Dog-friendly Princetown

Three and a half miles on the bed of the old Princetown railway to the flooded workings and ruined cottages at Foggintor Quarry, an hour and three quarters with 110 metres of gentle climbing on a firm stony trackbed and a short spur into the quarry itself. Start at the Princetown visitor centre car park and pick up the trackbed behind the village; the gradient is a railway gradient throughout, which makes this the easiest way onto the high moor for an older dog or a pushchair. It is open common all the way with sheep and ponies grazing beside the track and skylarks in the grass either side, so the lead rule from 1 March to 31 July applies, the quarry pool is deep and cold with sheer granite sides, and there is no other water on the route.

Six miles out and back across the high central moor on a clear stony track, three hours with 170 metres of climbing, past South Hessary Tor and the boundary stones to the medieval cross at Nun's Cross and the leat above Foxtor Mires. Start at the National Park visitor centre car park in Princetown, which is paid, large and the last reliable toilets and water tap before the moor; the route is a track all the way so it is navigable in mist when the surrounding moor is not. Dogs get miles of open running here, but this is working common with sheep, cattle and ponies everywhere and skylarks nesting in the grass, so a lead is required between 1 March and 31 July, the mire either side of the track will swallow a dog that wanders, and there is no clean water until the leat.