Challenge Accepted

Adventure Mama
Jul 24, 2020
2 min read

Updated: Jul 26, 2020

For anyone following @diaryofanadventuremama on social media you may remember me introducing a conversation I had had with my Dad about walking the length of Dartmoor National Park.

I hadn't ever considered walking the length of Dartmoor because who even thinks that walking 20 miles is a good idea (that's roughly the same distance as walking from North to South London!!)? But I love a good challenge and this one is right up Adventure Mama's street.

So Dad and I got chatting... and Orla got route planning... and now plans have been set in motion.

We've not only decided to walk the length (approx 20 miles), but also the width (also approx 20 miles) and then try reaching the five highest peaks of the 160 Dartmoor Tors (technically classified as mountains as they reach 600m above sea level) - Yes Tor (620m), High Willhays (623m), Cut Hill (603m), Hangingstone Hill (603m) and Great Links Tor (587m - not so much the mountain this one).

Each challenge is to be completed in a days walking (we're not stupid enough to think we could do them all in one go!) And of course Orla will be joining us - because a 20 mile walk wasn't going to be tough enough already, we'll add coaxing/carrying a 2yr old along with us as well!

It's so strange that as a kid, my sister and I were dragged on these moorland walks and the idea was always so horrifying to us - the cold, the rain, the boredom. But we always ended up having the best time, playing pooh-sticks, finding beautiful, hidden streams to splash in, or jumping and climbing between granite boulders playing 'off ground touch'. And yet without-a-doubt we had the same groaning reaction every. single. time. my parents even thought about going for a walk in our moorland backyard (as it was then). 20yrs later I find myself dragging Orla along for the very same adventures and wonder if she feels the same way I did back then? Sorry kid, you've got a lifetime of seeking adventures and making memories in natures greatest playground - the great outdoors (and when you think your done, you'll start all over with your own family)!

We have a few practice runs planned to judge pace and timings. And like most things the timing of completing these challenges will be very weather dependant - I am all for carrying on no matter what, but we'll save taking a toddler onto open moorland in sheeting rain and howling wind for another day!