DARTMOOR MOUNTAIN WILD CAMPING | STORMY WEATHER | YES TOR & HIGH WILLHAYS

Hi folks, I'm Seamus from Outdoors Inspiration. This is my German shepherd, Petra. And I'm out tonight with my son, Angus and Petra. There's Angus. And we're gonna have a wild camp on Northern Dartmoor tonight. We're not sure where we're gonna end up, but to start with, we're heading up to Yes Tor, which stands at 619 meters, and we're on our way to High Willeys at 621 meters, the highest part of Southern England, and certainly the highest part of Dartmoor. Let's have a look at what we see on the way. You're gonna find him. We find him. Good girl, go show me him then. Where is he? Where's he gone? Is he missing? Where's he gone? Where'd you go? Good girl. Good girl, go show me him. Have you got him? Is he in there? Oh, is he missing? Oh, look, we found him. Well done, Petra. You can come alive, Angus. Good girl. Come on then, Petra. Good girl. And this is West Mill Tor. We're gonna head over to Yes Tor next, and that's just over there. Not quite as pleasant as when we first started out, but it was on the forecast, I guess, but I don't remember this wind. Hey, Petra. It's getting a bit wet now. Ready, Angus? Onwards and upwards. Let's go. Come on, Petra. Shower's easing off now. It's quite cold in that shower. There's obviously a cold front coming through because those showers were quite chilly. Quite a strong breeze with it. We're just passing by Yes Tor. Well, I guess it's rude not to go to the top, isn't it? So this is High Willet. The spot height is 621 meters, and it is the highest point in Southern England. It's a bit of a plateau, this, rather than the hill itself. It sort of merges in with Yes Tor a little bit. There's a bit of an optical illusion with this tor. It is the highest point in the county. As I said, it's the highest point in Southern England, but wherever you look at it from, from afar, there always appears to be a tor that's higher than it, and Yes Tor always looks to be uphill from High Wilhays. Interesting. Now, I'm pretty sure if you look up the Oxford English Dictionary definition of a mountain, it won't have a bit of a hill with some rocky bits and bogs surrounding it as its definition. We always think of this kind of thing, don't we? The peak of a mountain. But in England, a mountain is defined as being over 600 meters. So both High Wilhays and Yes Tor qualify. Hooray. We're on the mountain, Petra. There's nothing between you and the Urals up there. You're breathing the same air as the Tartars. Petra, come on. It's a bit blowy. Come on, Pet, up you go. Up, up. There we go. Southern England's highest dog. A bit nasty all of a sudden. It's just a bit of shelter on the other side of the Tor now, out of the wind. But that's all right. Dartmoor's only mountain, so we've got to have a bit of mountain weather as well, haven't we? We like a bit of that angus, don't we? The horizontal lines here are really interesting in the rock. The vertical ones were caused as the molten granite started to cool down and solidify and it contracted. There was something like two to three kilometers of sandstone and slate above the level that we're at now. And as that eroded and washed away, there was a great release from the granite here. And this is pressure release that causes these horizontal lines and cracking in the rock. The landscape of Dartmoor is often more about the skyscape than it is the landscape. Beautiful. Looking here into the West Oakmont Valley and the slipper stones beyond that. And that's Black Tor down there. And I think that's going to be our home for the night. We're going to head for Black Tor and see if we can get a nice little wild camp in there. I nearly become a cropper. Black Tor is a magnificent tor. Seems to be split into three main buttresses. They don't look much when you approach them from the top, but from underneath, they're really quite precipitous. I don't know if I can spell precipitous, but I can just about say it at this time of day. Just in time. The heavens have opened up. What's that, Petra? Remind everybody about our great giveaway. Just a quick reminder, folks, I'll put a link in the description below to a very short video that describes our giveaway. This is a brand new giveaway. We've started another one for a remote canister stove with a preheat tube to set you up for the winter. So it's very simple to enter. It's a free draw. Absolutely no strings attached. Have a look in the description below and find out how to enter that. Right, back to me supper. So much for the alfresco eating. Another squall's come through and we've had to run for cover. You can feel the wind picking up first, and then the rain follows it. But there we go. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. That's the nature of camping, isn't it, Petra? That'll be chicken tikka with rice for supper then. That's very nice. Oh, that's delicious. It's not for dogs. Definitely, look, it says on the packet, not for dogs. See, not for dogs. Well, I don't remember much of this on the weather forecast. It's turned a bit inclement, really. It's obviously a cold front because these sharp showers keep coming through and they are quite cold as they come through and quite intense. But, ha, ha, ha, all adds to the rich tapestry of having a wild camp, doesn't it? The comforts of our tent tonight, I think. And a lot of pudding. This is a Hilleberg Anyan 2, and there's enough space in it to have a game of basketball, let alone sleep for tonight. It's fantastic. Weighing in at something like 1.7, 1.8 kilograms. Absolutely ideal, really comfy. Well, that's book paid 20. Nighttime photography. It's thick as a bag out here right now. Probably something like 10 to 20 meters visibility. It's not good at all, really. Ha, ha, ha. Right, Angus, see you in the morning. And that rain's been on the go now for about 20 minutes or so. Hopefully it leans off by morning. Ha, ha, ha, ha. I like a bit of weather, anyway. Well, that was a good night. Breakfast is on. Angus is still in there having his breakfast. And you can't see your hand in front of your face. The cloud's been coming in throughout the night, along with the wind and the rain. And it must be a cold front because these sharp squalls were coming in. Quite aggressive with prolonged showers that were very cold, actually. But there we go. Breakfast is on the boil and we'll be on the move in a moment. Just had to run for cover. It's raining again. So this rain's lasting a bit longer, or should I say this shower. So what's the definition of a shower or rain? Most people tend to think of a shower as something of short duration. Showers are derived from cumulus clouds and rain is derived from stratiform clouds, so it's a uniform cloud. So let's start with the definition of some of these clouds. Stratiform clouds or stratus clouds are uniform layers, those thick layers covering the sky. Cumulus means a heaped cloud. But cumuliform clouds that hold rain or precipitation are cumulonimbus. And stratiform clouds or stratus clouds that hold rain are nimbus stratus. So we've got stratus, a layer, cumulus, a heap, and nimbus, which means rain bearing. Well, that's us about ready to go. I'm looking across there into the mist because I know that Mike Bright is somewhere camped over there. That's Mike from Cornish Knives and Camping, and well, he can't help the Cornish bit, but he's a lovely chap. I love watching his channel, so I'll put a link to that in this video. I don't know why, he just makes me smile. He just goes about his business on Dartmoor and it does brighten my day to watch his videos. And also, whilst I'm at it, Tom Heaney from Tom Heaney Adventure. I know he's been out recently in 60 mile an hour winds in the Morne Mountains in Northern Ireland. So good on you, Tom. I'll be looking forward to watching that later on. Right, we've got everything packed. Time we were off, I think. So we've come off Black Tor and we're descending down into the West Oakmont Valley now, below the cloud. And we're gonna visit a little woodland down here called Blackator Copse. Am I keeping you up, Petra? Anyway, if you like this video, please give us a thumbs up. Don't hesitate to comment. We like comments because we'll always get back to you. And if you feel like you like what our channel's doing, please subscribe. There is a button down there somewhere to subscribe to the channel. I'd be very, very grateful. It just kind of shows us that we're going in the right direction, doesn't it, Petra? Yeah, you're paying attention now. Anyway, onwards and upwards, we're gonna have a little look at Blackator Copse. Now, Blackator Copse is a high altitude ancient woodland. It's one of only three left on Dartmoor. It's really very beautiful. It's a National Nature Reserve. So we'll just go and poke our head in, have a little look and see what that's all about. So we camped last night high up on Blackator above here. It's not permissible to camp at Blackator Copse. It's a National Nature Reserve. Now, I know that I'll come across fire pits and people camping here, but it isn't permitted. And it's for a very good reason. That's because there's rare mosses and lichens. The flora and fauna here are pretty special. There's ring oozle, red starts. And these woodlands, like I said, there's only three of them on Dartmoor and they're very special and need to be protected. And now, having said that, I've just come across three wild campers camping in the woods. Now, there's no point in being arsy about it or confrontational or even evangelizing about it. But I just pointed out what the score is for educational purposes, because if people don't know that they're not supposed to be here, yes, they should have looked up various rules and regulations and things, but they didn't and they were here. So they'll know for next time, won't they? And we all leave with smiles on our faces, enjoying the experience. That's what it's all about. But let's stay within the rules. And so, I guess this is where this video ends today. We're going to make our way down to Meldon Reservoir following the West Oakmont Valley. So thanks for watching, folks. If you've seen us this far through, I'm very, very grateful to you. Thanks very much indeed. Thanks for your continued support. And we'll see you on Thursday night for our outdoors inspiration, Outdoor Essentials.