Making contacts

I've had an interesting time over the last ten days spending time with a variety of different Dartmoor people. On a bright and breezy morning last week I accompanied Frances Cooper, DNPA Mires Project Officer, on a trip to Winney's Down west of Fernworthy Forest, the first blanket bog site under investigation (and subsequent restoration) under the project, which we announced in the spring issue's In the News. A few days later I interviewed explorer, film-maker, former TV personality and owner of the Dartmoor Expedition Centre John Earle (also a trustee of the Dartmoor Trust and book reviewer for the magazine), who has lived on the moor for more than 40 years. And this morning I spent an interesting time with Charlotte Faulkner of Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony, learning about her plans for the future. The results of all these meetings will become apparent in future issues of the magazine! At the end of June I also took part in the Exmoor Perambulation, a walk along the boundary of the ancient Forest of Exmoor. The whole route totals 31 miles, but that's well beyond my capabilities so I stuck to 16 and stopped at the roughly halfway mark. We were blessed with horrendous weather – low cloud, rain and strong winds all day, and saw nothing of Exmoor's glorious landscape – but around 170 hardy walkers took part (of which around 40 retired en route). Encouraged by this we're thinking about organising a smaller scale Dartmoor Perambulation event sometime in 2012 along with Spirit of Adventure at Powdermills: watch this space!