Safety on Dartmoor if you have never been before.

[savagebushcraft]

Thanks again XII. I'm down on the moors, somewhere or other, two weekends each month (sometimes more), so you get used to all the searching about for info lol.
I'd guess the best bit of info, is to check the area you want to camp at. get to know it inside out, including nearby towns and villages. It's always a good idea to know where the nearest pay phone is, or even house with a phone for emergencies. Plus the taxi/train/bus options will fall into this category too.

 

[screwdriver]

i always park in princetown have done for years with no car trouble, plus as its fairly central you can walk for miles in any direction.
watch out for marshy ground at this time of year, also from princetown if you get lost on a clear day just follow the transmitter ariel back to princetown, and as mentioned o2 give very good coverage.

 

[Karl82]

Clive and myself stopped off at Ivan's for one oh his meets at the end of our week on Dartmoor rely helpful knowledgeable chap worth chatting to him be for you go.

 

[River98]

Just wanted to say a quick thank-you for all you help and advice. Cheers all.

 

[Col_M]

If you have experience walking then you should be OK, however navigating is the thing you need to be hot at, when you're in the middle of the moor all the hills and tors look very similar. One bonus is that you can see the antenna on North Hessary tor from a good proportion of the moor as long as it's reasonably clear, it's useful as a first point to orientate and triangulate yourself.

I've been walking on Dartmoor since I was kid and from my mid teens onwards done many overnighters with friends, you'll be ok even from the middle of the north moor you're never more than a few hours away from walking to civilisation if you have your escape routes for each leg planned out, e.g. if I get completely lost between X and Y, if I travel due south I'll hit Z wall, river, path etc.

edit: oh and have fun

 

[River98]

Okay where does my drinking water come from on the Moors? Or the best and safest way to get some?

 

[savagebushcraft]

Easiest, safest way, is to take a pack or sterilizing tablets, like aquaclear tabs, or similar. If you take a couple of litre bottles with you, you can drink one, then fill it in a stream, pop a steri tab in, and drink from the other while it does it's magic . You could use fancy sterilizing devices, but there isn't any need to really. When you stop for camp, or meals, you can simply boil the water. That way you won't have any tastes in it (even though I never notice any taste from the tabs, if used correctly). Some people drink straight from the streams on the moor, which is fine unless there is a dead sheep, or cow, upstream somewhere.

 

[River98]

Brilliant that's nice and straight forward bought my os map today. Time to start my planning.

 

[savagebushcraft]

Obviously you'll be able to tell if there is anything particularly odd with the water (pink or green colour, algae floating on it, etc), so long as there isn't any debris floating in it, you'll be perfectly fine mate

Depending on how far you want to walk, it's worth checking out some of the Ten Tors routes. That way you wouldn't have to put so much work into planning. It depends also, what you want to go see/do while you're out, I guess. Even if you just use a part of the route, it all saves time, that you could be spending on the moors

When planning your route, keep an eye on the contour lines too. How close they are in particular. Also the OS map shows you the more boggy areas, which can normally be avoided, as well as show you where the nearest stream is, for water top-ups.

 

[tomongoose]

Some people drink straight from the streams on the moor, which is fine unless there is a dead sheep, or cow, upstream somewhere

Although there nearly always is or some sheep pooh I would purify it

 

[savagebushcraft]

Although there nearly always is or some sheep pooh I would purify it

Depends how close you can get to the source, but yeah, better safe than sorry

 

[bikething]

Depends how close you can get to the source, but yeah, better safe than sorry

The source is invariably a bog covered in sheep / cow / pony poo!

There were also reports of Giardia on the moors a few years back but I've never found information on where it was..

 

[savagebushcraft]

I regularly drink from a fresh water source on the moors, without any boiling or sterilizing. True it's pretty near the edge of the moor, but it is used to supply several cottages (also on the edge of the moor). Sheep/cow/pony waste, isn't normally a problem, as it's never normally concentrated enough to have any effects. Also if the source of the stream is saturated in sphagnum moss, that will filter the water naturally

A lot of it depends how resistant you are to pollutants too. If you spend most of your life outdoors, in the muck, you have more of an immunity (for want of a better word) to these things. If you spend your life drinking filtered water, or bottled water, you probably won't be able to tolerate quite as much.

 

[johnboy]

There are some nice spots to pitch a tent along the East Dart in the area of Sandy Hole Pass 622815 you can navigate down from Quintens man via Statts house and Whinneys down with relative ease...

There are some good sheltered spots out of the wind.