Our second day in Devon with Pauline was a trip up into the Dartmoor National Park for some walking and a picnic. The weather was great for both activities.
After a very nice breakfast at the Maltsters Arms (their scrambled eggs with salmon and a wedge of lemon was delicious) we headed first to Totnes for picnic supplies.
Totnes is only 4 miles away and is a cute village (aren’t they all!) that has marketed itself towards the health foods and natural goodness market.

They have heaps of little deli’s and whole food shops and so forth. We found our way to a bakery that had some delicious quiches and made up salad boxes. Oh and Cornish pasties, which was Mikes immediate selection.
Pauline had packed a bag with plates and cutlery and had filled a thermos so we had all of the necessities for a picnic.
Just inside the National park we stopped at Widecombe Green for a coffee. Another very cute village.

Dartmoor is not at all what I expected. It is very hilly without much vegetation in places and affords wide views of the landscape. There are loads of wild horses roaming around also and various sheep and cattle that I assume belong to someone. On the top of at least 10 of the hills there are piles of rocks called Tors and it’s a thing for people to climb them. Pauline said that at school there were annual camps out to the moors and it was a challenge to complete the 10 Tors in 3 days. Not a challenge she felt the need to complete!

We headed to Haytor which is the tallest of the Tors and set off for a walk up the hill with various other hikers, dog walkers and a school group.
I was happy to climb to the top of the nearby Tor but the last bit of Haytor itself required a bit of jumping and clambering which I didn’t need to achieve so was happy with the views from 10m lower. It was great fun and good exercise.

After the climb we drove to this little woodland in the Bellever Forest near the east Dart river for the picnic. It was very pretty and a perfect picnic location. There were a number of families with picnics dotted along the stream and it was still very peaceful. We had our own little peninsula to enjoy. Really idyllic.

We had a walk along the other side of the river after lunch and noticed the odd colour of the water. Pauline had pointed out the orange/brown colour of the sand and soil which is apparently due to the high iron content. Mike cupped some of the water to see if it was coloured but it was clear and didn’t seem to be tea coloured so it must be the sand and stones.

The ponies are all over the Moor. This one was particularly attractive.

Pauline plotted a journey to Grimspound which was a nearby heritage site comprising some Bronze Age ruins. Plotting a journey is not that easy with very intermittent internet reception however she also had this giant paper map. We found a signpost to Grimspound and some cars by the road but no evidence of a path or other information that might assist so we continued on towards a cafe for Devonshire Teas. Alas the cafe was closed so we were saved from ourselves 🤪.
By this stage it was getting toward 6pm so we headed back to the Maltsters Arms where they also advised they were fully booked. Well Pauline sorted that out, and 15 minutes later there was a table available. No one else came for dinner. I just don’t know what’s going on with restaurants. Anyway I had the fish again and very nice it was !