THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 185 



Bushwell Bridge. From here to where it merges in 

 the modern high road to Exford, the old road is 

 known as Hare Path. Hare Path or War Path is 

 its old name throughout its entire length, and the 

 name can be traced in many places. Crossing the 

 River Exe at Exford the track went on by Simonsbath 

 along the Challacombe road to Moles Chamber, 

 where some part of it can be traced in its original 

 condition — -a series of deep pack-horse tracks skirting 

 the hill-side — and so by Leeworthy Bridge to Barn- 

 staple, Redruth, and Falmouth. This was by far the 

 most important road in this part of England, but 

 even this was nothing but a track ; the Roman with 

 his well-made roads never penetrated to the wilds 

 of Exmoor. These old British trackways went 

 along the tops of the hills, probably for three reasons; 

 first, the tracks in the valleys were rocky in some 

 places, boggy in others, and involved frequent ford- 

 ing of the rivers. Those who remember the state of 

 the Bade Valley twenty years ago, before the land- 

 owners remade the paths, will easily appreciate this. 

 The Exe Valley was little, if anything, better before 

 the new road was made in 1824. Secondly, the 

 valleys being wooded, travellers were more likely to 

 be ambushed by robbers ; and, thirdly, in very early 

 times, the wooded valleys were infested with packs 

 of wolves, to which a string of pack-horses fall an 

 easy prey. 



There is one road over the moor which remains 

 unaltered, as it has been for an unknown number of 



