Recently I was making lists in my head as I am often doing and started a list of national parks in Britain. It dawned on me that I hadn’t visited two of my closest parks! Always on the look out for easily accessible wilderness for when time is tight I decided to pay a long overdue visit to Dartmoor.

Just off the A30, less than two hours from Bristol lies a wild moorland environment laced with paths no bigger than sheep tracks, rivers that meander through remote valleys and magical Lord of the Rings – esque forests. I explored the northern tors by foot on a weekend away. It was an easy after work drive to Bracken Tor YHA from where we could walk out the door into the wild.

A great 10 mile loop took us up across Yes Tor, down to West Okement River and home via Meldon Reservoir. I didn’t think such varied scenery was possible so close to one of Britain’s main roads. The second day saw us on more open moorland circuiting around Belstone Tor and Cosdon Hill returning via the delightful Belstone Cleve section of the River Taw.

I hope the selection of photos below give you a little flavour of this wonderful area and might just inspire you to see what your local national park has on offer.

Exmoor – don’t feel left out I’m coming for you soon!

Zoe