I utterly love Dartmoor, I love the rivers & reservoirs, the forests & wilderness, the hikes, wanders and wild swims but the one thing I love the most about Dartmoor is the Atmosphere. The feeling of being on Dartmoor is something bigger and more special than anything else.

A couple of times a year without fail we head for winters driver on Dartmoor. For this trip we made extra pizza night before, a trick we learnt a few year ago which has changed our lives. Like most of the UK population I’m a huge pizza fan but I find it incredible that it’s as delicious when cold the next day as it is when piping hot fresh out of the oven. We packed napkins and drinks, downloaded a couple of Crime Junkie podcasts (We are big True Crime podcast fans) and hit the road with no destination.

Dartmoor’s atmosphere is at it’s most epic when moody and dramatic, so winter days are perfect, the sun never climbs high and the clouds hang heavy and low ready to release. The trees lean over from the constant force of the wind whipping over the moor and if you’re truly lucky the sky will be full of mist. The downside of this is that visibility for driving is poor, so please drive carefully but the views of the wilderness disappearing into a thick grey wall of nothingness is a thing of beauty. We entered Dartmoor from the south near Ashburton and passed Rippon Tor, rounded Bonehill rocks and wound through the narrow lanes north until we hit the B3212. Here we turned left and headed south west towards Postbridge and on towards Two Bridges where the B3212 meets the B3357. Both of these roads connect east with west and cross the rugged and wild moorland. We stuck to the B3212 and headed towards Dousland but decided to park up in a layby near Sharpitor to demolish the pizza. On our return home we took the B3357 east through Dartmeet to complete a giant circular route.

Dartmoor also boasts tons of wildlife and this trip felt like Dartmoor Wildlife Bingo, we had sheep roaming along the road, followed by highland cows lounging in the long grass. We were then forced to stop in the middle of the road to let a herd of cows cross safely… I think they were just trying to get to the udder side (I’m so sorry!). Bingo was complete on our way home shortly after passing Poundsgate when a foal headed down the road along side us before trotting off to safety. Not bad for a days work.