The die is cast. My train tickets have been booked. In two weeks, I’ll be off! A single from London to Ivybridge and another single from Exeter to London cost £88 altogether. With bus fare and tube fares, I guess total travel will cost around £100, which is not hugely different to the cost of petrol for a round trip.
Thanks to everyone who has helped me with pieces of information, which has helped the planning process. At the moment (this is subject to amendment) the route looks like this:
Day 1: arr. @ Ivybridge at 15.18. Two Moors Way from Ivybridge diverting over Butterdon Hill, Piles Hill, camp somewhere between Three Barrows and Leftlake (SX 647 634). Distance: 5.5 miles. If I’m feeling energetic I may carry on until Huntingdon Cross.
Day 2: Leftlake, Quickbeam Hill, Brown Heath, Huntingdon Cross, Huntingdon Warren, Ryder’s Hill, Down Ridge, Hexworthy, Dartmeet, Babeny, Riddon Ridge. Distance: 11.5 miles.
Day 3: Riddon Ridge, Bellever Tor, Postbridge, Hartland Tor, Grey Wethers, Teignhead Farm, Whitehorse Hill, Hanginstone Hill, Steeperton Tor, possibly Hound Tor. Distance: 12-13 miles.
Day 4: Steeperton Tor, Okement Hill, Dinger Tor, High Willhays, Yes Tor, Rowtor, Okehampton. Distance 9-10 miles.
The end of day 3 and day 4 are a bit flexible and I may camp at Dinger Tor or somewhere on the way. Much depends on the weather and conditions under foot. If it’s fine weather and reasonable under foot, I would expect to made good progress.
blogpackinglight 
Sounds like an interesting trip Robin, I hope the current spell of good weather continues for your trip.
I’ve recently read Jörgen Johansson book Smarter Backpacking, and was horrified to find that although I’ve reduced my 343 weight from 6.5 Kg to 4.2 Kg I’m still way short of his target of 3 Kg. What do you expect your big 3 weight will be for the Dartmoor trip?
Pipedram 600, Duomid/OookWorks inner + pegs & pole extender,ULA Ohm, POE Peak Elite mat , total weight 3.12kg. Slight cheat as I’m not including trekking poles to use with the Duomid. My OookWorks inner hasn’t arrived yet so I have to revert to another tent. I also need to check that everything will fit into the Ohm. It should do but the Pipedream 600 is bulkier than my Cumulus Quantum 350, which is my default sleeping bag.
I wish I could get that close to 3kg, I’ve got some way to go, my laser Comp weighs 1240g because I’ve changed the pegs, replaced the flysheet shock cord with tougher shock cord, changed the guy lines to Dyneema and added Dyneema zip pulls. This may have added 140g to the delivered total weight, but at least I can be confident it won’t blow away and most of the flysheet noise has gone. My Sleeping bag (ME Xero 550) weighs 950g but by the time I’ve added the Jag Bag silk liner and a Pod Airstreem Lite stuff bag to keep it dry, that puts it up to 1099g add this to my Thermarest woman’s Prolite mat and stuff sack and I have 1568 for my sleep system. The area that I’m hoping will yield a significant weight saving is my pack, currently I use a Snow peak 50 which weighs 1429g including the poly bag I use as a rucksack liner. I rather fancy a Golite Jam, but the medium is too long in the back and the woman’s version is too narrow at the shoulder so my search goes on.
My Laser Comp with mods is a similar weight to yours. I wear leggings rather than a silk liner. The POE Peak Elite mat (325g) is worth considering as it’s lighter and more comfortable than a Prolite. I’ve had two GoLite packs and both have had poor hipbelts, so my advice would be try before you buy. My two lightweight rucksacks are the Gossamer Gear Mariposa and the ULA Ohm, both around 750g. Unfortunately you can only get them from the US so you can’t try them.
Robin, would it be possible for you to publish your full list of kit with weight, say in your gear review folder. I know you have given lists before in your posts but I was wondering if you could compile a full list and have it in a place where it could be easily viewed without searching.
Thanks
I’ll do my best! From now on I’ll publish a gear list at the end of every trip, which will appear on the trips page as well.
Thanks very much for that, greatly appreciated.
Good old rowtor, you will be no doubt going back oakhampton barracks
(looks like a WW2 camp..probably is)
i think i have ran up rowtor a thousand times during my pre-commando course at the camp
not the fondest of memories crawling about dartmoor, but would love to go back at some point, in a nice relaxed fashion to enjoy it
Enjoy the trip…sounds V.Good
take it easy Chris
Nice route. If you get a nice day the detour from Hangingstone Hill to Cranmere Pool is well worth it. A very wild area and you get the bonus of a letterbox stamp too…
If it’s not too wet…
V-G Hikers has just posted a 3 day trip on the Moor, his mid part is similar to yours and has some good phots of some of the areas I’d mentioned previously. Their site is always worth a look: http://v-g.me.uk/Trips/G0088/G0088.htm
Thanks. I had a quick exchange with Geoff. He camped at Leftlake.