On Saturday 9th October 2021 I setup off much later than intended from Meldon Reservoir car park. The traffic was horrendous on the journey up from Cornwall and I spent most of the journey fretting about time, so the start of my hike was filled with stress and worry about whether or not I would even reach Great Links Tor before the sun sets.
So Dave and I headed off in the direction of Sourton Tors from the car park, which took us across South Downs. The view of Meldon Reservoir and damn from atop the hill was stunning. There were a lot of cows in this field so I kept Dave on a short leash, much to his dismay.
We had a beautiful and scenic walk from here to the foot of Sourton Tors. Along the way we saw a buzzed stooping from the sky straight into a thicket of tall grass. I hoped to be able to get some footage, but it flapped away before I got close enough. Walking through a gate I had the idea to get footage of the gate opening with the camera perched atop the gate, however the idea was a bad one. As soon as the gate started to move the camera fell, damaging the casing slightly. I did not realise this was a problem until much later, since the camera seemed to be working fine. More on this later.
So onwards we journeyed, over the pillow mounds and trenches, towards Sourton Tors. We stopped for a moment to look over the ruins of a large building. It was interesting because in some of the leftover granite there were several deep holes, seemingly from a modern drill given how clean edges were, indicating that the holes were drilled relatively recently.
Arriving at Sourton Tors I tapped the trig point before having a conversation with a gentleman from Halifax who had arrived on the moors a few days previous. He'd traveled down to take part in a charity hike that was unfortunately cancelled at the very last moment. Despite having never visited Dartmoor before the gentleman converted a good knowledge of the area. Evidently he had done he's research, something I always intend to do but never seem to find the time. Perhaps over the winter months when I am spending less time on the moors I will have time to brush up on my knowledge?
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| Sourton Tors, Dartmoor |
Dave and I spent a little bit of time at Sourton Tors, looking at the beautiful expanse of Dartmoor, particularly towards the west into Cornwall. For a silly moment I could swear I could see my home! I did consider, given the time, cancelling the hike on to Great Links Tor and instead pitching my tent at Sourton Tors, convinced that I would not have time to make the walk as the sun was already descending toward the horizon, but in the end Dave likes his Dartmoor walks and I still had plenty of energy so resolved to double down and just walk a bit faster.
Passing cows on the path is always a bit worrying. These large beasts, while docile and nervous of people, can also be stubborn and intimidating. One cow in particular concerned me. She was wide and heavy, likely pregnant and was standing at a fork in the path. Concentrating on her I almost too the wrong direction, which would have led me down into the valley. Luckily I remembered an earlier conversation with Ryan In The Wild who had told me about the fork, warning me not to go right. Thanks Ryan! Passing the guardian cow, taking the left-hand fork I trudged on and up along the old army track.
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| Dartmoor Cow at a fork in the track |
While I have been making efforts throughout the summer to reduce my pack weight, climbing tors and walking up hill along old rutted tracks it always feels twice as heavy as it really is, so despite my earlier decision to simply walk faster, I quickly found the weight was pulling my feet to the floor sooner, reducing the length of my strides and slowing my pace. This was further evidence by Dave constantly stopping and looking over his shoulder at me, waiting for me to catch up. I felt embarrassed to be holding him up.
Along the journey I spotted litter. A few sweet wrappers and a crisp packet. I picked it all up as I want, stuffing the rubbish into my carrier bag that I always bring with me. However there was one bit of litter I refused to touch and pick up. Now, I will always carry my own litter out of the moors with me, I will pick up other people's litter. One time, I even picked up a discarded half of a bra that I found at the foot of Sheepstor, but there is no way I am going to pick up somebody's used sanitary towel. I am sorry to have left the litter sat there, but I have limits. LEAVE NO TRACE - if you carried it in you can carry it out.
Dave and I carried on walking along the army track to the top of the hill just north of Great Links Tor before climbing the embankment and walking toward the Tor. So angry and distracted was I by the litter I had to leave behind that I had not consulted my map for sometime so didn't realise that I should have climbed the embankment earlier. If I had I would have avoided the boggy mess that I was now having to try and safely traverse and my feet would have stayed dry. Instead I waded through, at one point my left foot sank beneath ground level, through cold water and peaty mud, half way up to my knee!
Arriving at Great Links Tor I could see the trig point displayed handsomely upon a granite rock to the right of me but we carried on through the towers of granite toward the back of the Tor, walking around the rear and back toward the trig point. At the rear of the Tor was a MSR Hubba Hubba tent (from which my Monger 2 is based) and a couple of campers with their dog. Filming on my camera we passed them, giving them a nod along the way. We progressed around the Tor back to the front, below the trig point before climbing up and giving it a tap then taking in the views. Stunning.
Filming done, trig point tapped and Tor bagged I climbed down (Dave couldn't make it up there) and greeted the other campers who did not seem very interested in conversation before moving off to find somewhere to pitch. They had the best spot for views and shelter so I moved west toward another large lump of Dartmoor granite where I was sure I would find a pitch on it's opposite side, with a great view out west to watch the sunset which was already turning the sky orange, pink and purple.
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| West of Great Links Tor at sunset |
Dave and I scaled the rocks to get a good view of the surrounding area, only to be disappointed to see two more tents on the only flat piece of ground that was not covered in long grass. Saddened I was about to climb back down when I head popped out from below "It's Kernow Camps!". There was Dean's smiling face again.
Dean, from Life On The Rocks Youtube channel was the first YouTube personality from the wild camping community that I'd met on the moors, during the height of summer at Great Mis Tor. Back the he was camping with Dartmoor Explorer, Carl but this time he was with his regular camping partner, Stuey who I'd not had the pleasure to meet before. So down we climbed to have a chat with Dean and Stuey who kindly offered for me to pitch up with them, but the lack of good ground prevented it. After promising to come back for a chat later, Dave and I moved off back to the rear of the rock where we found a nice pitch and got set up.
This being the Lanshan 2 Pro's second outing I had an idea of how to get it pitched, so it went up quickly. I still hadn't seam sealed it yet but there was no rain forecast so I was confident all would be well. After pitching I got set to work on a couple of mod's to the tent that I wanted to make, based on those that other people have done before me. I'll leave describing these mods until a future date since I intend to alter them again as time goes on until I have everything set up just the way I like that.
Dinner was a disappointment. I'd not intended to eat Pot Noodle for dinner, but I'd forgotten to pack my chill-bag which contained all the ingredients for my meal. Instead the Pot Noodle that I keep in my bag as an emergency snack had to do. I was still hungry but had no other food with me, not even a cereal bar.
After chatting about camping, YouTube, editing software and other wild camping/YouTube related stuff with Dean and Stuey Dave and I headed to bed.
The night was fairly uneventful as we all hope our sleep time on Dartmoor will be. I woke a few times though, and this was because the condensation from the tent was dripping into my ear and on the side of my face whenever the wind blew against the tent. A couple times when I woke I could hear loud music off in the distance, perhaps a rave was happening somewhere on the moors?
Dave was pretty snug in the night, since I had brought with me not only his usual ensemble of foil mat, sleep pad and fleece blanket, but had also made a bit of a nest for him with my OEX sleeping bag liner. I'm going to invest in a proper dog sleeping bag next week.
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| Dave the Dog getting ready for sleep in the tent |
I had not spoken directly to the camera at all on Saturday, being a little hurried for time meant that recording was limited to just scenery and walking photography but having awoken early on Sunday I had plenty of time, and besides, it was my birthday!
So Sunday 10th October marked my 41st year and now I could cross off my bucket list "Wake up in a tent in my birthday". Opening up the east facing door of the Lanshan I was greeted by a wall of grey instead of the sunrise I was hoping for. I climbed out of the tent and walked a few yards to stretch out my limbs before turning around to find that I could not see the tent at all. The clag was so thick!
Finding the tent, I got dressed then looked the tent over. The reason the condensation was dripping onto my face in the night was because I had not tightened the guy rope on the side of the tent where my head was, so that wall was catching the wind and bouncing around in the night. I chalked it up to experience and vowed to not making that mistake again. If you know me, you know I will make that mistake again!
Perching atop the rock I proceeded to get the kettle on to make a coffee. It was still early and foggy, but I did not realise that the camera had collected moisture on the inside of the lens due to it's fall the previous day. During editing I cursed myself as so much footage from Sunday morning was unusable, hopefully what I managed to stitch together was good enough?
Dave was cold and with the air being so damp it was sitting on his fur, making him much colder. The daft mutt wouldn't wear a coat when his was younger, but perhaps now he is older and not enjoying the cold on Sunday mornings on Dartmoor, he might entertain a nice warm and waterproof coat? Another investment I need to make!
I briefly chatted with Dean and Stuey the next morning and again my camera fell to the ground, this time while mounted on the tripod. It fell due to the stone gust of wind that sent chills down my spine and left found Dave cowering from the cold between my feet. I'm definitely buying him a coat.
I returned to my pitch and set about the arduous task of packing up my gear. I hate this part of camping; the high of hiking and camping has worn off and packing away signal's the end of yet another mini holiday. After a brief but bloody battle with a massive spider that decided to make the outside of my tent it's home for the morning I set about drying off the tent as much as possible with my camping towel. It was a pointless task as the fog was so thick that as I finished wiping down one panel, the previous one was once again covered in water droplets from the atmosphere.
The guys popped over to take a look at the Lanshan, however I'd already packed it away. So we said our goodbyes and off they went toward Little Links Tor in the direction of their car. I like duo-camps and look forward to hopefully having the opportunity to camp with Dean (and Stuey maybe) in the future, hopefully next summer.
I wanted to make another coffee before I set off, but of the 1.6 litres of water I'd carried in, I only happy perhaps 350ml left I figured I'd need it for the journey back to the car, since I'd also forgotten my BeFree water filter (there seems to be a theme here). Instead, I popped the ring pull of the cider I'd not drank the night before. I haven't had alcohol in the morning since I was a teenager, but was thirsty and it was my birthday!
Gladly I consulted my map before leaving my camp ground and knew now the route not to take so I did not once again end up with soggy socks and set off back toward Meldon Reservoir. Thankfully my pack weight was now a little lighter and the journey was now mostly downhill so the walk back was much easier going and faster than the hike in. It was time to go home and enjoy the afternoon, spending it with friends and family, finishing off the day with my favourite meal; two gammon steaks, a couple of eggs, too many chips, a couple slices of pineapple, handful of onion rings and some bright green peas. Ansum!
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| A misty morning walk home from Great Links Tor, Dartmoor |
Next time I'll be back to the Merrivale area to continue my quest of Tor-bagging and camping on all the permissible Tors on Dartmoor.
You can watch my video of this camp below, or over on my YouTube channel here
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