25th to 31st May 2014

JJ writes:

“This year’s walking tour has been in the back of my mind for several years, partly to do with my connection to Exeter and the West Country but also a love of the Devon countryside and a romantic attachment to Exmoor and Dartmoor. In fact I once thought of making it my home permanently.

I have always imagined crossing the Bristol Channel by boat and landing at Lynmouth and walking straight out onto the moor. When Phil Beer, who I met in my first folk club in Exeter many years ago, and our own Caz White suggested the rather mysterious Mariners’ Way, an old path that took seafarers from Bideford down to Dartmouth to pick up ship again, the idea of linking the moors and the seas came together.

We knew that we would have to come off the moors to find gigs in towns and villages and now the plans for this year’s walk are coming together.

There’ll be an Exmoor walk on the Sunday, followed by a beautiful walk along the River Torridge on Bank Holiday Monday, small theatres, great pubs, the Tarka Trail, gigs with special guests and a ceilidh session. As usual each evening will take on its own special character and each day for the first half of the walk, the brooding expanse of Dartmoor will get closer and closer.

The sea and land will play a part in this and you can join us for the gigs or the walks or both… and along with The Ramblers I will have new songs for the journey. It will be informal, inclusive, exhilarating and a lot of fun. Meet you there.” JJ