FKT: Ben Diggins, Jason Cole - Dartmoor 500 (United Kingdom) - 2024-06-22

Living on the south side of Dartmoor, the idea of an FKT on the moor seemed appealing.  Jas and I decided on the 500's, and after some researching of the previous attempts and times, we set a date for the longest day of the year, and planned to do it unsupported, filling water flasks from streams/rivers with filter lids (Jas) and purification tabs (me).

Starting at 5:15am in the drizzle and bombarded by midges, we headed on an out-and-back to Hameldown to tick that off first, then headed out on the long circuit around the northern section. Following the lead of the current supported FKT, we did Dinger Tor after High Willhays and cut across the potentially boggier section from Gt Kneeset to Hangingstone (thankfully not too bad) - although, despite the mostly recent dry weather, our feet were wet and regularly submerged in various bogs throughout the day, and the long grass/"baby's heads"/bush-bashing/lack of trail or footpath took a heavy toll at various points along the way.  

We opted for a road section after North Hessary Tor to the Beardowns, that was actually quite refreshing after some very hard-going for the preceding 15-20km.  For the final 3 tors, we headed to Longaford Tor before Higher White Tor, which seemed a more direct route, then down to Lower White and on to the long descent to Postbridge.

We were lucky to have a couple of rain showers the day before, which meant the streams and rivers were running fresh and gave plenty of opportunity to fill flasks with brief stops. Our worry had been that many of them would be too low to refill (which would have scuppered us) but thankfully this went well.  We ate a variety of energy bars and chews / nut butters / peanut butter sandwiches / teacakes, as well as liquid nutrition.

For the majority of the day we were fortunate to have good weather (I regretted dropping my sunscreen somewhere early on!), and the scenery on the moor never disappoints.  Finding Cranmere Pool letter-box was a highlight, having not heard of it until prepping in the days before, but was a cool spot in the middle of nowhere. Reaching Postbridge came as a great relief after a very long day, and then the final stretch on the road back to the start passed by quite pleasantly. We were just disappointed at the end that the pub was shut (!) but delighted to have done the route unsupported.  

A very challenging route, and a very long day out, with a huge sense of achievement and satisfaction in having been up/around all of Dartmoor's highest tors.