The Hindu Business Line : Spooky trail

There are no traffic jams and urban sprawl to be seen here. Dartmoor National Park is a reservoir of quietude. It is the largest area of open country in southern Britain. Mile upon mile of unspoilt beauty is more than enough for a relaxing break or for an invigorating walk. With its heather-covered moorland and deep wooded gorges, beautiful lake-like reservoirs and tumbling rocky rivers, thriving market towns and villages, patchwork farmland and craggy granite tors, itR 17;s easy to see why the park is so special. Dartmoor isn’t just wild — it’s unique too. There are nature reserves here and areas of scientific interest, endangered birds and rare plants, stone circles and menhirs, remains of mines, quarries, ruined castles, mediaeval abbeys, ancient churches and bridges.

Our first stop was Tavistock, which stands on the fast flowing River Tavy below the western edge of Dartmoor and is the largest town in west Devon. The historic pannier market is held in the town on Saturdays, but we reached on a Sunday and so all shops were closed.

In 1581, Sir Francis Drake, a son of Tavistock, became mayor of Plymouth. Buckland Abbey, the former home of the Elizabethan adventurer and Britain’s famous voyager, is located a few miles south of Tavistock. We were on the fringes of the moor where the traditional farmland fields are located, girded with dry stone walls and hedgerows. In summer, the lanes are busy with butterflies and song thrushes, patrolled at night by owls and bats. Look for rare orchids in meadows and valley mires, and for herons, mink and otters along the riverbanks.

We proceeded towards Princetown, where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle began writing The Hound of the Baskervilles at the Duchy Hotel (now the High Moorland Visitor Centre). The author was apparently taken on a tour by a local man called Henry Baskerville and he began to weave moorland landmarks and names into the novel’s fabric — the Foxtor mires and the Grimspound hut circles became the treacherous Grimpen Mire and the prehistoric huts which feature in the adventure. The tors of Bellever and Vixen are named in the book, and you can retrace the footsteps of Holmes and Watson on the summit of Black Tor. As we left Princetown, a couple of pedallers whizzed past us, undeterred by the rain.

Pedal away

Indranil Choudhuri

Ancient dwellings and graves. The place inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write The Hound of Baskervilles.

Dartmoor is a haven for cyclists and has everything one could wish for — safe, traffic-free trails and quiet forest tracks, steep rugged off-road routes for keen mountain bikers and historic rural lanes to enjoy at your own pace. We went past attractive farmhouses and guest houses set in beautifully tended and secluded gardens. Some promised delicious ‘Aga cooked breakfast’, including home-baked bread and ‘fresh local produce’, while others offered ‘fresh flowers, crisp white linen’ and many thoughtful extras. It was apparent that the guest houses and Bed and Breakfasts (B&B) were trying hard to woo tourists. Rising fuel prices and the economic downturn are forcing people to stay indoors and this doesn’t augur well for tourism.

Tea & cakes!

We reached Buckland-in-the-Moor, one of the most picturesque thatch-and-granite villages on Dartmoor, around teatime. A signboard on the road announced that tea and cakes would be served at the village hall after 2 p.m. and that everybody was welcome. We reached the venue and stood outside the gate hesitantly because we felt like intruders. There were scores of people inside laughing and chatting and we would have turned away had a kindly lady not seen us and beckoned us in. We bought scrumptious scones and clotted cream (Devon’s speciality) served with lashings of homemade jam. Not content with that, we bought huge slices of really sinful-looking coffee and walnut cake. I felt as if I had been transported back in time. Everything seemed so old worldly, so 1920s. We had an unscheduled halt on the way because some Dartmoor ponies had wandered on the road, forcing cars to stop. The ponies are untamed but not wild and brochures constantly remind tourists not to feed them as it encourages the animals to linger at roadsides and cause accidents. Despite these warnings, many people were offering food to the ponies. The ponies grabbed whatever came their way, cans of Diet Coke included. One lady came too close to a pony and was kicked for her folly. However, it wasn’t too bad and she managed to get away, a little unnerved.

History, mystery

If you wanted a place on Dartmoor that is surrounded by history and mystery, then look no further than Hound Tor and Haytor Rocks. The whole area in and around the tor is famed for its ghosts and nearby are ancient dwellings and graves. The tor — a splendid rock pile — is said to have inspired Conan Doyle to write The Hound of the Baskervilles. We went atop the Coombestone and Saddle tors. Depending on how much you want to walk as well as climb, there are many more remote tors which provide excellent climbing.

If you desire a higher level of horror, adrenalin, scraped skin and knuckles and squashed toes, do go for them. We returned to our delightful B&B and friendly hosts well after dusk, our batteries recharged by the inspiring Dartmoor landscapes. Pretty as the park was, I was glad to return to the charming cottage where we had put up. I had a bowl of delicious pasta to finish and a novel to read in front of the electric fireplace. A divine end to a day of pure bliss.

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