Dogs are requested to be kept on a lead through the Estate and for the remainder of the walk as it crosses farmland where there are normally livestock.
The path you will now follow is part of the 'Mariner's Way' - the route between Bideford and Dartmouth which, according to legend, was used by sailors to transfer between ships in the two ports. Most of the Mariner's Way is not defined, but here it forms part of the Two Moors Way, an 103-mile long-distance footpath between Lynmouth and Ivybridge.
As you walk through Heathercombe you will see extensive planting of native broadleaved trees (oak, birch, rowan, hazel etc. - in tubes - and a diverse range of conifer species (not in tubes) such as Coast Redwood, Western Red Cedar, Noble Fir and Japanese Red Cedar. These are replacing the larch plantations that became infected by the fungal disease Phytophora Ramorum and also the fir and spruce plantations that suffered extensively from windblow as a result of the felling of the larch plantations.
We would like to thank the owners of the Heathercombe Estate for allowing us to place this cache.