We drove 40 minutes to the car park next to Bel Tor. From there we did a 9.5 mile circular walk that took in wooded river valleys and high moorland.
We walked to Ponsworthy, and a few miles further on we passed a farm and a number of dogs of various shapes and sizes ran out to follow us up the road.
At the top of the hill we heard shouting and whistling and we stopped and waited for the farmer to reach us. He came up the road, calling his dogs back and waving a stick around in an annoyed fashion.
“You don’t walk past someone’s farm and take their dogs with you! Hit them!”
We didn’t hit any of the dogs, and the angry farmer managed to round up all but one. When we carried on, following a footpath over the moor, the last dog followed us and stayed with us, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind, until we got to Widecombe-in-the-Moor. We went into the Old Inn for lunch and managed to shut the door behind us before the dog got in.
After lunch, we’d just left the pub when the farmer passed us in a tractor, the dog on the seat beside him.
We followed a logging trail through woods alongside the Webburn River back to Ponsworthy.
A notice on the gate when we left the trail informed us that we should have had a permit to walk on it.