KernowCamps

This camping excursion did not start well. The weather on this particular Sunday afternoon was pretty bleak, wet and windy. Having checked the forecast I knew I wanted to arrive on Dartmoor late in the day to avoid the worst of the weather so Dave and I left home hoping to arrive on the moors around 4pm, which should have given us enough time to climb Cox Tor, visit the trig point, take some photo's and video and get pitched up before sunset. During the drive up I started to get a bit of a headache, but I wasn't too worried as I knew that once my tent was up I could just chill out for the rest of the night. Once I had the car parked near Cox Tor I got my kit strapped to my back and Dave and I set off. It was then that I realised the headache was far worse, with pain behind my eyes and in the back of my neck, I was concerned I might be getting a migraine, my first in over 2 years. Onwards we trudged and the headache continued to worsen so I decided to make a coffee stop and this...

Today's adventure was intended to be a short walk and camp, giving me the time and opportunity to record three videos; a hike and camp video as usual, a "early impressions" opinion piece about my new Naturehike 60+5ltr backpack and a Trangia cooking video, but alas, as is the usual way of things, the plan changed. The weather was amazing, 14C with blue sky dotted by fluffy white cloud and the sun never getting hidden from view. Dave and I set off from the carpark near Little Staple Tor, making sure we finally visited the Tor as we have missed it on two previous occasions. It is a pretty Tor, very small and compared to its bigger sisters quite insignificant. I will never camp at Little Links as there is no flat ground and frankly it is not a Tor worth hiking to specifically given its only a 5 minute walk from the road. From here we started up toward Middle Staple Tor. By contrast to Little Staple, Middle Staple is an impressive Tor in it's own right, with large rock f...

On Saturday 9th October 2021 I setup off much later than intended from Meldon Reservoir car park. The traffic was horrendous on the journey up from Cornwall and I spent most of the journey fretting about time, so the start of my hike was filled with stress and worry about whether or not I would even reach Great Links Tor before the sun sets. So Dave and I headed off in the direction of Sourton Tors from the car park, which took us across South Downs. The view of Meldon Reservoir and damn from atop the hill was stunning. There were a lot of cows in this field so I kept Dave on a short leash, much to his dismay. We had a beautiful and scenic walk from here to the foot of Sourton Tors. Along the way we saw a buzzed stooping from the sky straight into a thicket of tall grass. I hoped to be able to get some footage, but it flapped away before I got close enough. Walking through a gate I had the idea to get footage of the gate opening with the camera perched atop the gate, however the idea w...