Belstone Cleave and the Tors Pub

Belstone Cleave in early autumn - beautiful even if it's raining. Here's what Muttley thought in October 2009...





"It was one of those days - the humans weren't all that keen, but I asked in a nice high-pitched dog voice and they agreed. Don't know why they were relunctant - it stopped raining as soon as the walk took us to a bridge and ford. It's the River Taw here, though it's only a stream. There were loads of autumn berries on the trees, lichen dripping off everything - damp climate up on Dartmoor - one of the wettest in Devon. I got to sniff around in the bracken and fetch sticks. They played pooh sticks on the bridge and splashed in puddles. We all walked down the valley, alongside the river. We could have made it all the way to Sticklepath, another Devon village with a dog-friendly pub. But some of the shorter legs didn't want to walk that far.



I didn't meet any other dogs today, except when we got back. There were a couple of dogs and walkers in the pub where we had lunch - The Tors. The humans at the bar perked up when they read a notice about 50 different kinds of whiskers - you'd have thought one would be enough for anyone - dog or human. And I tell you, it looked more like what I leave behind on lamposts...

Good walk though, and the sun came out in the afternoon. I sniffed the circular walls of the old pound in Belstone village, where stray dogs used to wait for their owners - but that must have been before they turned it into a garden. No scents now - just flowers. There was a tree in the middle. I tried to sign it but to be honest I'd exhausted supplies by then. The humans tried out the ancient stocks - talking about rotten eggs. I thought it was only dogs that liked those sorts of smells, but apparently not..."


Belstone is about 13 miles from the cottage and lodges. Park in the carpark at the edge of the village. This is an out and back Devon dog walk along the beginnings of the River Taw, but you don't have to retrace your steps exactly - you're in open access country on the edge of Dartmoor. OS Explorer map 113 or OL28. Watch out for livestock.

The Tors Hotel, Belstone, NR Okehampton, Devon, EX20 1QZ
01837 840689.


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