This is a lovely 3.5 mile dog friendly walk along the Hunter’s Path to Castle Drogo, with lovely views and lots of places for your dogs to explore. Click HERE for driving directions from Bowerland (less than 30 mins).
Directions:
Park up at the Castle Drogo carpark. Then follow signs for the Teign Valley estate – you will walk back up the drive. Then turn right, following signs for Hunters Path, down a flight of steps and through a small gate on to Piddledown Common. At the bottom of the steps you join Hunters Path – turn left following signs for Fingle Bridge.
Make sure you pass Sharp Tor on your right, a lovely place to stop for a minute to enjoy the view before continuing making sure you follow the signs for Fingle Bridge. You will eventually go through a small gate between granite posts (which is actually the Hunters Gate), then after approx 50 metres take the right-hand path and head downwards still following signs for Fingle Bridge.
Fingle Bridge
At the bottom of the path you join the road to Fingle Bridge. At this point turn right and walk along the road to the bridge. You will need to make sure your dog is on a lead at this point. You may want to stop at the meadows if you have brought your own refreshments. If not, the Fingle Bridge Inn is right next to the bridge.
There are two ways you can go at this point, I normally follow Fishermans Path (which is the path before you cross the bridge on the right). Both routes follow the river all the way back through the gorge. You need to ascend and descend the base of Sharp Tor. The hydroelectric plant is on the opposite side of the river, If you look up you will see Piddledown Common above you and you might just catch a glimpse of the castle above the trees.
You will pass the end of the Drogo Weir, which was built in 1928 to serve the hydroelectric plant downstream. This is spectacular, especially if the river is high.
To return
Go to the end of the suspension bridge and then turn left and then right, following signs for Castle Drogo and the Two Moors Way. Follow this route until it joins a tarmac drive near Gibb House and Coombe. Follow the drive uphill. You will reach a wooden gate on the right-hand side of the drive between some very large beech trees. Make sure you turn right and go through it following signs for Hunters Path.
Continue along Hunters Path, passing below the castle and looking back down the valley you have walked through. You will recognise where you are when you reach the bottom of a set of steps. Climb these steps and return up the castle drive back to the main car park.
We hope you enjoy this beautiful walk. Read more of our Wednesday Walks HERE. And see Devon Dog’s Calendar of Events HERE.
Come and stay with us in our cottage style apartments, right in the heart of Dartmoor, and try out our amazing Wednesday Walks for yourself.
Featured image by Derek Harper | CC BY-SA 2.0 | via Wikimedia Commons