After successfully tackling Fur Tor and the wilder parts of Dartmoor the previous day, the plan for the Sunday was to explore the more popular Western moors and Tors (a route lifted almost entirely from Backpackingbongos). We were camping at Langstone Manor, a lovely quiet campsite (with it’s own bar serving pretty decent meals!) tucked on the edge of the moor, so, after consuming some bacon sandwiches, we left the campsite and began the gradual climb onto Whitchurch Common.

View all the photos (please excuse the smudge on the camera lens btw…)

The sun was shining, although it was slightly cloudier with a stronger wind blowing than the previous day. As we followed the track up the hill between the gorse, we finally encountered some Dartmoor ponies (and a newborn fowl) – they were fairly unbothered by our presence nor the dog (who thankfully was on her best behaviour) and continued munching at the grass. They all looked either very pregnant or very fat from gorging on the spring grass!

We continued climbing the hill until we joined the path running along the top of the hill at a stream marked by one of the many old ancient crosses dotted across Dartmoor. The dog provided light entertainment as she jumped into the stream to “kill” the white water where the mini waterfalls were hitting the rocks – I have no idea where she got this habit, but she does the same to waves as they crash on the beach and hosepipes. Stupid dog!

We headed North, watching a kite flyer making the most of the brisker winds, across the fairly busy car park (disappointingly there was no icecream van) and began the ascent up Cox Tor. The Tor has a fairly flat grass covered top (strewn with rocks and boulders), which was the temporary home of another herd of ponies grazing and chilling in the sunshine. After a few photos by the trig point, we found some shelter from the wind to brew up some tea!

Compared to the remote wastes of Fur Tor, these Tors were practically heaving – there were plenty of hikers in a variety of practical, and in some case impractical, clothing and footwear enjoying the sunny weather. From Cox Tor we headed East to Great Staple Tor. The Tors of Dartmoor really highlight how desceptive height can be – from the foot of Cox Tor, the path between Cox Tor and Great Staple Tor seems almost flat, but from the top of Cox Tor it looks like a sharp drop down and a steep climb back up. In reality it was just a fairly gentle climb to the top of Great Staple Tor.

From Great Staple Tor we turned north and followed the well worn path, past Roos Tor, towards Langstone Moor and a stone circle, before dropping down into the valley carved out by the River Walkham (passing the remains of a settlement). At the river edge, and sheltered by the Tors around us, we found a lovely spot in the sunshine to have lunch. Despite all the busy Tors around us, it was tranqil and peaceful – it would make a great place to wild camp!

Eventually we dragged ourselves away and made the climb up Great Miss Tor, where we clambered about exploring the various rock formations. From here, the original plan was to cross the road and head up Kings Tor before looping back to Merrivale (and the pub) – as Backpackingbongos mentions on his blog, he added this extension as he wanted to spent a bit longer on the moor, but as it was mid afternoon already, we decided to follow the track from Little Miss Tor down to the road, and then follow alongside it to the pub.

We were quite lucky with the pub (The Dartmoor Inn) – they were officially closed, but were happy for us to order drinks as long as we stayed in the beer garden. I supped on my cider, enjoying the sunshine and good company. As tempting as it was to stay for the rest of the afternoon, we continued up the road to join the footpath heading around Vixen Tor (passing yet another herd of unbothered fat ponies). The tale of Vixen Tor is ready sad – it is probably one of the prettiest Tors encountered on this trip and a favourite of climbers, but the current owner greedily refuses access unless she is paid a ridiculous fee by the Dartmoor National Park Association (full details of this issue). As Backpackingbongos says, “hang your head in shame Mrs Alford” (I have just realised one of my walking companions shares her name – no relative I hope @DiveSciDiva)

From Vixen Tor (#sadangryface) we climbed up to Heckwood Tor, followed by Pew Tor. When I win the lottery (albeit unlikely as I do not buy tickets), I want to buy Pewtor Cottage – isolated in moorland, with an awesome looking walled garden and Pew Tor for company, it is idilic! Although I didn’t get much of a chance to explore it, Pew Tor was my favourite – it almost felt like a ruined castle with lush grassy floors – I would love to spend a night there! From Pew Tor we dropped back down the hill, on the way distrubing a hare who just about escaped the jaws of the dog (thankfully limited by her lead), and followed the road back to the campsite.

Dartmoor…. I will be back!

Whilst we waited for the lead car, who had mised the turn off the A30, I put a brew on and we got our kit together and layered ourselves in suncream. We were briefly joined in the carpark by a bunch of kids carrying heavy looking rucksacks, presumably completing their Duke of Edinburgh award, who had descended from Ger Tor under the watchful supervision of their checkpoint teacher. Replenished with water they headed down the road leaving the teacher to teach his dog how to play fetch whilst he waited for the next group.

We took off east down a farm track before cutting across to what appears to be a man-made steam “Mine Leat” (I am guessing it supplies the solitary houses nearby and old mine workings). The steam (it lacked babble to be a brook, and was too small to be a river) followed the contours around Nat Tor, passing the army firing range warning signs (being Easter weekend, all the ranges were open), before joining the river Tavy. There was quite an obvious path along the river edge, which we followed upstream, taking in the sight of the Tors towering above us. We past a few swimmers cooling off in the river (from a distance they seemed nude, but thankfully they were fully clothed!) which, with the sun beating down and the lack of breeze in the valley, seemed very tempting! The dog, on her extendable lead, obviously thought so too, as she swam across to the otherside, lead fully extended, and then refused to come back. Thankfully, after a little coaxing (and some gentle pulling) she got the message that I had no intention of swimming across to join her!

After crossing Snake Brook, the path disappeared and the way was much harder going as we climbed over boulders and skirted boggy patches. Rather than continuing to follow the river, we decided to cut across Western Oke, which looked easier and gave us a chance to see the hut circles and settlement remains shown on the map (Watern Oke) – it makes you wonder what it was like living on the moor (although I am sure the surrounding area was very different then). We rejoined the river and followed it to Sandy Ford which, whilst not particularly sandy, had a few suitable crossing points (although one of the pair we met there had decided to wade across rather than our method of majestically (some more than others) leaping from rock to rock). On the other side we found a dry patch to take a break ready for tackling Fur Tor, now dominating the moor in front of us.

According to the OS map, the flat stretch across Pinswell (between Sandy Ford and Fur Tor) is “bracken, health or rough grassland” (the green symbol), rather than “marsh” (the blue symbol). However it is classed, it is essentially a bog! Fortunately the preceeding few weeks of sun meant that, whilst there were still wet bits, it was mostly traversable (although I am not sure I would fancy the same route after heavy rain!). The views from the top of Fur Tor were spectacular, and well worth the climb – miles of wilderness with Tors against the horizon in all directions! We headed to the Tor to find some shade for lunch, only to disturb a now squawking baby bird (the size of a dog) in a nest halfway up the Tor (from reading other blog posts, I think it might have been a baby raven). Fearful of the mother’s anger, we choose a less sheltered spot some distance away beside some smaller rocks for lunch and another brew.

After lunch we strode off across the moor towards Great Kneeset. Crossing Cut Combe Water and the climb to Little Kneeset was fairly easy going, but the terrain got harder in the dip across to Great Kneeset – one of my companions described it as like walking on snow! I think if I was doing the route again, I would be tempted to stay on the ridge taking in Cut Hill, Black Hill and Black Ridge on the way to Great Kneeset. By the time we reached the top, a fairly refreshing wind had picked up, although the sun was still shining! As we soaked up the rudged landscape, we had to deal with our only emergency of the day – a folded contact lense (it required using coats to block the wind, an antisceptic wipe from the first aid kit, and an improvised mirror using my sunglasses!).

When I originally worked out the route, the plan was to head to Lints Tor and then cut across to Kitty Tor, but as it was getting late (and approaching beer o’clock) and we were getting tired, we decided to cut straight across to Green Tor. During the weekend I wanted to go back to basics and use map and compass as much as possible (rather than relying on ViewRanger sitting in my pocket pinging our location to Social Hiking), and as Green Tor was out of sight, we took a compass bearing and followed a kind of path down into a pass between the headwaters of two rivers before climbing around the side of Amicombe Hill (following the compass worked pretty well, although I have to admit to taking a peak at ViewRanger at one point to double check our progress!). At some point I discovered I had managed to lose my camera – whilst I was annoyed about the lost photos, I was secretely glad for the perfect excuse to buy a new one when I got back!

Eventally we all arrived at Green Tor, where I was reunited with my camera which had been picked up by one of my fellow walkers (I tried to hide my disappointment). We briefly toyed with the idea of splitting up, with one group heading straight to the Dartmoor Inn whilst the drivers returned to the carpark to collect the cars, however after discussion we decided to push on as a group. At Bleak House (which I completely failed to explore) we joined a fairly decent path climbing up to Chat Tor and beyond. Spured on by the nearness of beer an easier terrain, the remaining Tors were a blur as we walked to each one in turn, took a breather, then walked to the next – Chat Tor, Sharp Tor, Hare Tor and finally Ger Tor. On Hare Tor we had an amazing view of the route we had completed – the Tavy valley snaking away from us, Fur Tor in the far distance to the West, and Great Kneeset to the North West. It was enormously satisfying to see what we had managed to accomplish!

From Ger Tor we could see the carpark (and thankfully also the cars) – we followed an obvious path (albeit a boggy one) down the hill, finally rejoining Mine Leat. The dog, by now covered in bog and other discusting muck, decided to have a paddle to clean herself off before the night in my tent (she is well trained!). We arrived back at the cars tired (and a bit sunburnt in a few cases) after having spent a thoroughly enjoyable day on Dartmoor!

The trip to Dartmoor was inspired after reading the walk write ups from BackpackingBongos blog after his recent trip – I have not been camping this year and really fancied a few days on the moor. I initially invited a friend, who lives in Bristol, to join me, but thanks to a Facebook post, there is now a total of six of us. As I am yet to quite have the kit together for wild camping, we are staying at the Langstone Manor Caravan and Camping park right on the edge of the moor in Moortown near Tavistock.

Day 1 – Fur Tor

After a chat with @groovy_nut on Twitter, I really wanted to visit Fur Tor - apparently the remotest tor on Dartmoor standing at 1776ft.

Fur Tor is one of the most remote places in North Dartmoor. It is perhaps the grandest of Dartmoor tors as it looks down from its height onto the Amicombe stream and the moor beyond. The views over North Dartmoor are absolutely fantastic. Nowhere else in Dartmoor do you get such an impressive feel of majesty and isolation. Fur Tor (or Vwr – the great tor, or Feor – the far distant tor) is not an easy place to get to.  It is placed in the centremost part of the northern moor and is largely surrounded by difficult terrain, especially the peat hags around South Tavy head.
Dartmoor Walks

After doing a bit of searching on the web and chatting to former local @DanSantillo on Twitter, I ended up with three possible routes to Fur Tor. Dan’s route is an epic 17 mile route starting near Lydford (view route on OS map). The route follows the footpath from Lydford to Bleak House, then to Green Tor, then taking a compass bearing and heading across the moor to Fur Tor. The return route is via Great Kneeset, Lints Tor, Dinger Tor, High Willhays and Yes Tor, before returning back to Lydford. I like Dan’s route, but it is probably too long for this trip (especially with another walk the following day), and I have been warned away from High Willhays.

Another suggested route is from go4awalk.com (view route on OS map). This one starts at Linehead car park and follows the River Tavy to Sandy Ford, from there heading East to Fur Tor. The return route is South to Lynch Tor and then following a footpath back to the car park. On the map, the return route looks boggy and the last few miles are through farmland, so it is probably not ideal.

The final route is taken from Dartmoor Walks (view route on OS map). This starts at Postbridge, and approaches Fur Tor from the East via Broad Down and Cut Hill. For the return route, I have taken it South to Rough Tor (hopefully skirting the bogs) and then back to Postbridge (again avoiding the bogs).

Looking at all three routes, I think the best plan is combining the best bits of Dan’s route with the part of the go4awalk route which goes along the River Tavy.

The route starts at Lane End car park, and follows the River Tavy before cutting East across to Fur Tor.  From here it follows part of Dan’s route to Little Kneeset, Great Kneeset and Lints Tor, but then cutting across to Kitty Tor before heading South to Green Tor and Bleak House. Connecting the route together takes in Chat Tor, Sharp Tor, Hare Tor and Ger Tor.

Day 2 – Western Moors and Tors of Dartmoor

As the camp site is just off one of the routes Backpackingbongos did, it makes for a perfect second day route to follow in his footsteps – it also has the added bonus of having a pub towards the end.

The route goes from the camp site to Feather Tor, then North to Cox Tor, Staple Tor, and past Roos Tor. After crossing the River Walkham (hopefully it will be dry enough to cross easily), the route climbs to Great Mis Tor, then heads South, past Little Mis Tor, and crossing the road to King’s Tor. After a brief (?) stop in the pub in Merrivale, the route returns to the campsite skirting around Vixen Tor (angry-face) and via Pew Tor.

It should be an enjoyable trip! I am not sure what the weather will be like though (although part of me wants to be able to test out my new North Face Apex Bionic Soft Shell jacket!) Both walks (on the Saturday and Sunday) will be on Social Hiking live (although maybe not many photos until I get back, as my phone has stopped taking half-decent photos!)

Mena Caravan & Camping Park is a lovely, very friendly, spacious and secluded camp site situated on a hill just to the South West of Bodmin, Cornwall.

I was quite lazy when choosing this camp site – I basically did a Google search of camp sites near Bodmin and picked one of the top results – and I was not disappointed!

Best points: friendly, spacious, great for dogs & local meat
Bad points: none (honest, I really can’t think of any!)

Booking

To book, I completed their online booking form. Within a matter of hours I had an email back confirming they had space. Amazingly the email even suggested booking a single larger pitch, rather than two smaller pitches to save money – the sceptic in me thought this was so they could squeeze as many people on as possible, but on arrival there were plenty of spaces, so they were being genuinely helpful!

Both times I rang Mena – firstly to confirm the booking and pay the deposit, and secondly to double check the pitch size (after buying a new tent) – the person on the other end of the phone was very friendly and helpful.

This friendliness continued throughout our stay – the staff/owners were welcoming and always happy to chat whenever we popped into the shop.

In total the cost was £40 for two people, two tents and a dog (in high season).

The Site

The site is situated about 5 minutes from the A30, down a few narrow (but very quiet) lanes. However the position of the site means that you can’t hear any noise from the A30.

The site has 15 acres of open space, with 25 pitches (some with electric hook up). The site is broadly made up of three areas – you have a landscaped and well maintained main camping / caravan area, which is predominately flat, on top of a hill with some nice views (including over to Helman Torr, a Neolithic hill fort site). There is then a larger field slopping down hill – paths have been mowed around and through the field for dog walkers, and it makes for an excellent early morning / late evening stroll. At the bottom of the hill is a fishing pond and wooded area – dogs are allowed to swim in the pond provided no one is fishing (fishing ticket costs £3 per day per rod).

The pitches are a decent size and well spaced – there is a small play area in the middle of the site (with goal posts, basketball hoop etc.), with most of pitches around the edge.

Facilities

There are two toilet and shower blocks – both of which were clean and tidy throughout most of our stay. There was a bit of a queue for showers in the morning, but nothing too irksome, and they were hot, fairly powerful and free! One of the blocks also has laundry facilities (coin operated) and a freezer that is free to use for freezing ice blocks.

There is a small shop on site selling all the essentials – best of all the shop also sold local burgers, bacon and sausages. The sausages were extremely flavoursome and the bacon was the thickest I think I have ever seen. They also sell eggs from rescued battery hens – all the proceeds from the eggs goes on feed and on rescuing more!

Although we didn’t investigate, the site also has a large games barn with pool table and table tennis.

One other thing of note (for us geeks anyway) is that the site, being on a hill, receives excellent T-mobile 3.5g Mobile Broadband signal.

Local Area

The site is nice and close to Bodmin and Bodmin Moor – see my previous posts on walking Bodmin Moor: Minions, Stowe’s Hill (& the Cheesewring) and Kilmar Tor and King Arthur’s Hall, Brown Willy & Rough Tor from Churchtown

As the site is right next to the A30, in the centre of Cornwall, you have easy access to most main tourist destinations – the Eden Project is only 4 miles away, the National Trust’s Lanhydrock House & Gardens are 3 miles away, and the nearest Beach is 8 miles away.

Conclusion

Mena Caravan & Camping Park is a gem of a campsite and is highly recommended for anyone wanting to visit Cornwall.

The walk starts and ends in Churchtown near St Breward – Churchtown meaning, unsurprisingly “that settlement in a parish where the church stands” (what did I expect?).

The description of Bodmin Moor with its granite skies, howling winds and stark isolation are an appropriate background for a story that includes drunkenness, theft, smuggling, wrecking, murder and madness.
From a review of Jamaica Inn

Jamaica Inn is a Gothic horror adventure written by Daphne Du Maurier in 1935, based around Jamaica Inn, a famous base for smugglers, situated in the middle of Bodmin Moor between Bodmin and Launceston.

On a recent Offa’s Dyke 4 MS training weekend, and after quite a lengthy planning process, we did two Jamaica Inn themed walks across the moor.

This post covers the first walk - from the former mining village of Minions, up Stowe’s Hill (and the Cheesewring) before dropping down into a more desolote part of the moor and a climb to the summit of Kilmar Tor, which towers over Tewortha, home to Jem Merlin, the brother of the landlord of Jamaica Inn.

The walk started in Minions, on the south east edge of Bodmin Moor.  Minions is the highest village in Cornwall (according to Wikipedia) and was built as accomodation for the miners for the nearby Phoenix United Mine, which mined tin and copper.

The area’s mining past is very obvious – with a number of engine houses clearly visible. Just to the north of Minions is the recently restored Houseman’s Engine House, which houses a permanent exhibition on the history and nature of the surrounding area. We didn’t actually go in, but the engineer in me couldn’t help have a read through a few websites (like the Cornish Mining World Heritage site) to find out how the engine houses worked.

Just to the west of the village are the Hurlers which, due to a tactic car park blunder (we almost parked in the Hurlers carpark, but decided to move to the car park to the east of the village), we didn’t see. The Hurlers are three bronze age stone circles:

The local legend has it that some of the local men were playing a Cornish game known as hurling on the Sabbath and were turned into stone as punishment.
Source: Cornwall Online

From either car park there are paths leading northwards towards Stowe’s Hill – avoiding the mine shafts and quarries (most are fenced off). From the east carpark, you can easily follow the route of what was presumably formerly the train track for the mine.

At the top of Stowe’s Hill is the Cheesewring (as it looks like a cheesewring – a press-like device that was previously used to make cheese) - an inverse tapered granite pillar 8 metres in height and made up of stone rings one on top of the other. The legend of the Cheesewring is a great example of Christian propaganda:

A local legend about this rock formation is the result of a contest between a man and a giant. When Christianity had just been introduced to the British Islands, the giants who lived at the top of the mountains were not happy about it. The Saints had invaded their land and were declaring their wells as sacred.

One of the larger giants, Uther, was given the task of ridding their land of the Saints. He confronted the frail St Tue, who proposed a rock throwing contest. If the Uther won, the Saints would leave Cornwall. If St. Tue won, then the giants would convert to Christianity.

Uther took his turn first and easily threw a small rock to the top of nearby Stowe’s Hill. St. Tue prayed for assistance, and picking up a huge slab found it was very light. One after the other, they threw their rocks, stacking them up in perfect piles. When the score was 12 stones each, Uther threw a thirteenth stone, but it rolled down the hill. St. Tue picked up this fallen stone, and as he lifted it, an angel appeared to carry it to the top of the pile of rocks. Seeing this, Uther conceded and most of the giants decided to follow Christianity after that.

Source – Wikipedia

During quarrying operations, precaution was taken to protect the Cheesewring by adding a stone support to underpin the main stem – the support doesn’t actually touch the stem, which just go to show how stable this amazing geological feature is considering the quarry is just behind it!

From Stowe’s Hill we worked our way down North West towards Wardbrook Farm. Here we encountered one of those annoyances (yet understandable) problems with open access. There is a footpath leading up to the farm, a tiny area of private track, which then continues back into open access land. We had hoped to be able to sneak down the private track – however we are clearly not the only ones to have thought of this, and a big “No public right of way” sign put us off!

Instead we followed the fence to the south of the farm, on the edge of Witheybrook Marsh.  There is a fairly clear, although occasionally boggy, path. By the time the fenced area had finished, we had Kilmar Tor in our sights. Well not exactly, it had started to drizzle, and visibility has rapidly decreasing – I even had to take out my compass (brushing off the cobwebs, as I don’t think I have ever used it in anger) to take a bearing for us to follow!

“Kilmar Tor reigns like some ancient monarch, its jagged grey summits stabbing into wide skies: a ridge of balancing rocks, Nature’s own marvellous sculpture. Time has hardly touched this terrain.”

Michael Williams (Unknown Cornwall) ~ 1984

Kilmar Tor is wonderfully desolute – the very narrow but long peak is covered in granite blocks (with hindsight, nothing compared to Rough Tor, but still impressive). Rather than taking the perhaps easier route of walking along the edge of the rocks until spotting the trig point, we instead decided to clamber over them – it took forever. The dog was in her element – who knew a rescue dog that had never even been walked had mountain goat ancestors! Finally we reached the trig point – the first trig point I have ever come across which is not at the highest point (it was infact nestled between two granite bolders!).

My photos completely fail to do Kilmar Tor justice – however I came across the PhotoFile Cornwall website, which has some awesome photos – it is definitely worth having a look!

After a brief pause to admire the view across Twelve Men’s Moor and Trewortha (home to Jem Merlin, the brother of the landlord of Jamaica Inn), we took another bearing across to Bearah Tor (I was more than a little excited to get to use the compass for a second time!).

Thanks again to the problems of open access we could either double back on ourselves, or take the direct route. Chosing the direct route made the rest of the walk, in truth, rather dull. From Bearah Tor we took the miners track down towards the local road. We then followed the local road through Henwood until finally making it back to Minions. It was only the pack of nuts and chocoate raisons that got us home!

The second walk is an ascent of Brown Willy, the highest point of Cornwall. The walk also takes in, as well as some interesting landmarks like King Arthurs Hall, Rough Tor – the setting for the dramatic scene at the end of the book.

The second walk is an ascent of Brown Willy, the highest point of Cornwall. The walk also takes in, as well as some interesting landmarks like King Arthurs Hall and Rough Tor – the setting for the dramatic scene at the end of Jamaica Inn. Details to be posted shortly!

After an enjoyable weekend of walking on Bodmin Moor, I thought now would be a good time to share how I go about planning where to walk. You see, when I am off walking (or is it hiking?) in a new place, I have a bit of planning regime. It is a bit sad, but please indulged me.

[This was orginally going to be about the walks themselves, but I got a little distracted - I promised to blog about them tomorrow!]

First – I buy maps. I already had the OS Landranger map for half of the moor but, helped by the combination of the discovery of cheap OS maps on Amazon and Amazon Prime (free next day delivery), it was a mere 24 hours before I had the other OS Landranger, the Bodmin Moor OS Explorer, and several Viewranger map downloads.

I love maps, especially Ordnance Survey maps – something which perhaps harks back to my Geography lessons when I was ten, when I found the map symbols strangly magical. I am not a map geek though – one of my friends takes Ordnance Survey map enjoyment to an extreme, and reading “Map Addict” (review to follow) shows that even he is rather tame in comparison to some map addicts out there. However, whilst not being a map geek, I am rather fond of pouring over maps looking for interesting places to walk.

Secondly – I rumage through my walk compendiums. I have two – the most recent are the walk (ride, cycle, drive, and train) routes that Countryfile magazine dishes out each week (sorted neatly into piles for each area of the country). My older collection is “Out & About” – one of those collectable magazines (are they officially called partworks?) where issue one is 99p, and each subsequent one is significantly more pricey.

As a child, I was allowed one subscription at any one time. Some subscriptions were better than others and, although this one was actually quite good, I can’t actually remember ever actually walking any of the routes with my family. The collection had collected dust in my cupboard until only last year when I rediscovered them whilst my parents were moving house. The routes are nice (albeit quite short) walks, with accomponying OS maps and a summary of the history and wildlife around you.

Thirdly – I dive on the internet  to find useful websites with walk ideas, tips and reviews of the area, especially on sites like go4awalk.co.uk which has an excellent selection of printable walks. I also have a browse through the avaliable Viewranger downloadable walks to see what there is on offer.

There weren’t actually many sites with walks on Bodmin Moor – go4awalk had one, but other than generic descriptions of walking on the moor, there wasn’t much to go on elsewhere.  My “Out & About” collection had a short walk from Minions, and the Countryfile cards also had a couple of short walks. Short walks are ok, but if I have any hope of getting fit enough to tackle Offa’s Dyke next year, I need something more challenging (and when camping, it is handy to tire the dog out too!)

It was the “Bodmin Moor” Countryfile walk card which caught my eye, not for the walk itself, but for the mention of Jamaica Inn.

“Step into the landscape that inspired Daphne Du Maurier to write her tale of murder, deceit and smugglers on Bodmin Moor”

It sounded intriguing, and I was pleased to discover the unabridged audiobook from Audible. At last some inspiration and something to get myself into a suitable mood for Bodmin Moor. It was a thoroughly enjoyable story, and it seemed appropriate to plan walks which relate to areas mentioned in the book. Suddenly everything clicked into place.

Not too far North of Minions is Kilmar Tor, ‘his slope a venomous grey,’ which towers over Tewortha, home to Jem Merlin, the brother of the landlord of Jamaica Inn. Suddenly the short walk from Minons, exploring the old quarrys and the Cheesewring, can be combined with some compass navigation across the moor to Kilmar Tor – an exciting walk!

The second walk chosen was a variation of the go4awalk.co.uk one – which is a fairly strenious 11 mile hike over Brown Willy, the highest point of Cornwall. The walk also takes in, as well as some interesting landmarks like King Arthurs Hall, Rough Tor – the setting for the dramatic scene at the end of the book. The route needed a little adapting, as after looking at the OS maps, I wasn’t completely happy with the start, but it takes in some great parts of the moor.

Planning  good long walks is not easy – most walk guidebooks seem to only included shorter ones, which leaves the dog with far too much energy! But all it takes is a map and some inspiration, and you can easily create some wonderful walks! Both these walks had a nice combination of adventure, enjoyment and exertion , and I look forward to blogging about them tomorrow!

Last weekend (July 2009) I stayed at Smugglers Haven / Trevelgue Holiday Park for a friend’s stag do.

As I approached the site, it occured to me that I have stayed here before – about 10 years ago with a group of friends. I can’t remember much about it – other than cooking breakfast from my tent doorway, and watching some sport event (a grand prix?) in the first pub we came to! It is safe to say that things have changed!

The first thing that surprised me was the reception – it is massive! It is a reception that Newquay airport would be envious of! Despite the huge desk, there were only two reception staff, but after a bit of wait we soon had our tent tags and a map.

Trevelgue is mainly made up of static caravans, with a bit of camping. Smugglers Haven, where I was staying, has a static caravan area and then three levels of grass for camping.

The next thing that surprised me was how crowded the camping area was – it was absolutely rammed. There was very little unused grass, and in the area where we camped, which I would consider the size of a single pitch, there were about 11 tents! Talking to one of the security guards, he told me that in very busy times, they even use all the fields (on slopes) you can see around the site.

I won’t bother doing a full review of the site – as there are plenty of reviews out there: for example on Ciao, on Review Centre and on Independent Campsite Reviews. But here are a few of my observations:

• Rubbish – everywhere! To be fair to the site, they have a lot of litter pickers, but the challenge they face is immense. Groups make no effort to remove litter – the site is strewn with beer cans, broken tents, used disposable BBQs, food wrappers etc. This of course attracts an umbelievable number of fat sea gulls and wasps!
• Toilet / shower facilities – Considering the number of people on site, there are only five showers, and these are disgusting. The toilets are beyond disgusting – simply foul! But again to be fair to the site, the toilets and showers are cleaned daily, but it doesn’t take anytime at all before they become horrible again.
• Noise – during the day there is a multitude of drum and bass and chart music pumping for cars across the site. At night, the music is replaced by screams, shouting and other drunken antics. Bear in mind the last site bus returns from Newquay around 3am! Unless you are a) drunk, b) on drugs or c) a heavy sleeper – you will not get much sleep (for the record, I was a bit of option a). If the drunks don’t wake you up, the seagulls will!
• Age – Smugglers might be “Newquay’s premier 18-30 site”, but the small print states:  ”We are able to accept groups under the age of 18, but over the age of 16, provided each group member has written consent from their parent/guardian”. Read that as – “the site is full of under age binge drinkers with nieve parents”.

A tale of two holiday parks

Despite having seperate names and seperate websites (although the similarities are obvious) – Smugglers Haven and Trevelgue Holiday Park are the same site. Sure there are two entrances, a security gate between the two (which is locked at 10pm, and manned by security during the day for pedestrian access only), and seperate toilet/shower blocks, but the vast majority of the facilities are on the Trevelgue side – the reception, shop, surf shop, swimming pool, cafe and arcade.

What I really don’t undetstand though is why any family would ever consider staying at Trevelgue? Ok, maybe during the week, or during term time, it might be ok (some of the reviews of Smugglers suggest it becomes a ghost town during the week) – but over the Summer or at a weekend?

As most of the facilities are on the family side, the site is crawling with under thirties – bear in mind the group next to us were washing down their breakfast with cans of Strongbow, you can imagine the state of some of them by the afternoon!

And the noise – unless the static caravans are soundproofed, the noise coming over from the Smugglers fence must be truely awful! During the day you have the blend of a variety of thumping music, and during the night all the drunken revelling.

Also, according to some of the reviews, the state and queues of the Smugglers toilet/shower block means that some people use the Trevelgue ones, which quickly begin to get into the same state of uncleanliness.

There is a certain type of person who would enjoy staying at this site. I am sure it is brilliant if you are into clubbing and drinking to excess and beyond with your mates, but otherwise stay well clear! Personally I hope to never stay there again (unless of course another of my friends has a stag do there!).

Newquay

Newquay has a bit of a reputation as the “ultimate” party destination in England.

“Newquay is no longer a boring seaside resort it offers so much now since this location has been put on the map! It has transformed into a place that offers extreme water sports, sunshine, great night life and girls in the skimpiest bikinis!!! Need we say more?”
Source – stagweekends.co.uk

No you don’t – and I am sure the locals just love that description.

The streets and bars at the weekend are heaving – there are a lot of underage kids out and about (although to be fair much less so in the actual venues) and a lot of very drunk people (you know – the sort that can barely eat the kebab clutched in their hands). There is a police presence, but a fraction of what can be seen on Broadstreet in Birmingham. The atmosphere is also very moody – not threatening, just moody. As we walked past one of the town’s strip clubs, I watched as someone was ejected, thrown against a wall by a bouncer, who then had to be pulled back by a colleague before he went further.

Newquay is a hugely popular for post-exam / end of term parties and it is not surprising that there are calls for Newquay to revamp it’s image – made after the tragic deaths of two teenages. A spokesperson for the Devon and Cornwall Police stated:

“Newquay is a safe place as long as you come here with a degree of common sense and a degree of responsibility.”
Source – BBC website

There are enough adults without the necessary common sense and responsibility, let alone teenagers high on the euphoria of completing exams chucked into a environment of partying and drinking to excess without any adult supervision.

Obviously being on a stag do, I didn’t get to see much of Newquay other than the town centre. On Twitter, @ignashus enjoyed Newquay on the same weekend, although they sensibly avoided the town centre. Just looking at the photos of Newquay on wikipedia, it seems like it has more to offer than just a party destination – I think I agree with Chief Superintendent Elaine Marshall:

“Newquay has enormous potential, with its great beaches and holiday facilities, especially in the current economic climate. Unfortunately its image has been tarnished and we need to work quickly to re-market it as a safe place to visit.”
Source – BBC website

Good luck Newquay!