Day 49: Black Dog to Okehampton

Distance: 18.7 miles
Time: 5 hrs 55 mins
Weather: Cloudy and warm, sunny intervals
Cumulative distance: 829.1 miles

A pleasant rural walk through Devon villages, successfully managing to avoid the rain.

After a hearty breakfast, I said farewell to my welcoming hosts (who kindly made a donation) and set off down the road. I soon joined the Two Moors Way, another long distance path, which links Dartmoor and Exmoor. The path took me across farmland and through wooded glades. At one point a herd of around thirty cows followed me across a field, so it was quite a relief to reach the kissing gate into the next field. The path passed through the sleepy village of Morchard Bishop, where a senior resident told me that rain was imminent.

Just outside Morchard Bishop, the path weaved its way through an alpaca farm. I'd never seen these animals at close quarters before, but they seemed oblivious to my presence.

I left the Two Moors and joined a series of minor roads which passed through some pretty Devon villages - Down St Mary, Zeal Monachorum and North Tawton - with thatched cottages and impressive floral displays.

The weather forecast had indicated scattered heavy rain showers and my Rain Alarm smartphone app (which brother in law Chris had alerted me to) showed that I was surrounded by rain clouds, but amazingly I managed to avoid them and postponed donning my waterproofs for at least another day.

I arrived early in Okehampton, so ate my packed lunch in the sun and visited the Tourist Information Centre. As I arrived at my B&B, dark clouds gathered and a few raindrops began to fall. Ali, the friendly owner, told me that a few other LEJOG  walkers had stayed here  in the last year and she had printed off their blogs. I read one with amazement - one guy had walked the route in 2012 in 40 days without any rest days and most of his journey was undertaken in the rain. Impressive.

I walked down the hill and opted to eat at Vines Pizzeria, which Ali had suggested. A pepperoni pizza and two Peronis later, I ventured back up the hill.