I have always imagined moorlands to be dark, ominious, slushy peat marsh like areas. This was not what we found when we went to Dartmoor National Park. Yet again we find another English space that appears to have been groomed within an inch of its life. There are Dartmoor ponies that roam free on the moorlands (which also serve as farmlands). Also roaming free are cows and sheep. Hence you need to be rather careful driving through this area as you are more than likely to round a bend to find a sheep sitting in the middle of the road.
Even though the fields and hills do remind me of a finely cared for golf course the landscape is wonderful and bizarre at the same time. The hills continue upwards, upwards and upwards in a gentle yet leg-achingly long stretch. The rock formations are spectacular and if you weren’t interested in geology, geography or topology then you will be after a visit here. I am in awe of the way the moorlands have been formed. The rocks are very similar in shape, colour and style to those used at Stonehenge. I keep meaning to do some research into this but…well there is no excuse actually.
Before heading into the moors we had stopped to get some supplies at a local bakery and butcher. So after a bit of a climb we found ourselves a nice position on a rock and did a wee fry up. The colours of the bracken and heather mixed with the green of the hills and slate grey rock looked great from our spot.
During the day we also found plastic lunchboxes hidden all around the area. It turns out that these are “mailboxes” which is a bit of a sport here in this area. Basically you can go on hunts for these mailboxes and they have a notebook, stamp pad and stamps inside of them. You leave a message in the notebook for the owner and then you stamp your book to show you have been there. I think there are actual official mailbox clues that you can download off the internet then go walking through the hills in search of them.
