I have always wanted to swim at Sandy Hole on the East Dart, and today I got my chance. Judy led the way as a group of us set off from the car park at Postbridge. The surroundings grew gradually wilder, in sepia hues, as we hiked out onto the High Moor. At the top of Broad Down the 360 degree views were spectacular. We could see the East Dart below, and in the far distance the little gorge that is Sandy Hole Pass. The perfectly round pool is downstream of the pass, and was created by either people cutting peat or by tinners. As we got in our feet sank into silky smooth mud, and we were surrounded by black earthy walls, topped with grasses and occasionally fringed with minty green reeds. The sky was vast above us. I loved the feeling of the mud and rubbed some of it into my skin. I'm definitely going to head back there in the summer for a full Dartmoor mud treatment.
2 comments:
It has none of the hallmarks of being associated with tin mining: costean pits up the hillside would be there as sure as eggs is eggs and the whole 'pass' has none of the paraphernalia of tin streaming. I suspect peat cutting.
Ah - thank you -
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