Two Moors Way

Two Moors Way
The Two Moors Way at the point at which the path leaves, or joins, the Redlake Tramway track
Length 117 mi (188 km)
Location Devon & Somerset, England
Trailheads Wembury to Lynmouth
Use Hiking
Hiking details
Sights Dartmoor and Exmoor

The original Two Moors Way spans 102 miles from Ivybridge on the southern boundary of Dartmoor National Park to Lynmouth on the North Devon Coast in Exmoor National Park. If you wish to complete a Coast to Coast walk you can start at Wembury on the South Devon coast and follow the Erme-Plym trail to Ivybridge, adding around 15 miles.

Although there is one most widely used route, passing through (from south to north): WEMBURY (optional) - IVYBRIDGE - HOLNE - HAMELDOWN - CHAGFORD - DREWSTEIGNTON - MORCHARD BISHOP - WITHERIDGE - KNOWSTONE - HAWKRIDGE - WITHYPOOL - SIMONSBATH - LYNMOUTH, at Grid Reference SX 7036 7596 there is an alternative eastern route that leaves Dartmoor National Park and goes through Widecombe-on-the-Moor joining the main route again at Grid Reference SX 6811 8498.

The Two Moors Way – the brainchild of Joe Turner of the Two Moors Way Association – was officially opened on 29 May 1976. After Joe’s death in 2004 Dartmoor sculptor Peter Randall-Page created a testament to his work: two halves of an inscribed granite boulder now sit on the edge of Dartmoor and Exmoor, facing each other across 30 miles of rolling Mid Devon countryside.

In 2005 the Two Moors Way was linked with the Erme–Plym Trail from Ivybridge to Wembury on the south Devon coast to create a cross-county coast-to-coast route of over 115 miles.

In 2016, to mark the 40th anniversary of the original route, the Two Moors Way Association was reinvigorated to help promote the route, working in close partnership with Exmoor National Park, Dartmoor National Park and Devon County Council who are responsible for maintaining and managing the path.

The entire route is waymarked in each direction in most places, but it does cross wild moorland and remote countryside where the weather can change quickly. You should therefore carry the relevant maps and know how to read them – a compass is also strongly advisable. Allow for about 15 miles per day on the trail – though well-marked and mostly maintained, the going can be slow over the moor.

Maps

The following maps cover the route and show it clearly:

  • Harvey Two Moors Way map – 1;40,000 Ivybridge to Lynmouth (please note doesn’t include the Erme–Plym extension between Wembury and Ivybridge).
  • Yellow Publications – Zizag Series – 1:16,000 Ivybridge to Down St Mary, and Down St Mary to Lynmouth.
  • Ordnance Survey Landranger 1:50,000 180, 181, 191, 202
  • Ordnance Survey Explorer 1:25,000 9, 20, 28, 113, 114, 127

Guidebook

Published in 2015 by Sue Viccars for Cicerone Press. Information about local history, archaeology, geology and wildlife is spread throughout the directions which include OS mapping.

Intersecting paths

The Way intersects several other walking trails running through the moorlands:

References


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