Dog-friendly Dulverton

A full day of 12.5 miles, five to six hours, climbing out of Dulverton onto the ridges and moorland above the town and returning the whole length of the wooded Barle valley by the clapper bridge at Tarr Steps, with 480 metres of climbing on lane, moor track and a long rooty riverside path. Start from the pay-and-display car park by Exmoor House in Dulverton, which has toilets and shops for supplies and is the only substantial parking in the town; there is no useful bus link along the route so it has to be walked as a loop. For a fit dog it is one of the best days on Exmoor, shaded and watered by the Barle for the entire second half, but the high ground is grazed by sheep and ponies, several field gates have narrow stiles beside them, and the riverside path is rocky enough underfoot to wear soft pads by the end.

Three quarters of a mile of level forest track beside the River Barle a mile above Dulverton, twenty-five minutes there and back with barely any climbing and a firm surface suitable for most wheels. Park in the small free layby at Marsh Bridge itself, which takes half a dozen cars on the lane between Dulverton and Winsford, or walk out from the town along the road for an extra mile in each direction. It is the gentlest dog walk on this side of Exmoor with shallow gravel-bottomed pools to stand in and no stiles or gates to lift a dog over, though the lane at the bridge is narrow with fast traffic and the fields across the river are grazed.