About this walk

The Dartmoor Way is a waymarked 108 mile (173km) circular route all around the edges of Dartmoor.

It’s a relatively new trail compared to some others, which travels footpaths, by-ways and bridlepaths, passing through many of the villages and towns along the way, meaning it’s easy to break it up into easy do-able chunks.

It’s estimated that the entire Dartmoor Way could be travelled in about ten days, booking accommodation for overnight stays along the route.

The route is split into 10 sections with a further 2 making up the High Moor Link.

The sections mostly start and finish in the towns and villages that are located around the route enabling accommodation, shop, and hostelries to be accessed. The sections are all a distance that offer a comfortable day’s walking.

More detailed information and downloadable section maps, see Explore Dartmoor – Walk the Dartmoor Way.

The Dartmoor Way project was conceived back in 1999 with the aim of creating both cycling and walking routes around Dartmoor. A Steering Group was formed that comprised of representatives from the Dartmoor National Park Authority, local businesses and members of the cycling and walking communities.

This resulted in the both the cycling and walking routes being set up by 2002. The cycling route was waymarked, but funding restrictions meant the walking route was map and description only. The route also only circled the Northern half of Dartmoor as it was felt at that time that this offered the best of Dartmoor scenically.

The route remained in this form through to 2010 when a few members of the original steering group made the decision to re-launch and revitalize the routes. It was decided as well to completely circle the Dartmoor and use the original route that crossed the centre of the Moor to be incorporated as a ‘High Moor Link’ enabling 2 smaller circles to be undertaken or a figure of eight.