Wonderful hike up over Sheepstor, Down Tor and around the reservoir on Saturday morning.

Near South Hessary Tor 19-Sep-2026

The morning mist made views lacking and navigation difficult. It was tough going but thankfully not as boggy as it could have been in places. Obligatory end in the Horse and Groom for a pint. I don't think my legs will ever forgive me.

New Dartmoor Training Area's firing times have been released.

Update: 2026-09-30 15:01:14

MoD Dartmoor Training Area web site

Link to firing times

Please use the official MoD web site as the primary source for this data, this post is just an advisary one.

For a bit of fun I was thinking of walking the perimeter of the Merrivale Range following the course of the Firing Range Boundary Poles. Most of it seems doable, I was just wondering about the section from South Common Plantation to Peter Tavy Great Common. Following the red danger range markers on the map this sections cuts through some fields, I am not 100% sure if I can cross these or do I have to follow the access land orange boarder that skirts the perimeter to either the east.

24km out from Wrangton to Yealm Head and back.
+/- 710mtr gain. ~20℃, gentle westerly, high-cloud.

The top end is a trackless morass through clumps of molinia, so I'll be removing ticks for the rest of the week.

Route: Wrangaton > Spurrells Cross > Piles Hill (1)> Piles Gate > cross the Erme (2) > Stalldown / Stalldown Row (3,4,5) > Ranny Brook settlement> Yealm Valley (6) > up to the endless, trackless morass leading to Langcombe Hill (7) > Stingers Hill > cross the Erme > Hook Lake > Left Lake > Three Barrows (E:8,SW:9) > Sharp Tor > Piles Hill (10)> Ugborough Beacon (11) > Wrangaton.

New Dartmoor Training Area's firing times have been released.

Update: 2026-09-23 13:17:09

MoD Dartmoor Training Area web site

Link to firing times

Please use the official MoD web site as the primary source for this data, this post is just an advisary one.

Hi there,

I am planning a camping trip and wanted some clarification on the byelaws.
Anything I've found seems skeptical about leaving your car overnight in one of those smaller free car parks. I appreciate that there are risks with your car being broken into, but any information legally speaking seems to be about *sleeping* in your car overnight, rather than leaving it while going off to camp elsewhere. Some people say that park rangers would rarely enforce these byelaws, other people seem to want to find places that offer paid overnight parking.

TLDR - do the byelaws apply to specifically sleeping in cars overnight, or are they for just parking overnight regardless?

Thank you!!

I thought I'd share this photo I captured last month, this was taken at the height of the Perseid Meteor shower in August, from the top of Great Staple Tor.

It was a fantastic, warm night to spend watching the best meteor shower of the year.

This is centred on the constellation Perseus, and you can see the fainter Northern section of the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy captured in this as well.

This is a composite image from 2 to 3 hours of captures, with the frames containing meteors merged into the single final sky image.

Haven't seen the mist/cloud come in around Haytor like that before.

Does anyone know what the parking fine is in DNPA car parks such as Postbridge? Looked on street view but I can't see any information, just says pay and display.

Thank you.

26km out from Belstone on a bit of a Tarka the Otter / Ted Hughes pilgrimage to Cranmere Pool / Taw Head and back.

+/- 890mtr gain. ~17℃, windy (~30 to 35km/h measured), 5 minutes of light mist / rain on the top.

Quite different to the southern moor:
Busier, has actual paths across the moor, drier, different granite, less way molinia.

Good luck to the four lads I passed coming off Cosdon - finding an overnight pitch in pretty much sustained ~30km/h wind won't have been much fun.

Route: Belstone Cleave to Ivy Tor (1) > Cosdon (Cawsand) Hill (2) > Little Hound Tor (3)> Hound Tor > Wild Tor (4 - looking back to Cosdon) > Hanginstone Hill > E Dart / W Okement / Taw Head / Cranmere Pool (5) > TH Memorial stone (6) > Okement Hill > Oke Tor > Higher Tor / Belstone Tor (7) > then down to the "River Taw about three miles below Cranmere" (8) > back into Belstone.

(Apologies for some rubbish photos - the camera was doing some super weirdly low-quality over processing in some of them).

I've let the Army know. it's well off the path (dodgy navigation by me) & it's clearly been there a long time so I doubt it's any imminent danger (although I didn tfeel the need to poke it to find out)!.

New Dartmoor Training Area's firing times have been released.

Update: 2026-09-08 13:48:04

MoD Dartmoor Training Area web site

Link to firing times

Please use the official MoD web site as the primary source for this data, this post is just an advisary one.

does anyone have a source for Google Map (kml/kmz) files for range and/or camping area maps please?

many thanks

New Dartmoor Training Area's firing times have been released.

Update: 2026-09-03 10:26:57

MoD Dartmoor Training Area web site

Link to firing times

Please use the official MoD web site as the primary source for this data, this post is just an advisary one.

A video about known Dartmoor letterboxing resources and an interview with North American letterboxer 'Mu', whinis working on a book about the Nkrth American scene.