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From Postbridge this is a relatively easy walk, taking you into the heart of the wilderness of Dartmoor.
Distance 4 miles (6.4km)
Minimum time 2hrs
Ascent/gradient 360ft (110m)
Level of difficulty Easy
Paths Drift lane and narrow rocky or grassy paths, 2 stiles
Landscape Flat-bottomed river valley and undulating open moorland
Suggested map aqua3 OS Outdoor Leisure 28 Dartmoor
Start/finish SX 646788
Dog friendliness Dogs can run free on moor, but should be under control
Parking Dartmoor National Park car park, Postbridge (honesty box)
Public toilets At car park
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1 Leave the car park by the information centre on the right, and follow the path through the bank. It veers right towards the open moor through a broad, marshy area - an old drift lane, used originally for driving livestock up from the farmland to summer pasture on the moor. Many are still used at the annual pony drifts each autumn, but this one has been blocked by early 20th-century newtake walls. The lane ends at a gate by a line of beech trees and a granite wall. Go through and follow the track uphill to run alongside a wire fence/wall on the right. Just below, towards the river, is the site of Roundy Park, a Bronze Age enclosure with a restored kist (grave), dating from around 4,000 years ago. There are lovely views over the river to Hartland Tor.
2 The footpath crosses two brooks (Braddon Lake) on easy stepping stones, then runs uphill to a stile in the wall ahead. Cross the stile and follow the path along the course of a disused, overgrown leat on the left, which you can see running along the contours of the hill when you look back over the stile. The path turns north to run above the East Dart River as the valley becomes narrower, with glorious views downriver towards Bellever Forest.
3 A stile brings you closer to the river, and onto a level marshy area. At this point you really do feel as if you are in the heart of the wilderness. On the other side of the East Dart here, near where Winney's Down Brook joins, are the circular remains of a beehive hut. These were built by tinners as somewhere to hide their tools. Keep near to the river - you will soon find the leat again - and follow it as it bends round sharp left. At this point you will see deep pools of crystal-clear water, and a broad grassy area, just perfect for a picnic.
4 Walk on a little further upstream. The river rushes faster here, tumbling over rocks, and you meet a stile. You can go on further upstream if you wish, but the path becomes indistinct and difficult. Turn back at this point and take the path ahead (not by the river) that runs around the bottom of the hillslope right. This will bring you back to the next stile and the path home to Postbridge.
Most visitors to Dartmoor will, at some point, drive right across the moor, and so can't fail to follow the old route via Postbridge. Situated at a natural stopping place half-way across the moor, there has been a ford and clapper bridge (now restored) over the East Dart River here for centuries. The first written reference to the bridge was in 1675, but it was probably built 300 years earlier. The banks of the river here are very popular with picnickers, but there's a much more attractive and quieter picnic spot just an hour's walk away upriver.
Postbridge developed after the Moretonhampstead to Tavistock toll road was constructed in the late 18th century. The toll house here is recorded as taking £100 per annum in the 1820s, whereas that at Princetown took only £20, emphasising Postbridge's importance on the main route across Dartmoor. There was an inn, the Greyhound, here in the late 18th century, but that had turned into a farm by the end of the 19th century and the Temperance Inn (now the East Dart Hotel) was built to replace it. It's strange to think that originally no alcoholic drink was available here - a potential disaster for today's thirsty walkers!
The Lydgate House Hotel is signposted off the B3212 near the bridge and serves excellent cream teas. The East Dart Hotel is a free house with a good range of food and offering accommodation. There's a beer garden and families are welcome. There's also a post office and stores here, and a small petrol station.
Moorland walks such as this are frequently accompanied by the warbling song of the skylark in late spring and summer. This attractive little brown bird (barely 7in/18cm) rises almost vertically and hovers several hundred feet above the ground, from where it will entertain you with its unmistakable song. Nesting in grassy tussocks at ground level, the skylark is actually Britain's most widely breeding species of bird.
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