Valley of the Rocks, Exmoor, England (Nathan Danks/Shutterstock)
Looking for some Great British adventure inspiration? You're in the right place. Here you'll get an independent, ad-free lowdown on Britain's top 50 adventure locations - the online yin to the paper yang of our Joyously Busy Great British Adventure Map.
Why Go To Exmoor?
Exmoor, a strong contender for Britain's most underrated national park, is straight out of the top drawer. Just some of the things you can do on Exmoor that you can't do anywhere else...
Drive the Atlantic Highway, stopping off to admire big cliffs, inacessible coast and views to Wales
Stargaze from one of Britain's darkest locations
Go surfing not far away on the fabled beaches of North Devon
Want to find out more? Read on for great photos, articles, videos, top tips and other content to fire up your adventure appetite. Got a question? Ask away.
Tell Me More
Straddling northern bits of Devon and Somerset, Exmoor is a mix of rocky river valleys, big dark cliffs dropping dramatically into the sea (well that's what cliffs do, generally), and the centrepiece of higher moorland that's enjoyably empty. Some of the 34 miles of coastline is so remote that it's only accessible by boat. Highest point: Dunkery Beacon (519m), a great hike. Other highlights include Foreland Point (good lighthouse), driving the Atlantic Highway, the night skies (it's Europe’s first International Dark Sky Reserve), and some great beaches. Or do it in style, get out there on horseback - possibly the best way to experience Exmoor.
Dunkery Beacon (Panoptic Motion/Shutterstock)
Exmoor's essential journey - surprise, surprise - is the South West Coast Path, which includes all of Exmoor's 37 miles of coastline, beginning (or ending) in Minehead. Here it is looking resplendent at Lynton...
Two other great routes pass through Exmoor:
The Atlantic Highway, a very picturesque driving route, even if it's sometimes a bit more Bristol Channel than Route 1.
Land's End - John O'Groats, the cycling / driving / walking route - there's no single official route, but many variations pass through the wilds of Exmoor and are all the better for it.
We’re not suggesting they’ve over-egged this, in any way whatsoever, but it is 12 bloody minutes long.
Getting To Exmoor, Maps & Guides
Getting there: 2 hrs by car from Bristol, 3.5 from London.
Travel times from where you are: See Exmoor on Google Maps.
Maps: Find the right Ordnance Survey maps and / or get a month's free subscription to their excellent OS Maps app.
Guidebooks: Bradt or the broader Lonely Planet Guide to Devon & Cornwall.
Walking route guidance: the South West Coast Path.
Tourist board: Visit Exmoor.
More Exmoor Adventure Inspiration
The Ordnance Survey's intro to Exmoor from their GetOutside blog is a great place to start, whilst this from the Telegraph is also a nice intro. Read about the Atlantic Highway, one of Rough Guides' 6 best British road trips, or The Great Outdoors magazine's piece on Exmoor as a good alternative to Dartmoor.
This from the Telegraph is for stargazers. On which note, here's Dunkery Beacon at night...
We enjoy a good spat as much as anyone, so an article entitled "The people of Exmoor are up in arms about a book by Liz Jones that portrays them as old, smelly, hairy and toothless" was always going to appeal.
And finally, here's a proper ad...
What Next?
Click here to see 49 other Great British adventure locations and tell us about your adventures, plans and suggestions for these pages.
Britain's Best Outdoorsy Bits... Mapped!
Liking what you see, but fancy keeping it old school with an actual paper map? Our Joyously Busy Great British Adventure Map features all of Britain's best outdoorsy bits (including the Top 50), plus some enjoyably random and vaguely useful stuff too. Available either as a 2-sided fold-out map or a framed wall map (office furniture and fake plants not included).
