The Moors Road Trip
To get out on the road for an autumnal trip we organised a road trip away around the Exmoor & Dartmoor national parks in late September.
Wanting to get another trip in before the evenings draw darker and temperatures drop, we got a route drawn up, booked our campsites and made the tickets available.
This time around it was a little shorter, two nights camping and two full days on the route. We started on a Friday evening at a local favourite campsite of ours - Tuckers Grave Inn. This is where we recommend people stay if they come to us to have their roof tent fitted! A friendly campsite with loads of space, food available such as pizza, curry nights & fish and chips, live music on Saturday night (we missed out) plus the pub itself with some seriously west country ciders!
A late arrival on Friday night was Rodney in his Mk1 VW Caddy & Tom in (also Rodneys) Mk1 Golf! An absolutely amazing combo to look at whether they were parked up, driving past or in the rearview mirror.
And only late to arrive after some 10 out of 10 dedication after Rodney accidentally caught the oil sump on the Caddy 5 miles from the campsite causing it to drop all its oil… So they then drove back to Surrey, picked up a new sump, drove back again and fitted it roadside! Leading to a stealthy 3 am arrival and untold levels of appreciation in wanting to join us.
Saturday morning started with bright sunny skies, but the feel of winter was definitely looming as it was the first time we‘d got out of the roof tent this season to much cooler temperatures.
Some of us cooked up our own breakfasts, most notably Dom & Jemma who had a selection of their wild mushrooms foraged from the New Forest the day before. Others made their way up to the Inn for a cooked breakie and coffee before we hit the road towards some of our first stops.
These included Wells Cathedral and Cheddar Gorge where we re-grouped, took a few drives up and down the twisty road and subsequently got some neck ache after spending most the time looking up at the massive cliff faces.
After the drive over the Mendips, we headed towards Exmoor National Park where we took the Porlock toll road along part of the coastline. By this stage we had a convoy on the go, and it was amazing to see the chain of everyone meandering along the road originally built to give local residents something to do but now is an attraction itself with its views out to sea. Plus it’s well known in the rallying community from being used in the RAC Rally in the past.
Lynton and Lynmouth weren’t too far down the road from here along with the Valley of the Rocks. 100% worth a visit if you're in the area. From here we headed inland and onto the moors towards our overnight stop at Westermill Farm Campsite.
Westermill is smack bang in the middle of the protected dark sky area, the only problem was when we were there it was clouded over. Either way, the campsite had loads of space and we had our own field. The site owner Oliver even mentioned the countless acres of farmland which we could explore in our 4x4s, so we will have to come back on a green laning trip…
Our final day still had plenty in store as we headed towards Dartmoor. A visit to Tarr Steps on Exmoor gave some entertainment as first everyone’s dogs made a beeline for the river, next Darren & Dom had stripped off for a quick dip too before Charlie and Sam went and got their trucks to drive through the river!
A few stops along the route then led us to Foggintor Quarry, which certainly lived up to its name because as we arrived at the car park the fog came in and we quickly couldn’t see 30m in front of us. A group of us took the walk to the disused quarry for a hike and a scramble. Everyone stayed out of the water this time though, and as we headed back to the cars the light was already beginning to fade amid the heavy fog.
Everyone said their goodbyes at this point and said how we’ll all catch up again on another road trip.
It might have to wait until 2024 though, but that’s not too far away!
See you on the road ✌️
