The weather forecast today was bright sun and that is how it started. I set off up a well maintained track thinking, this walk is going to be over too quickly and I need more experience to put in my walk leader log book! Blue skies and beautiful views - a lovely day for walking.
Then the trouble started! I decided to go "off piste" to make the walk more interesting and to find a path that was marked on the map a bit up from the reservoir pictured below.
As I clambered up the grassy lumpy terrain, I was optimistic I would find the path, but this was not the case. Instead I found this:
So I worked out where I was on the map - higher than I thought! I had walked passed the path so off I went back down the hill again, over more grassy lumps, to try and find it from a different direction. I was a bit fed up at this stage as I had clambered over plenty of grassy lumps and was feeling a bit bored!!! What! On Dartmoor on a beautiful day with plenty of food and time to take in the beauty, bored you say? Well I was a bit disappointed that I never found a path. I was almost back down to the boggy bit by the river flowing to the reservoir so decided to walk along the contour to avoid being bogged down. I may have been following a path as I found out from another walker later on, that the path was really a "leat" which used to take water to the old settlement further along! Wish I'd known that before. Note to self - do not trust black dotted lines on a map, added to the" do not trust green dotted lines" on a map note, as they often don't exist! Or they may be in disguise as a leat.
At this stage, I was walking by the river trying to work out how far along I was. and merrily followed what I thought was the path on the map that was "green with green diamonds" on it (a "way" to follow). This was more successful but I was not confident of exactly where I was at this stage, due to the mist creeping across the hills towards me making me feel somewhat uncomfortable. I was very keen to be certain of my position so I could navigate in low visibility conditions safely back to the car.
As the mist was coming in fast, I did a quick compass bearing to make sure I knew my way to a standing stone ahead as I was sure I could work out a way to the dismantled tramway, which was my way home. I made it, dashing at quite a pace I can tell you! When I got to the stone, I could see another stone ahead and another walker merrily walking off into the mist with his dog. I decided I needed to go the other way, thankfully finding a path to....the dismantled tramway! Hooray! The mist didn't come down as much as I thought it might so that was good. The photos below show how it was. Spooky! Felt like Sherlock Holmes!
Feeling calm and safe walking along the tramway, I came across a man walking in bare feet with light clothes on - he did have a rucksack but was not taking the mist seriously - it got pretty cold! Hopefully he knew where he was going.
As I walked along the tramway, I felt like I had the world to myself. With a clear path to follow I was able to dream and imagine, listen to the sounds of nature which were surprisingly quiet in the mist. A spooky walker whizzed past me on my left - may have been the person who walked of into the mist earlier but I never saw him again! Could it have been a figment of my imagination? I continued on....
As I walked along the tramway, I felt like I had the world to myself. With a clear path to follow I was able to dream and imagine, listen to the sounds of nature which were surprisingly quiet in the mist. A spooky walker whizzed past me on my left - may have been the person who walked of into the mist earlier but I never saw him again! Could it have been a figment of my imagination? I continued on....
Walking closer to the start point, I started to see the beautiful autumn colours on the trees, these photos do not do the view justice. The leaves are so beautiful just before they fall.
Ending with an ice cream! Can't beat that!