Dartmeet and Clapper Bridge – Mel Tor loop from Dartmeet

Hiking trails & Routes

Widecombe In The Moor

Dartmeet and Clapper Bridge – Mel Tor loop from Dartmeet

Moderate

3.7

(19)

hikers

Dartmeet and Clapper Bridge – Mel Tor loop from Dartmeet

02:20

7.71km

220m

Hiking

Moderate hike. Good fitness required. Easily walkable paths. The starting point of the route is right next to a parking lot.

Last updated: November 2, 2026

Tips

Your route passes through a protected area

Please check local regulations for:

Dartmoor National Park

Waypoints

Start point

Parking

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1.77 km

Dartmeet and Clapper Bridge

Highlight • Natural Monument

Dartmeet is named as the meeting point of the two major tributaries of the Dart, the East Dart and West Dart rivers. This has been a crossing point for hundreds of years with the remains of an old clapper bridge near the current road bridge (built in 1792). It's a nice place to stop for a break before tackling the road climbs in either direction.

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2.52 km

Riverside Path Along the River in Dartmoor National Park

Highlight • Trail

Lovely to be so quiet so close to the car park. It's quieter the further you go.

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3.44 km

Wild Swimming Spot on the River in Dartmoor National Park

Highlight • River

Great place to cool down in the water. Not long swimming place, but great for feeling the power of the river safely. Might be different when its in spate.

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3.96 km

Rock Face in Dartmoor National Park

Highlight • Viewpoint

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4.17 km

Blackpool and the Salmon Leaps

Highlight • Beach

Details of this swimming spot can be found on wildswim.com/blackpool-and-the-salmon-leaps.
From where comes this description:
"Blackpool could also be known as Mini Wellsfoot as here again the river makes a sudden turn where an outcrop of more substantial rock has resisted erosion. At Wellsfoot that has produced the high cliff of sandstone amongst the eroded mudstones but at Blackpool, it is simply a less fractured intrusion of fine-grained granite into the coarse megacrystic granite.
The river tumbles along a stretch of rapids with small sluices and tiny pools before finding Blackpool with its beach of rounded pebbles like so many speckled granite eggs. The pool is modestly deep and provides a great workout if you chose to swim into the flow. On the Venford bank, the oak trees lean out over the water from the cliff but on the Poundsgate bank, there is a wide level space where the trees grow thickly and the ground is cut by abandoned river channels. "

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4.64 km

Waterfall in Dartmoor National Park

Highlight • Forest

it might be only six foot but it's a classic

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5.43 km

Mel Tor

Highlight • Viewpoint

Rising above the Dart Valley, Mel Tor sits at 1,135 feet (346 m) and offers fantastic views west, to Venford Reservoir and beyond. To the west, the wilds of Dartmoor unroll whilst the thick woodland around the River Dart whispers of all sorts of secrets in the valley.

You can scramble up Mel Tor's granite jumble with relative ease if you’re comfortable doing so and it’s not too windy. Like all of Dartmoor’s tors, the weather up here can be changeable and you might enjoy far-reaching views or, alternatively, not be able to see your hand in front of your face thanks to mist.

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