Wild Dartmoor

A Women-only Wild Camping mini-expedition

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Wild Dartmoor April 2025

Dates – Friday 25th April (5 pm) – Sunday 27th April

Cost – £110

Length – Three days

Accommodation – Two nights wild camping

Group Size – 6-8 Women

Distance – 8 miles each day (maximum)

Location – South Devon

Wild, open moorlands and deep river valleys, with a rich history and rare wildlife – Dartmoor is a unique place. If you’ve never been before you’re in for a real treat!

Dartmoor is the only place in England where Wild Camping is ‘allowed’ under the national park laws, making it a great place to experience your first wild camp. If the weather is fine we will camp high amongst the rocks of a Dartmoor Tor, but we won’t hesitate to hide in a hidden valley if we need more shelter from the great British weather!

Dartmoor is a fascinating place, studded with ancient monuments, old mines and the ruins of medieval villages. We always try to visit a couple of the scattered ancient sites on our Wild Dartmoor trip, whether that’s standing stones, crosses, stone circles, or one of the ancient village sites.

If this is your first trip with Journey Wilder rest assured that this trip is paced slowly, especially if the ground is rough underfoot. We take any uphill sections slowly and stop regularly to enjoy the views. We never aim to walk far, covering a maximum of eight miles spread over a full day.

This is a women-only adventure. We welcome all women on our adventures, including trans women and non-binary people who would benefit from a female-centred space.

Trip Overview

Our Wild Dartmoor weekend-long mini expeditions make the perfect introduction to Wild Camping. We decide the exact location for our hike and camp the week before the trip, to avoid the worst of the Dartmoor weather, and seek out sheltered valleys. The total distance for the weekend should be around sixteen miles, which we split over the three days (roughly 2 miles Friday night, 8 miles Saturday and 6 miles Sunday).

We always stop regularly to admire the views and rest our legs after the (thankfully short) uphills. We will seek out and explore a handful of ancient sites, before choosing a campsite each night, either high amongst the rocky tors or in a beautiful sheltered valley.

This trip is suitable for women with some previous campsite camping experience, who already know how to pitch their tent and feel comfortable lighting their stove and cooking dinner. Because this is a wild camping expedition there is no access to toilets, and you will need to know how to toilet in the wild for a whole weekend. Our staff are happy to discuss the best way to do this with you before or during your trip if you need advice. You don’t need to be able to navigate as our staff will do all that for you, although if you’d like to learn we can give you the opportunity to practice – just ask!

Expand each section below for more detail…

Itinerary

Friday (Day 1)

On Saturday we will meet at a Dartmoor car park, and spend some time getting to know each other and undertaking a kit check to ensure everybody has the right kit for a comfortable night in the hills. We never walk far on Friday night – just far enough to get away from civilisation and find a cosy spot to camp.

Saturday (Day 2)

We will wake to our first morning on Dartmoor, and enjoy a coffee and breakfast. Once everybody is packed we will start our walk up onto the moors, taking the ascent slowly and stopping regularly to admire the views or explore any interesting monuments we find. Our route on Saturday is usually around eight miles and we always try to visit a couple of Tors, and a few ancient sites along the way.

Early evening we will choose a camp spot for the night. If the weather allows we will select a camp with a view, maybe sheltered behind a rocky Tor, but we always have a plan B in case the great British weather has other ideas. Thankfully Dartmoor has plenty of stunning sheltered valleys we can choose from too!

We will spend the evening pitching out tents, cooking dinner and enjoying each other’s company. Cross your fingers for a beautiful sunset and a glimpse of the Milky Way!

Sunday (Day 3)

We often try to make day three a slightly shorter and easier day of hiking. Once the tents are down and the bags are packed we will slowly make our way down off the moors. We won’t hurry though – dartmoor is too beautiful to rush! Our final descent will be after lunch, leaving plenty of time for your journey home.

What's Included

The trip price includes

Three days of guided hiking.
A qualified and experienced female leader.
Support and advice before the trip to help you choose equipment and food.
Two nights of wild camping, supported by our staff.

The trip price does not include

Equipment – although we may be able to arrange the hire of camping equipment from the Gloucestershire Women’s Adventure Group (Love Her Wild) for a small donation – please email us to check.
Food or drink for the duration of your trip.
Car parking or transfers to the start or from the end points of your adventure. We encourage car sharing to reduce carbon emissions if you feel comfortable doing so.

Equipment

This is a backpacking adventure and we will carry all the kit we need as we hike.

You will need

All of the equipment listed on our hiking kit list.
All of the equipment listed on our camping kit list, including a water filter or other water treatment technique.
Two days of hiking food, including one breakfast, two lunches and one dinner. Please see our food lists for more ideas and guidance.
Spending money to treat yourself in case we come across any trailside cafes along the route.

You can find all our sample kit lists here, and detailed kit lists will be sent out by email after you have booked your adventure with us.

Booking terms and Conditions

Before booking your adventure with us please take a few minutes to read our Booking Terms and Conditions which you can find here.

Your trip leader is Rachel

“I adore Dartmoor. It’s the combination of the wilderness, the ancient remains that are scattered over the moors, and the delightful secret camping spots that make it so special. The fact that you can wild camp there legally makes it all the more perfect as a location for a weekend adventure.”

Find out more about Rachel.

“My wish is to stay like this, living quietly in the corner of nature.”�

— Claude Monet

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