We've been at Devon Cliffs Holiday Park in Exmouth for a week away in a caravan before Stace's maternity leave comes to an end and Molly has to go to nursery for a couple of days a week. This is Molly's first visit to Devon Cliffs but Stace and I have been a few times before. On previous visits when it was just two of us, we didn't have the best of luck with the weather and I think we've been to Exmouth during at least two weather warnings. It's still a good place to go even if there's some rain and/or howling winds. We were really lucky this time though and couldn't have asked for more than bright sunshine all week in the UK in March. I reckon I'm going to go back to work with a better tan than a colleague who recently spent a fortnight in the Maldives.
We normally just stay for a weekend and don't do much else apart from walking along the South West Coast Path and dossing on the beach, or just looking out of the window of a pub, depending on the weather. A week of sunshine gave us the opportunity to do a bit more with the extra days. Stace wanted to go to Dartmoor to see the wild ponies. That made me tentatively suggest that I could hang around after and do some wild camping, which is currently legal in large parts of Dartmoor (see further info at the end of the post). That idea got dismissed as proper knobhead behaviour on a family holiday (fair), but as a compromise it was agreed that we could be a bit more adventurous in Dartmoor than just looking at ponies. I suggested we go up to High Willhays which at 621m is the highest point in the Southern regions of England. It's next to Yes Tor at 619m and those are the only two places that are technically mountains in the South, with the former being the highest point in England south of Black Mountain in Herefordshire (704m).
Some Devon folk claim that Black Mountain doesn't count as an English peak because it shares the summit with Wales. That's a bit like saying that Mont Blanc / Monte Bianco isn't the highest point in France or Italy though, which would be daft. Nearby Black Hill in Herefordshire is 640m and that doesn't have a border through the middle of it anyway, so the claims are fairly weak. They do have Dartmoor though and what a wonderful place it is.
We drove over from the coast and parked at Rowtor Car Park. It was just under an hour from the holiday park and a good spot to start a circular walk up a few tors including the highest in the South. There were a few ponies hanging around near where we parked, which boded well for us seeing a lot more. We didn't see any more though.
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| A first sighting of ponies in Dartmoor |
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| Another one |
The walk from the car park up to Rowtor is pretty easy and once at the top you get that classic Dartmoor view of rocky summits and glorious open moorland. As it was a Monday out of the school holidays, it was fairly quiet, even though it was an absolute beauty of a day. I'd earmarked Rowtor as a good place to try a first wild camp in Dartmoor as it's a short walk from a safe place to park the car, has great views and good spots to shelter from the wind. I think when I do head down again on my own I'll stick to that plan.
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| Wilf, Stace and Dottie enjoying the start of the walk |
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| Rowtor |
We walked down the other side of Rowtor along a rocky track, aiming for a route to Yes Tor. We passed another small carpark and then we were out in the wilderness. I couldn't see any other people in the vast and incredible landscape. We just kept plodding along up the bank, knowing we'd eventually head right at some point and up to the next tor on our journey.
I was thinking that it was going to get more and more difficult walking with Molly on my back in a carrier as she got older and bigger. For whatever reason it felt far easier in Dartmoor than it had done a month ago in the woodland around Ledbury. Perhaps all of this walking with an extra load was making me fitter and stronger, and that was counteracting the increasing weight. Obviously at some point the weight will win the battle. Put it this way, I think I'll struggle with this sort of thing when she's 18.
On our way towards Yes Tor a bloke caught up with us on the path. A young-ish Irish fella that was far happier than what I'm used to in the pessimistic heartlands of rural England. He was absolutely buzzing to be there walking to points of interest on his own. He'd travelled over to Scotland and made his way down to the South West via Wales, stopping at various places on the way for walks. He was properly loving it on his own, wandering about. Quite inspiring really to be that joyous about being out there on solo adventures. To be fair, I'm a seemingly negative person in the real world of the rat race, but when I'm out on my own on walks in the wild I find all the stress of modern life draining from my body.
He passed us and headed up the steep, rocky bank to Yes Tor. We let him lead the way and then marched on along the most difficult bit of the walk. It wasn't bad at all though really and I've definitely been on far more strenuous walks up the Malverns. It only got a bit tricky towards the top when it became more rocky and we had to try and find decent routes through it all that had the lowest risk of twisted ankles. Eventually we made it to Yes Tor, when we caught up again with our jolly Irish friend and exchanged phones to take photos of each other on the trig point.
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| A steep, rocky bank up to Yes Tor |
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| A bit of a scramble to Yes Tor |
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| Yes Tor trig point (618m) |
The next stop of High Willhays is not far at all from Yes Tor and a relatively flat walk along the highest moor of this huge moorland. About 10 minutes along and we were there at the very highest point in the South. The Irish chap had hung around at Yes Tor to chat bollocks with other randoms and it was good to be there at High Willhays, just us, with the whole of the southern regions below us. You can see from the dogs that it was quite windy though...
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| High Willhays (619m) |
We enjoyed a few moments up there, then found a spot on the tor that had decent shelter from the wind so we could relax for a while and Molly could have a feed. We enjoyed our favourite rambling lunch of some Mini Babybels, some pork pies and a can. Living the dream. Who needs expensive family trips to Disney World when you can walk into the wilderness for free and eat pork pies?
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| A posh picnic on High Willhays |
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| Sheltering from the wind on High Willhays |
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| Go nice places, do good things |
After we were all fully refreshed we continued the walk down to Dinger Tor. By that point we were getting keen to head back. It hadn't been that difficult in terms of gradients but the paths were quite rocky under foot and it was taking its toll. From Dinger Tor we followed the tracks down towards Rowtor and back to the car.
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| The walk from High Willhays to Dinger Tor |
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| Queen Molly and her mule |
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| Dinger Tor |
Apart from a bit of foot pain towards the end, I absolutely loved that walk. We'd dipped into Dartmoor before on our trips to Devon, but we'd got properly amongst it this time and it had been wonderful. Molly is impeccably behaved on our walks and this was no exception. She seems to be happy to sit there on the daddy pack mule and take in loads of new sights. There are probably adults in the cities that have seen less of the beautiful British countryside than our little girl has in her 9 months of life. Other than picking up solid baby carriers from Facebook Marketplace, it hasn't cost us anything either. Whether she'll eventually grow up with a love for nature is another matter, but I certainly hope so.
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| Molly in Sandy Bay, looking cooler than I've ever looked in 44 years |
About Wild Camping on DartmoorThe right to roam on Dartmoor is a cherished freedom that allows people to connect with nature, experience the true beauty of the moors and enjoy responsible outdoor adventures. In October 2024, the Supreme Court heard a case brought by landowners Alexander and Diana Darwall who wanted to restrict public access for activities such as wild camping on their estate within Dartmoor National Park. We still await the verdict. This legal challenge has massive implications for public access rights as it could set a precedent that halts any chance of people being allowed to responsibly camp on common lands. Supporting the right to roam on Dartmoor is essential to preserve these freedoms and ensure that these wild spaces remain accessible for recreation, personal well-being and connections to nature. Find out more at
https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/ and
https://thestarsareforeveryone.org/
Thanks.
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