My favourite Wild Swimming Walk on Dartmoor

One of the questions I get asked the most often, is what is your favourite Wild Swimming Walk on Dartmoor? For anyone that has asked me this question on one of my guided wild swimming walks you will know already that it's one I struggle to answer! Not because I don't love so many places on Dartmoor but because this is the problem. With roughly 365 square kilometres of Dartmoor National Park to explore, there are so many places to love and so in this blog I will do my very best to answer the question!

Is the place I love the most the place I visit most often? If it is then I think Crazywell Pool would be one of my favourites, from where I live, the car park I normally go here from is one of the closest spots for me to get to. So when I'm having one of the those days where I just need to put my boots on and walk on the moor this is normally where I end up. For those that have been they will know the area surrounding Crazywell Pool is just beautiful, there is so much variety. From the sheltered woodland of Norsworthy Plantation to the open moorland where views stretch all the way to coast and over Burrator Reserviour. There are also the many tors, one of my favourites being the rugged terrain of Leather Tor, a nice easy scramble and such a beautiful place for a cup of tea. Devonport Leat, a manmade waterway built in the 1790's and used to bring drinking water to Plymouth, which traverses this landscape and runs just north of Crazywell Pool is also a stunning feature.

Crazywell Pool on a snowy winters day

Crazywell Pool itself is one of only a few very large pools on the moor, it's roughly 100 meters in length and so gives the opportunity for a really good swim. It is slightly hidden which, frustrating for those trying to find it, means it's also sometimes more sheltered than the surroundings, depending on the wind direction! It's atmospheric, has many Dartmoor myths and legends associated with it but is also peaceful and a lovely place to just be. I think this is part is why I find myself coming back time and time again. All that said is my favourite? I'm not sure.

Another place I absolutely love, in part because I don't get there as often is Tavy Cleave. I remember being aware of it for a while before I first visited, hearing about the beauty and knowing it sounded special. Despite that the first time I visited it truly took my breath away. Tavy Cleave is located in a remote area in the northwest of Dartmoor, accessed from a car park aptly called Lane End, it's not visible from the car park so it's treasures are hidden until you actually get there. It's a high sided valley, high on the river Tavy, with many features I first learnt about in Geography class at school.

A favourite day at Tavy Cleave with a dear friend

The path to reach it, once leaving the leat, is indistinct and runs through some boggy terrain, approaching from the other end if even more challenging navigationally, but despite some challenging terrain the whole 'Cleave' which is about 2km in length is just stunning, that first time I visited it took my breath away and to be honest it does so every time, it's one of those places that almost seems unreal it's so beautiful. And the water calls to you, there are multiple pools, some deeper than others along it's length, waterfalls, steps and beautiful slabs reaching out into the river, perfect for enjoying a picnic on. It took me a number of visits to explore the many pools and I now have my favourite and the one I take people to as it is deeper than the other pools and so gives you the opportunity for a bit more of a swim, it is also just below some Tors which add to the atmosphere of the place and the small waterfall at its top allows for plenty of fun. I think this one might be a favourite one to introduce other people to and certainly one I will never stop being grateful to visit.

Then there are the dipping spots, for my guided wild swimming walks I always make sure the swim spots are big enough for a group to get some swimming done if they want to, which sometimes means some of the dipping spots don't get featured. I have recently changed this with the addition of a dip in Black Tor Waterfalls to my summer Crazywell Pool Walks, but another dipping spot I love is Shavercombe Falls, this one I visited for the first time not long after the first lockdown, when the news reports suggested that Dartmoor was overrun with people and all the car parks were full. Despite this I decided to check out a small car park I knew and as I suspected it was empty, from here I headed out across the moor and didn't see another soul all day, my destination, Shavercombe Waterfalls, and wow was I in for a treat! As I approached there was very little to indicate that I was about to find anything, but I trusted my navigation skills, the map and the info from my research prior to going and when I arrived there was indeed, not only a pool, perfect for one or two people, but also a big waterfall running into it. Once I'd made my way down the bank it felt like I was in a world of my own, sitting in the cool water, looking out across the moor, the tension of the previous few months melted away. I've taken a few people there since and it really is a little gem.

Shavercombe Falls on a bespoke navigation course with some dipping

All that said, my favourite spot? It's always somewhere I've never been before, I love to explore and discover new places, I nearly always have a swimsuit with me and if I find water I find it very hard to resist getting in. The delight of finding a new spot, working out where the best place to get in is, exploring the depths of a pool and all the views out of it, this is the thing that brings me alive. Personally there is no better way to spend a day or even a few hours. Often the spot I set off to find isn't always the best one I find that day, it depends, but one thing that does stay consistent, I always want to know what's round the next corner.

So what's your favourite spot? Is there one you'd love to explore? What makes it favourite for you? Is it the place, the people you went with, something that happened on the way? For many that come out with me their favourite spot is yet to be discovered, but isn't that the joy of it?