Leaving home and a baptism by fire
As this is our first post, and I have no idea how to write in a coherent way - let alone write a blog, maybe I should start by introducing ourselves. We are Katy, David and Darwin and we are on a year long roadtrip in our campervan, with the goal to do more exploring and try to have a better work life balance. I will say that the purpose of this blog is to act more as a memory bank for myself, as my memory is awful and I don't want to forget these moments, but also to share interesting places to visit to anyone who might want to know. We’ll probably have a dog friendly focus on places we share, as Darwin is in fact a miniature dachshund, and we’ll also probably be writing about anywhere we’ve found good food, as we are big food lovers, and Katy (me) is a vegetarian, so bonus points for good veggie food.
We left home
We’ve done a lot in the way of house sorting and cleaning over the past few weeks, getting ready to leave home for an entire year. A friend is renting the house from us while we are gone. Both David and I need the pressure of a deadline to actually get things done, so this means that we had a lot left to sort and do on the final day.
We managed to leave at around 12.30 for the final time and headed away separately in the van and the car to North Devon. We have packed the van pretty lightly and don’t have many things packed between us. Darwin has also kindly given up a lot of his toys!
The first part of our trip is going to be visiting family and sadly a funeral for me, before we start on a more sensical straight line route.
We spent the first few days in a heatwave and managed to find shelter from the sun around Watersmeet near Lynton. It was a sweltering introduction to the van but we managed with a mixture of using the MaxAir fan and keeping to the shade to keep mostly cool. Watersmeet has various walks along the river in which you can see Dippers, Herons and lots of other birds. There is also a National Trust cafe with a green area to sit near the river.
On our way down to Dartmoor we stopped to get a new leisure battery fitted to help power our journey. We visited Ottery St Mary and had brunch at the brilliant dog friendly cafe SupDawg, they are well stocked with great coffee, amazing loaded banana bread and lots of sustainable and healthy dog treats. You can even do some pottery painting while you enjoy your coffee. Would also give a shoutout to our Britstop camping spot, Greendale Farmshop, who do a great fish and chips, or veggie option stilton and mushroom loaded chips!
Dartmoor times
After the heatwave had mostly subsided we travelled down to Dartmoor to drive the well known B3357 road that pretty much cuts the moor in two. There are some unbeatable views from the road with some great daytime parkups including Pork Hill car park. From here you can easily access several Tors (Roos Tor, Cox Tor and Great Staple Tor, to name just three) without having to clock many miles, so if you have a lazy dog (like us) you can still achieve some great views without travelling too far into the wilderness.
Pew Tor
Haytor
Blackbrook river
Dartmoor is a national park with immense moorland views, scattered with hills with rocky outcrops known as Tors. Dartmoor encourages wild camping, however it is prohibited to park anywhere on the moor overnight.
After some lovely walks on the moor near Princetown, we will be heading south to continue our roadtrip towards South Devon and then along the coast to Cornwall.
Dartmoor walking routes:
Windy Post Granite Cross Loop - 4.53km, Parking at Pork Hill Car Park
Princetown Burrator Reservoir Loop - 23.9km, Parking in Princetown
Food we ate:
Watersmeet National Trust Cafe - Mostly outdoor seating, great for kids and dogs, they serve some simple hot meals, sandwiches and cakes. At the time of visiting they also had a mini ice cream parlour.
SupDawg - It’s in the name, but super dog friendly, would recommend the coffee and the loaded banana bread!