely my kid. In assuring him that yes, a holiday in Yorkshire could certainly be on the cards, I happened to mention Wainright’s Coast to Coast, which crosses the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales on the way from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. He instantly declared that we should do it, this summer, in its entirety, “Camping along the way and carrying our stuff, because that would be more fun.” 

There followed some delicate negotiation as I broke it to him that backpacking the C2C with a 6 year old was not on my bucket list for 2021. However, we did agree that we could work towards it. 

About two weeks ago, I was saying to a couple of friends that I would love to do the whole of the Dartmoor Way in one go over a week. But, I said, staying at B&Bs each night. My backpacking days are behind me, I said. I’m too old for that now, I said. 

Hmm. 

Within an hour of the conversation with Adam, I had fallen down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos of completely normal people who were backpacking on Dartmoor, in Scotland, along the Coast to Coast, and numerous other paths. Half an hour after that, I was researching lightweight camping gear. 

The plan now is that Adam and I will go off for a couple of nights in June, taking our rucksacks on the bus to somewhere (possibly towards North Devon) and then walking a couple of miles to a campsite. Daniel and I will repeat the process after that (destination tbd), and then we might all go somewhere over a long weekend. One section of the Dartmoor Way looks like it would work particularly well as a 4-day through-hike, if we can find campsites. 

Or, on the other hand... this is Dartmoor, one of the few places in the country where wild camping is legal. 

I’m off to research trowels.