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Outside Magazine, May 2008

Dartmoor, England
Paddling, Fly-fishing, and Gin

By Jeremy Spencer


Dolomites, Italy | Loire Valley, France | Dartmoor, England | Kentucky | Kagoshima, Japan | Scottish Highlands

THE DRAW Dartmoor National Park is a 368-square-mile high moorland that's full of bogs and ghostly folklore—legend has it that the place inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. Less famous and more enticing are the park's rivers.
Strategies: The Hangover
1. PREPARE. Hangover symptoms are caused in part by a lack of thiamine (vitamin B1) in the brain, so take a B-complex vitamin before you go out. Glutathione supplements can also be of use. "They help the liver process toxins more effectively," says Santa Fe, New Mexico-based nutritionist Laurent Bannock.
2. GREASE UP. "Fatty foods grease the lining of the intestines," says Bannock. "The alcohol then takes longer to be absorbed." So load up before you drink, not after.
3. BURN YOUR TOAST. "The carbon that is found in charred toast filters impurities that develop during aging," says Bannock.
The River Dart sees Class III rapids in the winter (daylong guided kayak trips with Plymouth-based Spirit of Adventure, $70; spirit-of-adventure.com). In the spring, cast for wild brown trout on the Dart's tributaries and the Teign (guided day trips, $210; comeflyfishing.co.uk).

THE DRINK The secret to the success of England's original dry gin is no secret: Plymouth Gin has been made with granite-purified water from Dartmoor reservoirs since 1793. It's an incredibly smooth and balanced spirit—the choice of Churchill and FDR, Hitchcock and Ian Fleming. Add a splash of vermouth for the world's best martini ($36; plymouthgin.com).

THE RECOVERY Stay in Plymouth at the 150-year-old Chester House (doubles, $84; chesterplymouth.co.uk).



Next Page: Derby and Bourbon

Dolomites, Italy | Loire Valley, France | Dartmoor, England | Kentucky | Kagoshima, Japan | Scottish Highlands

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