Forty-Seventh Post From Türkiye: The Great British Road Trip, Part Two

Dartmoor and Cornwall
From Stonehenge we went to Dartmoor. Anybody that's ever read The Hound of the Baskervilles knows all about the lonely, haunted, yet beautiful moorlands in south Devon. As Sherlock Holmes fans, Trum and I wanted to retrace his and Watson's steps over the wild countryside. We also thought it would be a jolly holiday to camp out in the moors. Newsflash: even in June, it rains in the moors. Our first hike was to the Bronze Age settlement of Grimspound (first settled around 1300 BC).

Grimspound

Lots o' Sheep..and Sheep Poop

Trum in the Remnants of a Hut

                                                                    Hameldown Tor

From Grimspound, we climbed through the mist and sprinkling rain to the top of Hameldown Tor ('tors' are hilltops with outcrops of bedrock). It lies on a hiking trail that crosses the entire national park, called the Two Moors Way. Besides a cairn, the Broad Barrow lies up on the ridge. Trum and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to run into a Barrow-Wight (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrow-wight).

Cairn on the Top of Hameldown Tor

View of Grimspound from Hameldown Tor

A Lonely Celtic Cross

                                                                           Postbridge

After Hameldown Tor we visited the famous bridges over the River Dart at Postbridge. The sprinkles that began at Grimspound had become a pretty significant downpour by the time we arrived.

The 13th Century Clapper Bridge

                                                              Widecombe-in-the-Moor

We decided to make a vittles stop in this little village, and took a stroll around the overgrown churchyard.

                                                                           Hound Tor

Hound Tor was the inspiration for the setting in The Hound of the Baskervilles. It features an enormous pile of jagged-looking stone on a high hill that can be seen from the country all around.

                                                                  Scorhill Stone Circle

At the end of a very soggy day of driving along narrow roads twisting through overgrown hedgerows, we reached the trail-head that leads up to the Scorhill Stone Circle. After a a bit of a climb past some moor ponies, we crested a hill and looked down on this ancient site, smack in the middle of the rolling moor. Trum and I were almost alone...except for some Eastern Europeans, who seemed to be trying to soak up mystical energies from the ley lines, or some such.

Trum Alone in the Vastness of the Moor

                                                                       Cornwall

In order to save bones, and enjoy good ole outdoor adventure, we planned to do a lot of camping on our great British road trip. We ended up camping several nights in the tent and sleeping bags we shoved in our luggage, but our first night in Dartmoor was a damp affair. We ended up packing away the tent in a steady drizzle, and after spending all day trekking through the moor in the rain, we didn't really feel like spending a night in the tent when we reached Tintagel in Cornwall. So, we sprang for a room at the Camelot Castle Hotel. The room came complete with an intricately-carved four-poster bed, and a view of the Atlantic.

The Labyrinth at Sunset

Cornwall is part of Britain's "Celtic Fringe," one of the regions where the Celtic peoples remained prominent after the arrival of the Germanic Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century AD. The "Celtic Nations" are Cornwall, Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, the Isle of Man, and Wales, though not many folks actually speak Cornish anymore.

Trum at Britain's Windy Southwestern Edge

The big draw in Tintagel, beyond the natural beauty, is the area's legendary association with King Arthur. It's all the fault of the 12th century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth and his History of the Kings of Britain, who claimed Arthur was conceived, via Merlin's trickery, at Tintagle castle.

A Beautiful Waterfall Below the Castle

Trum in Merlin's Cave

The Castle Ruins

Arthur Getting Ready to Knight Me

Barras Head Jutting out into the Atlantic

If you're hip with Cornish folklore, or Harry Potter, you know all about Cornish Pixies.

Best thing in Cornwall? Cornish pasties. There are no better meat pies on this earth (steak and stilton is me favorite), and believe you me, I've eaten a lot of meat pies in my day.