20.5km/13 miles/9 hours
Ascent 520m/1700ft
Roger Butler finds moorland heaven on the Somerset/Devon border
THE LONELY and wild moors at the heart of Exmoor are known as The Chains, and their soggy reputation has been gained from a combination of heavy rainfall and poor drainage. A 19th-Century landowner once poured his fortune into ambitious plans to reclaim these hillsides but, thankfully, not much changed and, today you can wander – and sometimes wallow – in every direction along this county borderland.