North Dartmoor 3 Day Circuit Wild Camping 2018/02/24
Snow, rain, 50mph winds, a rainbow. The weather playing out it’s
drama across the bleak tors and ancient woodland of North Dartmoor,
you cannot help but be affected deeply. Everywhere you look there is
detail and an ever changing landscape in which to travel through and
sleep in.
Introduction
We had a low of -2 the first night and
with our tent pitched the frost seemed to creep in around us as we
looked up into a particularly delightful star studded sky. We
encountered some frog spawn too! Such wonders are waiting for you if you
take the time to look at your surroundings. North Dartmoor is a
wonderful place to explore.
Equipment Failure
Our MSR Whisperlite decided to die which sadly meant no hot food or
drinks for the rest of the trip. I had a premonition something may
happen to it so I packed the field repair kit just encase. However even
with some lubrication and fiddling it refused to stop leaking.
Eventually I discovered a metal screw had eaten into its plastic thread
and this meant it was impossible to repair... very disappointing. It was
only a three day trip but if this had happened on a longer expedition it
would have made things very interesting!
Starting in Okehampton the moors really
open up to you. Giving the hiker a great choice of direction to take and
what terrain to move across. We followed the Tarka Trail onto the moors.
This section of damp woodland on the banks of the river is most
wonderful.
