Day 11 Dartmoor National Park

From Bristol, we needed to pick up a rental car from the airport and had to leave the hotel at 9:00 am. Once arriving at the airport, we then had to take another bus to the rental car lot to get to Hertz.

Chris was a bit nervous about driving on the other side of the road in a manual car and shifting with his left hand. Turns out he is awesome at that too.

We stopped for a few groceries, snacks, and lunch items. Let's just say, the lunch we bought for Kristen was not her favorite.

We stopped in a small village called Chagford for lunch.

I should have just bought her this sandwich.

 

Once we got off the “A” roads, some of the roads were just scary. The roads were so narrow and often only wide enough for one car. If another car was coming at you, you either had to back up or hope there was a small pull out spot.

And going through the small villages was no different. The roads were narrow with cars parked along the street and if you met oncoming traffic one of you was going to need to back up.

When asking for directions to the National Park (because Chris couldn't believe that the road into the park was actually one lane), one of the locals that we talked to said, “There’s no shame in backing up.”

So we continued on to the Dartmoor National Park on these one-lane roads. Once we arrived, we were excited to see the “wildlife”: sheep and horses. We were also hoping to see some highland cows but were not so lucky.

We hiked in Bellever for 2 km up to Bellever Tor. Not quite like Rocky Mountain National Park, but still a beautiful part of the world.

As we reached the top of the Tor, Kristen found a small container that held a My Little Pony notebook and stamp. A young girl had left the notebook on her birthday and asked people to sign the book as they reached the top of the Tor.

There was so much that I wanted to take pictures of as we were driving along, and often asked Chris to stop. Due to the narrowness of the road, I had to run up the road about a 1/4 mile to take pics of a barn, goats, and a bridge.

As I got closer, I was surprised to find the most adorable ponies that were maybe two feet tall.

It was starting to rain and time to start for the Airbnb about two and a half hours away. We stayed at #3 Waterloo—Honeysuckle Cottage in Fairford.

Chris and Kristen stayed up to watch the new Obi Wan Star Wars series.

 

I was starting to feel not so great. As much as I tried to tell myself I wasn’t getting sick, I couldn’t deny it. I fell asleep around 11 pm.