Great walk today in 3 inches of snow this morning above 250m asl. All in all
about 13 miles, taking in Great Kneeset (586m), High Willhays (621m) from
Meldon reservoir. Still some snow on north facing slopes at 1630 but the
strong April sun did its worse during the afternoon and ruined the full
cover. The morning was strange walking up to Sourton Tor (440m asl) in 3
inches of powder at 1000 AM, seeing green fields not far below and a blazing
April sun. I had full winter walking gear on and I was quite hot in that
sun, fortunately it went out soon as a band of snow showers came across.
Plenty of snow rollers, minor drifting and scouring. The other strange thing
was there was no ice or frozen ground even though the temperature was close
to freezing. I can only put this down to the warm ground, indeed under the
snow the moor was quite wet. Although April snow is reasonably common on
Dartmoor, I thought the snow quality was exceptional for the time of year,
shows how cold the air was.

Will (Haytor, Devon, 1017 feet asl)
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