Exmoor National Park, Somerset, England

Exmoor
conditions & visit score

Exmoor is England's smallest National Park but one of its most varied — heather moorland, wooded river valleys and dramatic coastal combes. Ground conditions vary enormously between the high moor and the sheltered valleys. RambleMetric shows you the full picture.

🏔️ Exmoor National Park
🏔️Ground conditions
💧River levels
🚌Live transport
🍃Air quality
⚠️ Open heather moorland — boggy in valleys, exposed on high ridges, sudden sea mist

About Exmoor

Plan your visit with confidence

RambleMetric is a real-time conditions app built for inland walkers. It combines live weather, ground moisture, mud risk, visibility and path conditions into a single Visit Score — so you can see at a glance whether today is a good day to explore Exmoor's heather moorland and wooded combes.

Exmoor is open heather moorland and wooded valley terrain. Sea mist from the Bristol Channel can reduce visibility to near zero on the high moor with little warning. Boggy sections are year-round hazards. Data shown is gathered from third-party sources and may not reflect current on-the-ground conditions.

Protected Area
🏔️
Exmoor National Park
Exmoor National Park Authority
📅
Designated
1954
🌐

Activities & Tours

Things to do near Exmoor

Powered by GetYourGuide

Walking Routes

Suggested walks at Exmoor

Check the live Visit Score before you set out — conditions here change fast.

Moderate 7 km 2–3 hrs
Classic — Dunkery Beacon

Dunkery Gate to Dunkery Beacon (519 m) — broad heather path across open moorland. Easy to follow in good visibility; disorienting in sea mist. Bronze Age cairns at the summit.

Easy 8.5 km 2.5–3 hrs
Easy — Tarr Steps Circuit

Riverside walk through ancient oak woodland to the 17-span medieval clapper bridge. Check the River Barle level before setting out — the bridge floods in high water and the ford upstream can be knee-deep.

Key Features

What to see at Exmoor

⛰️
Dunkery Beacon

Exmoor's highest point at 519 m — capped by Bronze Age cairns. Views extend to the Welsh mountains, Dartmoor and, in exceptional conditions, Snowdonia.

🌉
Tarr Steps

One of England's finest prehistoric clapper bridges — 17 spans of flat limestone across the River Barle. Thought to be Bronze Age. Check river level before crossing.

🐐
Valley of Rocks

A dry valley above Lynton with a wild herd of feral goats — descended from domestic stock left wild for centuries. Castellated rock tors overlook the Bristol Channel.

🌊
Watersmeet

National Trust gorge where the East Lyn River and Hoaroak Water meet in dramatic oak woodland. A Victorian fishing lodge serves as a tea room. One of Exmoor's most visited beauty spots.

Live Data

What RambleMetric monitors here

All data is fetched from authoritative UK sources and recalculated every few minutes.

🌤
Weather & Wind
Open-Meteo · hourly
🏔️
Ground Conditions
Open-Meteo LSM · hourly
💧
River Levels
EA Hydrology API · live
🚌
Live Transport
TransportAPI · NaPTAN
🍃
Air Quality & Pollen
Open-Meteo AQ
⚠️
Flood Alerts
Environment Agency · live

Safety Information

Before you go

⛑️ Important safety notes

Always carry a map and compass on the open moor. Sea mist from the Bristol Channel can arrive rapidly and dramatically reduce visibility. Valley paths along the Barle and Exe can be impassable when rivers are high. Red deer are present year-round — keep dogs on leads. Exmoor ponies are semi-wild — do not feed them.

All data, scores and recommendations are for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as the sole basis for safety decisions. The Visit Score is an algorithmic estimate — it is not a substitute for your own judgement, local knowledge, or official guidance.

Explore More

Ready to check conditions?

Exmoor — live Visit Score

Free, no account needed, works on any device. Get your live score in seconds.