Active Dartmoor project gathers speed

18th October 2011

Categories: Latest News

Get an endorphin high on Dartmoor

If it's a faster pace of life you're after, a rush of adrenaline, get on your bike and get cycling, run, hike, yomp, and climb. Not enough? Canoe some of the best water in the UK on the River Dart, take in the moor on horseback and challenge yourself. Take a look at our guide to wild Dartmoor, enjoy the outdoors for free, swim in fresh cold waters and sleep out under the stars. Visit castles and ruins, go letterboxing, take a master class, go to the zoo, swim al fresco. Thought morris dancing and snail racing had long since disappeared? It's all part of what makes Dartmoor real.

2,040ft is the height at which you will be standing when you have climbed High Willhays. The most elite military force in the world uses Dartmoor as its training ground; that's a pretty high standard and one we like to keep. The Dartmoor landscape is simply breathtaking, whether you are experiencing it from a horse, your trusty bike, in a boat or on foot, with friends, on your own or with family in tow. Dartmoor spans over 368 square miles of adventure activity.

Getting people active on Dartmoor is something the official tourism organization for Dartmoor, the Dartmoor Partnership is trying to promote. The tourism body has gained help to raise the profile of Dartmoor as a centre for activity. It has joined forces with Edgemoor Publishing to embark upon the three year project, which will see exciting events, new websites, this magazine and a whole heap of passion to get Dartmoor on the activity map.

The project has already begun in earnest; part of that is Active Dartmoor magazine. The project is funded by Greater Dartmoor LEAF, as well as partners, The Duchy of Cornwall, Dartmoor National Park Authority and West Devon Borough Council and totals £130,000. And the aim; to give everyone of all shapes and sizes, ages and abilities, the tools with which to get active on Dartmoor.  The Dartmoor Partnership is managing the project, upgrading its current website www.dartmoor.co.uk and creating a fuller and more comprehensive and interactive facility.

Users will have access to interactive maps, walks, bike routes, and wild swimming spots, places to eat, drink, sleep and shop. The new updated website will be the next step, a mine of information for the general public, media and those who live on Dartmoor.

Further technology has already come about with the launch of the new Dartmoor iPhone app back in June.  It is a first for a tourism area in the South West and visitors will be able to receive information from the website, wherever they are, whenever they want, at the touch of an iPhone button, on the move, at home or standing at the top of a tor. Places to eat and stay, walking routes and things to do, visit and see as well as information will be available and bookings can be made direct. To download the Dartmoor iPhone app please click here.

So what are you waiting for? Go on, get out there. It's good for you!

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