Hameldown Beacon to Fingle Bridge

Our friends, Alex & Lydia, joined as after work on Friday at our camp on Hameldown Beacon. After a catch up we got our heads down and rose in the morning to bright blue skies.

Up reasonably early, but not early enough to miss the first hikers, we were away by 9am. Following the track along and down the the ridge, passing a few mountain bikers (some on ebikes), we met the road. Quite busy with lots of people out and about we continued across the moorland, before leaving that behind and weaving our way through fields and small paths. Stopping under the shade of large tree for lunch, we continued on to Chagford. 

Here we followed the river, with a pleasant breeze, and deviating from the Two Moors Way, we headed for Fingle Bridge. Our detour was necessary for two reasons; firstly it was located near a small section of permitted wild-camping ground within Dartmoor National Park, but secondly there was a pub marked on the map. Uncertain whether it would be open or not we headed through the woodland along the river.

Luckily for us it was open, with a modified (if slightly obtuse) distanced ordering system. However we waited patiently and spent a couple of hours having a few drinks next to the river. A pleasant finale to the days walk.

Afterwards, however, we still had to find somewhere to camp, so we had head up the steep hill behind us. A steeper and longer walk than we’d bargained for but we eventually made it to the top, and found a great little place to camp with views over Chagford and the moors we’d just travelled through. After cooking up our evening meal, we were treated to a lovely sunset before bed.