I have recently been walking once a week with friends on the moors of Bodmin moor and Dartmoor. It is a great way to exercise and I have seen some wonderful views. One of the best things is that it has really increased my enjoyment of winter weather. On the moors the wind and rain are elemental forces, and if you have the right equipment it is all the better when the light races across the moors or weather envelopes you in cloud, to suddenly be released to a huge vista of valleys and moors.
We try to hit ten miles. It feels like a lot to me. Sometimes we do more and my legs are like jelly from all the inclines. Out on the moor history is laid out for you. From early days of Britain to the industrial age there are tactile reminders and ghosts in the fabric. An old well, a circle of stones, the remains of a train track, a boundary marker, a bridge that has seen a thousand years of traffic.
There is a lot of wet ground, and I am often over my ankles in bog. The grasses are tough and can lie in ankle twisting hummocks. Crossing from one tor to another invariably means an energy sapping route through tough terrain. Rivers are usually passable with a leap of faith, or a nervous hop from boulder to boulder. There are many impassable routes in winter, after a mile or so of high stepping you might find a low valley is just too much bog, and a long walk around the contour line must be attempted.
High on the moors are few trees- those that remain are tough old blackthorns or oaks, stunted and gnarled, ancient and slow growing. This tree has a nest deep in the branches about 6 foot above the ground.
A few ancient forests of old english oak remain. Growing slowly among the tumbled clint they live in harmony with ancient mosses. a verdant mass of tangled branches. The moss is softer than you can imagine. You might sleep forever if you lay down and rest.
Comments
Hi
I enjoyed the photographs of the moors and thank you for sharing the beauty of the lonely moors. It is satisfying to read that the moors are still unpolluted and uncommercialized yet.
Are there discarded rail tracks still ? Read about such in Enid Blyton’s stories- thought it a figment of her imagination- so relieved to find that they are there actually.
Are they train tracks that lead from a quarry to somewhere ? Are there riding stables nearby ?
Susie
Hi Susie, thanks very much for commenting. There are many old quarries, and different traces of the several ways they transported the stone. On Bodmin moor we followed an old narrow gauge track between Minions and twelve mens tor. I often see riders galloping across the open land thereabouts.
How beautiful! Thanks for sharing. I came over from Ellen Hawley’s blog.
Nancy
Hi Nancy, thanks for commenting- I love photography and have also spent some great days on the moors this winter. It has given me a new found love of the north Atlantic climate.