So. December was the wettest in the UK for more than a century.
There’s a surprise. And, so far, this year hasn’t seen much change. It’s tipping it down yet again as I write. But there is only so much time stuck indoors that one can stand so yesterday we decided to brazen it out.
![Dartmoor 028 Wm[3]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Dartmoor-028-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C666&ssl=1)
Wheal Betsy
A former tin mine, the last standing engine house on Dartmoor.
It’s fair to say that with the wind hurling sheets of rain through the valleys, and in spite of my best intentions, most of the photographs were taken from inside the car. It was that miserable heavy drizzle which soaks you through in seconds.
![Dartmoor 035 Wm[3]](https://i2.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Dartmoor-035-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C666&ssl=1)
Bleak
![Dartmoor 036 Wm[3]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Dartmoor-036-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C666&ssl=1)
Bleaker still..
![Sheep 008 Wm[3]](https://i2.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Sheep-008-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C666&ssl=1)
The technicolour, if rather soggy, dream coat
![Dartmoor 029 Wm[7]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Dartmoor-029-Wm7.jpg?resize=1000%2C666&ssl=1)
White water at Dartmeet
In the centre of the moor we found a beautiful old stone pub with a cosy bar.. and just managed to bag the last free table. The first working Monday after the New Year I had expected everywhere to be deserted. Not a bit of it.
![Dartmoor 033 Wm[3]](https://i1.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Dartmoor-033-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C666&ssl=1)
![Dartmoor Ponies 004 Wm[3]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Dartmoor-Ponies-004-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C666&ssl=1)
“Oy, that’s my patch..”
![Dartmoor 034 Wm[3]](https://i2.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Dartmoor-034-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C666&ssl=1)
![Dartmoor 031 Wm[3]](https://i2.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Dartmoor-031-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C666&ssl=1)
Wild gorse in bloom already all over the moor
![Dartmoor 030 Wm[3]](https://i2.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Dartmoor-030-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C666&ssl=1)
Next time I reckon, a walk up there.
![Geese 005 Wm[3]](https://i2.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Geese-005-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C638&ssl=1)
Awwwww..
![Geese 006 Wm[3]](https://i1.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Geese-006-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C679&ssl=1)
“Hey mate, she’s got a camera.. “
![Geese 007 Wm[3]](https://i1.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Geese-007-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C701&ssl=1)
“She’ll be wanting to see my fine chest then..”
![Geese 008 Wm[3]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Geese-008-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C705&ssl=1)
“No chance. Mine, mine, MINE.”
![Geese 009 Wm[3]](https://i1.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Geese-009-Wm3.jpg?resize=1000%2C666&ssl=1)
Now that’s better.
pin it?
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Bleak and wet, yes, but your photographs are so atmospheric you make it look tempting
I love the wildness of Dartmoor. The low cloud makes it seem all the more mysterious.
You should have rung! I could have done with a break from the logistics of working out where all mum’s stuff is going to go…. Emmie Stobart. Lovely pics and, yes, it’s seriously bleak up here. Xx
Apologies. It was a spur of the moment thing.. decide and go. I thought it would be rather unfair to spring it on you at such short notice!
Bleak but, as everyone has said, hauntingly beautiful.
Wet and soggy, but wonderful pictures. Best seen from the car on a day like that. Still the ducks enjoyed it. The pub was a good idea, tramping over the moor in horizontal rain is not fun. You might disappear into a bog.
You can see from the pictures, particularly the one of the ponies, just how wet the ground is. Plenty of bogs to choose from.
We too decided we had to get out in the fresh air and headed for the Somerset Levels. It was bitterly cold and very wet and my photos were pathetic. Yours as usual are lovely and show how exquisite the moor is. Glad you found a pub-we had smoked salmon sandwiches and Christmas cake in a hide.
That sounds fun too, especially Christmas cake in the hide! I hope the Levels have escaped the flooding this time around.
Think I would have stayed in the car too! Lovely read, I always enjoy your posts …..ann
It’s a beautiful county we live in. I did better last year and will do better still this at getting out and about and enjoying it.
A raincoat and an umbrella should help…A very gorgeous part of the world, you really got some amazing landscapes.
We weren’t really dressed for the weather. I had boots but rapidly discovered they now have a hole!
I love your angry, windswept and dramatic photographs Jessica …… perfect weather for ducks !!! XXXX
We should have gone today instead.. The sun is shining! But sometimes dramatic weather makes for the best photos. I’d hoped for rays of sun shining out from the clouds, rainbows or something like that but didn’t see the sun at all 🙁
A great photo story, thank you, it made me smile – reminiscent of our recent holiday in that area. How wonderful to have such scenery on your doorstep,mat any time of the year.
You have some wonderful scenery on your doorstep too! The trouble is the proximity of it, and the coast too, makes visiting these places all too rare. There’s always another day, especially when you’re busy.
good to have a car to hold up in, not the weather for walking the moors, nice photos, as others have said full of atmosphere, hope you blew away the cobwebs and had a good pub lunch, Frances
At one time the clouds closed in completely and the rain turned torrential. There was nothing else for it but to stop in a car park and wait for it to go over. I’m glad we weren’t out there on foot at that moment! Like the islands though, when you get a good day there is absolutely nowhere better to be.
Wild, wet but still wonderful. I especially love the picture of the two birds each standing on one leg – that’s a classic! I suppose if we were birds, we’d understand!
I love that picture too. While I was focusing the camera one of the geese had both feet on the ground, then suddenly decided to lift one of them. I was lucky!
Love a duck! Gorgeous photos.
Thanks!
Your walk despite the rain looks wonderful, if we stayed in every time it rained in the UK we would hardly go out! Lovely enticing photos too.
It would limit things a bit for us wouldn’t it! The irony is, today has started out gloriously. I don’t suppose it will last.
Wild and wet ……………. but very beautiful. X
Dartmoor is lovely whatever the weather!
Oh, well done for getting out there Jessica! Love your diva camera-hogging feathered friends, that sequence made me chuckle. Don’t tell anybody, but we’ve had a couple of drier days… Ground still sodden but it reminded me that (crosses fingers) the rain won’t be permanent.
The weather forecast is actually looking a bit drier for a few days and sunny today. If only the ground would have a chance to dry out I might even get some gardening done before the next lot hits!
Stunning photos – thanks for sharing!
Thanks and welcome Archie!
The weather may be bleak but the colour that strikes through is amazing. Love the geese posing, cheeky things! x
Cheeky indeed! I suppose it’s their normal way of warning something off, making themselves look as big and scary as possible.
Another adventure for me from you. I love the sequence of the geese pair and dialogue. Thanks…again.
I do love geese, they always make me smile 🙂
You have to feel for thise poor animals. Is the post box so that they can write to the RSPCA?
There must be a lot of letters in there by now.
I adored this post even in the wet and soggy gray atmosphere….such a green and rich land….and I love the feathered antics…..
Today the sky is clear and blue.. And I’ve been stuck for the last two hours behind an overturned petrol lorry on the motorway. Isn’t it just typical!
Fab, just the thing after the festivities of the season x x
Not a single goose was eaten in the production of this post 🙂
Glorious photos Jess. It is powerful weather at present for sure x
It certainly is. I wonder if we’ll get the cold winter in the end. Thanks CT.
Despite the cold, wet and grey, your pictures have a wild, untamed beauty to them that is pleasing to see. Is picture number three the prison?
The fourth picture is, yes. Grim isn’t it?
Gosh it does look bleak. Love the geese photos especially the last one.
The last photo was a pure fluke, but I like it too. Thanks Annette.
Us too, here in Northern California. It’s rain rain rain… I’m sick of it. And snow in the mountains.
Love the geese. We stopped feeding the geese in the park cause we ran out of their food. But they know us so the sqwak and follow us . Some people are afraid of the geese, I guess because they are quite large. But, I’ve never minded them . Some people even carry a stick.. ( what is wrong with them) the people , not the geese.
They can be very aggressive. Having been bitten by a goose I can vouch for the fact that it does hurt! I was feeding it and it decided it wanted more. So do be careful, especially with the wild ones.
Good weather for geese and the well-wooled… And some fantastic from-the-inside-of-a-car photography 🙂
I often wonder how sheep feel about rain. They must get very heavy.
Dartmoor still looks special, even in the rain and the ducks are fabulous. Have a good gardening year in 2016.
Thanks Sue, you too. Looking forward to the garden becoming less like a bog!
Bleak but still beautiful! At least you found a good inn! Just loved those geese.xxx
Gorgeous aren’t they 🙂
Very atmospheric photos. I love the colour palette of greens, greys and rusts.
The ducks are very amusing, especially the synchronized one step!
Extremely cold here for the last 24 hours, but due to warm up by a dozen degrees by the weekend.
I’ve been wandering about on a closed motorway, where I’m currently stuck, and there is a definite chill in the air today. Not as cold as it is with you though!
Your weather matches ours here in the American PNW. I wish we had a cozy English pub to go to. Starbucks just doesn’t do the trick.
There’s usually a good pub somewhere to hand. The country ones are especially nice in winter. I take them for granted, I think, until I travel out of the UK!
Lovely lovely photos, not to mention the ducks, almost talking to you! I’m glad we are just back from our holidays so I can see your post on our big computer screen. Thanks for putting on your wellies and taking all those photos, great post.
Thanks Gerrie. I hope you went somewhere nice for your holiday, although anywhere is nice in Australia!
It can be so bleak on the moor at times but you have still managed to make it look wonderful. You found some good models too! Sarah x
They were making the most of the limelight weren’t they! It was the bleakness of the moor that I was hoping to capture, so atmospheric.
Despite the weather your pictures were lovely, thank you for sharing xx
Hi Anne, thanks. We have to make the most of whatever the weather throws at us down here, as you know!
We have had a better day, weather wise, here today, it was a joy to be able to go out in the garden for a while.
Oh, I envy you that. The garden is like a quagmire here. I was hoping for a few dry days but looking at the forecast again just now I see the rain spots have found their way back.
Dartmoor is hauntingly beautiful, and your photos (from inside the car? impressive!) are fabulous. I didn’t realize you’d broken such a long-standing record for precipitation! Well, I hope January will be a little drier and easier to navigate.
I was using a long lens, resting on the door frame, so I was able to bring things much closer than they were in reality. Although one of the ponies decided I might have food and stuck her head through the window after a while! Yes, apparently this last December was a record breaker.
Super atmospheric photos! And you even found an old stone building with a post box set into the wall – did you know that there is a group that has been cataloguing all the post boxes in Britain? I wonder if they have visited that one! It continues to be very wet here too – I am in serious need of some bright frosty days!!
The post box was way up on the moor and not too many houses around it either. I couldn’t see from the photo, even greatly expanded, how frequent the collection times are but I’m guessing not very!
I should think I’ll be able to walk back to England in March. We’ve also had over 120mm of rain so far this week in Sydney; can there be any water left in the oceans or is it all now in the sky? Well done for getting out and about despite it all; I’m hopeless in the rain. Love the geese narrative!
That sounds a lot for Sydney! I do wonder where all this water is coming from, as it seems to be everywhere in the world all at once! Even California is in line for some, which is great news for them. Glad you liked the geese, I thought of you as soon as I saw them.
Great pictures capturing the atmosphere, and amusing captions
There was plenty of atmosphere that day for sure. Thanks Derrick.
A day for hot chocolate and a warm blanket…I don’t think I could have been as brave as you. We are having a short reprieve from rain and it is wonderful to see the blue sky again, even if freezing temperatures are the price. More wet stuff headed our way, though.
We had a morning of sun, now back to the grey stuff. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted.
I didn’t even see the prison in the fog until I read the comments. Dartmoor looks just as I imagined it, but I’m glad to have accompanied you from my warm, dry house. I hope you get some relief soon from the incessant rain.
When these old stone buildings can be made cosy inside it’s lovely looking out at the wild country all around you, especially in this type of weather. All very well until you need to go out and get more wood!
It looks just the way it sounds in all those novels . . .
Exactly. I could have quite imagined the Hound of the Baskervilles appearing at any moment.
It’s a beautiful place in all weathers. Great photos, especially of postbox and show-off geese. We had torrential rain here yesterday – I’ve not experienced anything like it. The fields are so sodden that water gushed off onto the roads and they turned into streams. And we’re on porous chalk… Crazy. But, as where you are, the sun is shining today. Hurrah. Hope you’re no longer stuck on the motorway! x
We were stopped on the M5 for two and a half hours. Eventually our section of the queue was turned around and returned to Taunton down the northbound lane. As it turned out we got away lightly.. we found a pub, had lunch, and on returning to the fray found that people were still stuck on the motorway. Some for four hours apparently. Not good.
Beautiful – I love all your pictures and also the dartmoor.
Sigrun
Yes, it is beautiful up there. Similar to the wilds of Scotland in many ways. Not least the rain!
Bleak and soggy but gorgeous and the ducks are adorable. Foul weather and fowl?
Wish I’d thought of that as the title… fowl weather.
What a super selection of pictures Jessica. Personally I loved the one with the wall pillar box in it – I’ve emptied a few of these in my time but never one in such a beautiful spot. Great post! and I really admire your bravery in getting out there.
I bet the postman/woman sometimes wishes it wasn’t there. Especially if he braves the elements and finds it empty.
Your photos are stunning as always, Jessica. I really enjoyed the old engine house especially. I can’t believe you took these from a car, they are very impressive.
The roads were fairly quiet so we could stop pretty much where we liked mostly, although there were times when I was told to be quick taking the photo! The engine house was one we did have to get out for, it was down a hill and therefore not so easy to see from the road.
Fabulous geese images and they stand out against the grey winter surroundings. We went to Wales last week, I brought the camera but couldn’t hold it still in the high winds, though it was dry at least. Dartmoor looks beautiful.
The wind makes things very difficult, especially with it being so gusty. I hope you had a good time in Wales.
I don’t doubt that the seemingly endless rain is wearying but to my eyes the green landscape it leaves behind is glorious. I love the shots of the geese! We’re finally getting some wet weather of our own – but no geese.
So glad you’ve got some decent rain at last Kris. The fields are looking very green indeed around here!
I’m always comforted by the sight of a red post box embedded in a solid wall. Don’t know why.
I liked the pop of colour it gave to the photograph. I wonder what it’s like to have a postbox in your house. And would you ever get anything done in the garden if everyone felt obliged to stop and chat?
Oh, I do love when you get cabin fever! Such a lovely outing – despite the rain! Wonderful photos – the ponies are so cute. With all that space, did they really have to eat from the same small patch? Adorable!
I watched the ponies approaching each other from different directions, getting closer and closer until their noses touched. Had to be worth a snap. Thanks Anna!
Certainly very typical Dartmoor weather! xx
It does rain a lot, but on a clear day it is truly spectacular. Very boggy conditions for walking at the moment though.
I’ve enjoyed your photos taken during your time out on Dartmoor with very atmospheric compositions and the ones of the animals with commentary made me smile.
Thanks Linda. The moors up your way must look very similar at the moment and the reservoirs very full!
Lovely photographs. We ventured up on to the moor on Boxing day when we were down in Devon visiting my parents. It was dry but very windy and so mild, 13ºC at Hay Tor in December – the climate has gone mad!
It’s gone totally mad. Drifts of daffodils out all over Devon now! Hope you had a good Christmas down here.
You can feel the damp just looking at your beautiful pictures.
The fields on Dartmoor and around here are almost an electric green after all the rain.
My sister lives up on the edge of Dartmoor, in Belstone. I love it up there. Great pictures. And Happy New Year. Hope 2016 is good for you.
Thanks and you too Elizabeth. Take plenty of time for yourself.
Seems beautiful to me, not bleak at all. Enjoyed your photos very much, particularly the sheep and uh…geese? Ducks? The white ones. Looks like it was a fun excursion for a January Monday.
Geese. Sometimes bleakness holds its own beauty, the sight of cloud and rain rolling over a beautiful landscape does it for me. As long as I am under cover that it!
Such lovely and evocative landscape.
It is. Thanks Susie.
What a sodden, misty landscape, but the photos are exceptional!
I was relieved to hear you found a cozy pub. My first thought was that the scenery would be perfect for a cozy (indoor) lunch!
It’s just the thing to do on a day like that. I perhaps shouldn’t have been surprised that the pub was packed!
-oh and gorse does not look friendly….
Not even slightly! The ponies rub against it to scratch an itch, always makes me cringe.
So beautiful!! One of the stone walls has a red door in it. Is that for people? What is it?
It’s a post box Tammy, a place for people to leave mail to be collected.
It may be bleak and rainy but the inclement weather has given you the opportunity to capture some atmospheric photographs 🙂
We went up on the moor with just that aim in mind. I think the weather provided!
Fabulous photos Jessica. I’ve visited Dartmoor once on a cool and very wet day in July but it was still most memorable. Glad to read that you managed to find room at the inn.
The pub was a bit of a bolt hole it seemed.. full of wet walkers!
I love Dartmoor. As a child we used to stay in one of the gate houses to Saltram and I always loved the days we spent on the moor: picnics, ponies and swimming in the streams. With my children we’ve had many wonderful holidays staying at Sanders at Lettaford. Gorgeous photos, even in the mist and the rain.
Until we moved down here I’d never been to Dartmoor. The only experience of a moor I’d had was driving through Yorkshire or reading Wuthering Heights! It’s certainly been an eye opener, it really is beautiful up there isn’t it.
You have captured the essence there rd: Wild, Bleak but Beautiful.
Thanks Rick. We experienced all three in good measure.
photos taken in the rain/mist always turn out great…..and yours are stellar!!! sounds like a nice little getaway!
Thanks Steph!
Ha ha ha. Love the technicolor dream coat and the birds showing off. My mom has a goat that does the same thing–bring a camera and watch her pose! Thanks for the laugh and the gorgeous shots. :O)
Hi Colleen, thanks and welcome!
I love goats, well any animal with a bit of character to it, like the geese. Such fun to watch their antics.
Wild, wet, windy – but still very beautiful. Thanks for sharing your day out.
Much like the Lake District!
It may be wet but the photos are gorgeous. I was last in Dartmoor in 1988… time to go back!
They’ve got snow up there now, the pictures would be even more dramatic this week. Thanks Natalie.