After what I can only expect were a series of particularly distressing events during and post pandemic lockdowns, the Dartmoor National Park Authority is proposing changes to its byelaws and to the wild camping map (areas where limited camping is allowed on the National Park).

I don’t pretend to understand how these things work, nor do I expect anybody to take any of my suggestions seriously, I do however quite enjoy the moor, and felt that rather than just ranting to my poor long suffering partner about what was happening, I would put into black and white (at least digitally) my meandering thoughts on the subject.

Camping by Taw Marsh

Apart from the flies - a wonderful experience 🤣

Disclaimer : Although I’ve been walking and photographing Dartmoor for over 40 years, I am no expert and I wouldn’t ever claim to know even a tiny bit of what goes on or how things work on the moor or in the corridors of the powers that oversee the moor.

These are my personal opinions and should be seen as such - like with any opinion, they should be ignored, or acted upon purely for their merits and not for any other reason, imagined or real.

When I originally jotted down my thoughts, they were rather more higgledy-piggledy and since editing them I realised I had but one (possibly) useful technical observation and I will add this as an addendum to my ramblings.

I guess it’s obvious from the proposed wording to the byelaws and the reduction of the wild camping area, that the Authority are seeking to discourage large groups of people congregating on the moor at any one time and making it more difficult for numerous small groups of people to camp close to where there is easier access to moorland.

If you look at the proposed new map, an extensive proportion of the area to be removed is within walking distance of easily accessible roads and if you follow the perceived logic of wanting to reduce disturbance, this makes perfect sense.

However, without wanting to seem pedantic, I would like to ask why other certain areas are included, and highlight why the phrase “amended from time to time after approval by the National Park Authority at a public meeting” needs to be considered as problematic.

I would like to ask why is Taw Marsh and the Scorhill area being excluded; surely it cannot be for the same reason as say, Bellever or the area around Merrivale? Both are infinitely more remote and difficult to access … or is it more representative of who knows whom?

I have no idea, and I only bring up this observation as I’m using a somewhat nefarious way to put my point across, and I therefore feel I shouldn’t necessarily need to follow expected protocols.

I’m more than happy to be told it is for very proper reasons.

Widgery Cross

Images included to alleviate expected tedium of reading all this 🤣

I do know I have camped at both these places this year and on both occasions the area was neither awash with ravers, nor people keen to burn down what few trees exist there.

Whilst camping near the North Teign River, we were joined (on a Friday evening in August) by a young lady who I presume lived locally and obviously regularly enjoyed time alone in the outdoors, and a gentleman and his two very young sons.

Each of us respected the others’ need for solitude and every one of these people was polite, friendly and left no mark on the environment.

If you remove these areas, apart from actually achieving nothing (I will return to this point shortly) you will be restricting easier access for those who appreciate the moor and are trying to pass along that respect.

Walls & Gates

I took this on my Birthday wild camp - I won’t be allowed here again 🙄

Being fully aware of the present byelaws I’ve always checked the map before venturing out to camp, and until the other day, I had never realised that an area I knew very, very well when I lived close by, isn’t even close to being within the present permitted area.

This was surprising to me, as it was regularly littered with camping detritus and on several occasions whole abandoned tents. I never saw anybody being asked to move, and it was always other hikers who were removing the mess.

This was years before the recent pandemic and I guess this is a situation repeated elsewhere on the moor.

Either way, the reduction of the actual area will have no effect whatsoever.

I would contest that any reduction is pointless considering I cannot find evidence of a single prosecution for breaking the bye laws already in place.

The vast majority of people I know who do camp regularly on Dartmoor, do so without leaving any mess and would continue to do so with or without new guidelines.

I also concede that I know enough local people who flout the rules on fires, camping overnight in car parks and fishing in the rivers.

Damage is caused primarily by idiots and those ignorant of how to interact with a natural environment.

It isn’t like the people who leave broken bottles, rubbish and excrement wouldn’t do these same things by a beach, or a canal close to a major city.

They are selfish morons who should of course be prosecuted or held to account where possible.

And, that’s where the problem lies - nobody will be prosecuted.

No cars here 😁

Luckily I avoid the crowds!

That’s not to say the vast majority of ‘locals’ who line the edges of barely navigable roads on the moor as soon as there is a smidgeon of snowfall aren’t as guilty of stupidity - but there is a distinct difference between wantonly destroying and absentmindedly ignoring.

The Authority seems to be proposing the same response as many governments have to increasing drug related issues - criminalise more people and then expect your employees to police the unpoliceable.

Education and sensible access is the only true resolution.

We could all sit on our little granite podiums feeling smug and waxing lyrical about how much more Dartmoor means to us than it possibly could to those horrid little oiks that turn up once in a while, or we can embrace the chance to increase the number of people who will actively care for, and encourage others to perpetuate that love for an environment that has (in many cases) become much more than a mere landscape to many.

Judgemental Cows

Annoyed I wanted to visit Great Links Tor 🤣

I’m not going to lie: I avoid the moor on weekends during the summer, I rarely visit the ‘usual’ areas.

I’m the first to smirk at those who “go to Dartmoor all the time” when this roughly translates as: park up, get out the deck chairs, and have a cup of tea and a hobnob.

I’d like to keep the moor completely to myself; it’s that part of human nature which keeps us all happy to be subjugated into perpetuating the status quo - because one day, we might make it to the top of the pile.

Can’t possibly share anything with people.

“It’s mine, my own. My Precious”

I’m what I guess a great deal of people would call a ‘hippy’; I’m not actually a hippy but I won’t shirk the label, as I for one am well aware that damage to places like Wistman’s Wood is not purely down to ignorant people, it’s equally a result of many who vehemently purport to be custodians of Nature.

I’m not going to pretend I’m not judgemental, I just want people to try and put aside their prejudices long enough to try and protect something which will be available (or not) to our ancestors long after we’re pushing up daisies!

We’re all aware of those hikers that you wander past.

You say hello.

They seem to revel in ignoring you - behold … The Dartmoor Snob!

Yes, it’s possible some people suffer from social anxiety so badly that they can’t acknowledge a polite greeting, but we all know in our hearts that a majority of them are actively behoving the horrid little commoners who walk on their beloved moor.

Black-a-Tor Copse

Admit it, who doesn’t want to keep this a secret?

What gives any of us the right to look down on others?

Having walked on the moor for over 40 years, I have perhaps seen a Ranger on two occasions.

Does the Authority have the funding for many many more Rangers?

I don’t work for the Authority; however, I have worked for and observed the workings of numerous larger organisations and though I wouldn’t want to put words into people's mouths whom I do not know, I would expect that you have not actually heard what your Rangers really believe about the whole situation.

Let’s presume that the vast majority of Rangers (the people who actually spend time on the moor, and who in essence police these policies) are outdoors people; that doesn’t naturally preclude them from enjoying socialising, but it's a fair guess they prefer their own company, and aren’t adept at serving large groups of rowdy people with fines.

As an aside, my research suggests that Rangers would not actually be allowed by law to impose fines - this would need to be done by a member of our already overstretched and underfunded Police Service. I think it’s a fair assumption that even if a Ranger decided to involve the Police in a situation, dispatching officers to walk (presumably in the dark) across uneven ground, many miles from the nearest Police Station is unlikely, if not improbable.

Rangers are not massively recompensed for their work.

Yes, you would have asked them what they think, but I can tell you, from experience, they have not told you what is honestly on their mind, because employees never do.

They have bills to pay and families to support and sometimes (as they say) towing a line is far easier than rocking the boat.

I can almost guarantee none of them actively enjoys confrontation.

If you have not already done so, you should ask for their anonymous suggestions.

Also the anonymous suggestions of those who everyday see the processes at work within your organisation, no matter how menial you consider their position.

Any large organisation has its problems, and having experienced the lack of communication within yours on a first hand basis, I’m assuming that the proposals haven’t been arrived at through anything like a truly democratic process.

Clouds on Little Mis

Maybe look at things from a different perspective 💚

We all like to think that we know best, but only the truly enlightened can acknowledge that we spend a great deal of our time hiding our heads in clouds of our own construction.

Sheep on Oke Tor

Always take a step back and consider what you think is everyday, is extraordinary to others.

There are children in our local cities who have never been onto the moor.

They have never seen a pony or sheep up close.

There are sometimes almost zero opportunities for them to do so.

There is almost zero public transport between the moor and our larger towns, and frankly none at all between villages.

I was a very lucky child: I grew up in a safe family environment with a policeman as a father, teaching me respect for people and rules, as well as a healthy ambivalence to those in authority.

My family had the opportunity to show me the moor, and to encourage me when I trained for The Ten Tors.

The Authority has the chance to educate and invigorate - rather than to legislate and stifle.

I’m not saying you have much choice in your proposed responses: nobody wants to pay for the world to be a better place, and everybody wants to keep hold of their jobs and any funding our so-called betters have deigned to allow them.

People will happily say how there should be more policing of the speed restrictions on the moor, that antisocial trouble makers should be fined, or thrown in prison, yet rarely do we see anybody offering to pay more taxes for these.

As the often (incorrectly attributed to Einstein) quoted maxim goes :

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

What is in place - does not work.

Extending and expanding what is in place will not work.

Hawthorn by The River Taw

Maybe there’s light on the horizon ☀

I’m well aware my thoughts may well fall upon the ears of those who have made up their minds and will perhaps only further exacerbate strongly held beliefs of others. I don’t apologise for this, I merely wanted to make a point of how things could be approached differently.

If the recent pandemic has taught us anything, it should be that we can be way more adaptable to change than we ever considered before.

Consider this …

Better public transport.

Better education.

Set up areas for campers who have no experience or desire to ‘wild camp’, or organise these with the help and co-operation of local land owners - you don’t have to charge a great deal for these areas, and I’m sure a small shop/educational/shower facility would more than recompense the cost of putting this in place.

Rangers could be on hand to explain the rules, offer advice on camping, places to visit.

Consider working with events groups to allow young people the chance to have fun outside - safely, without the need to drive to the middle of nowhere in hundreds of separate vehicles, in weather which (combined with certain illegal activities) puts their health and those of others at greater risk.

There’s a general reluctance to see things from another's perspective these days, with our media, politicians and the once democratically wonderful and now sordid and polarised internet advocating a increasingly selfish, narrow minded view of anything you choose to mention. Human nature makes this whole process easy to manipulate.

It’s not easy to be in charge of anything.

It’s not easy to change things.

Frankly, people in general are happy to go along with what the ‘boss’ says until it invariably means something happening in their backyard.

If it will help at all, I will happily volunteer if you need people to make Dartmoor a more progressive and inclusive place where people can put aside their petty differences in deference to a greater mutual cause.

I won’t be cowing down to some idea of privilege or entitlement over something which claims to be in favour of preserving something for the good of all when it appears that it might only be to the benefit of a few; however, I will freely give my time to a group that will protect and promote Dartmoor.

Split

… but still alive, and thriving … a lesson for all of us 😍

Perhaps then we could further apply that to tenet to our climate problems.

Addendum :

Here’s the only really important part of what I have to say - well, the bit that actually might be taken seriously …

On a purely legal basis the expression “Occupy” in Byelaw 5 (iii) needs to be removed (or adjusted) - the intent here is to stop people from sleeping overnight in vehicles.

To occupy a vehicle (as any policeman will tell you) does not overtly merely mean to sleep.

As the rule stands, it would suggest that if I drive to Dartmoor at 6am to have an early morning walk and it’s bucketing down if I sit in my car for any length of time … I will be ‘occupying’ a vehicle and therefore a fine could be imposed.

The wording needs to be clarified.

Unless, of course, the intention is as draconian as this word otherwise suggests.

Luckily we are also far from the situation in the US where a good percentage of local people have to live in their vehicles because they cannot afford accommodation, but the time is not too far off.

An Open Letter to Dartmoor National Park Authority …

Consider this …

Can I ask you a favour?

In The Mist