Dartmoor and Dartmouth

Dartmoor-had intended to only go here for an hour or so, but ended up going for about 3 1/2 hours. Got a little lost in the moor whihc had very bad signage (Clair guesses maybe because there's a huge maximum security prison in the middle and if one escapes, it's better they get lost in the moor)! Basically, the land is owned by the National Trust and just has wild animals roaming around and some farm land too.

Ponies! We walked right up to them. Obviously not scared of people...

Dartmouth, Devon



Town you could see from Darmouth Bay, but not sure what it was exactly. Very pretty though!

Beautiful buildings in Dartmouth!

Dartington Studio-It had 8 or 9 different buildings each dedicated to something different-perfumes and soaps, fashion, jewelry, ceramics, glass, homewares, toys, and a few more. All the items are made locally by various artists.

Sky candle we lit on our last night in Devon-the wind took it so fast that this was the only image I could manage!


It was our last full day in Devon, so we decided to go and see a few Southern Devon towns to get me an overview like we did with Cornwall. Our intent was to go through Dartmoor and go to the towns of Salcombe and Dartmouth (lots of towns/areas start with "Dart" in this region because they are all near the River Dart-kind of like Exeter and Exmouth being near the River Exe closer to Budleigh Salterton). However, once we started driving through the moor, we realized that about an hour and a half into it, we were only halfway through and going nowhere fast. The signage wasn't real great in there and the roads were mainly made for only one car to go through! We had to constantly stop for sheep, cows, and horses that were in the road/maybe looking to cross right in front of the car. Apparently Bob says that many people a year will be in the moor and get lost, especially if there's a heavy fog, and die. Crazy! They also apparently train British Army troops here as it can be quite daunting. In Princeton, near the center of the moor, there is a maximum security prison that dates back to the Victorian times. All this being said, I panicked just a few times thinking, we will never make it out! Although our conditions were not exactly foggy or that daunting. There were hundreds of buses with toursists-mainly Belguim and German that we saw. They all loved going to pet the wild animals. We also saw a handful of old ladies in different areas just parked with their cars on a hill to have a cup of tea. Strange.

About 3 and a half hours later, we finally made it out. However, where we made it out was not exactly where we had thought, and not really en-route to Salcombe. By this point it was 2ish, so we decided just to head to Dartmouth.

We only stayed in Dartmouth for a few hours, but it was very pretty. Plus, the beautiful weather we had had for the past few days (every day they had forecast rain), was about to break and so we headed back to Budleigh around 5 or so. That night, Clair cooked us bangers and mash and Henry and Ken (owner of the house) even joined us! Once the sun went down, we went onto the beach to light a sky candle. We had some major issues with the wind, but finally got it lit and in seconds it had flown (quite violently) away towards town.haha. Great trip!