Incident number 1142
Date: 18.06.25
Site: 1st incident at watched.calibrate.behave on the PROW adjacent to Pickedstones Farm in
Exmoor National Park, approximately 3 miles SE of Simonsbath. .
2nd incident at jeering.cases.gambles on the same footpath but approximately 1/2 mile closer to Simonsbath.
2 walkers, no dog.
Description: “We were walking a loop path from Simonsbath along the River Barle (the Two Moors Way) then up onto the ridge to the North for the return journey to Simonsbath. The route is described in ‘Exmoor and the Quantocks’ – Outstanding Circular Walks. Pub. Ordnance Survey 2022. ISBN 978-0-319-09011-4.”
1st incident – “We arrived at a gate. The other side of the gate was a large herd of Friesian cows with calves at foot and a Charolais bull. No warning signs, no mitigation, no diversion offered. I entered the field carrying my ‘cow-stick'(my wife is very cautious around cattle, having seen many severe injuries and deaths caused by cattle whilst working in intensive care in Nottingham.) I have some experience handling cattle. I walked calmly toward the herd holding the stick out to the side and speaking. Often this will cause a herd to move aside and clear a path. On this occasion they grouped together facing me with the bull in the centre of the group. Not advancing but not retreating either. It was clear they would not let us pass. There was a gate to my right into an adjacent field (what 3 words: polygraph.penned.frost) which we passed through (thus leaving the PROW), and crossed the adjacent field keeping parallel to the PROW but the other side of the field boundary. We then climbed over the double fence, back onto the PROW at compounds.catapult.channel, which was beyond the boundary of the cattle-containing field. My wife was scratched all over by waist-deep brambles and barbed wire making this diversion. If we had not diverted around the cattle, we would have had to retrace our steps (approximately 6-7 miles from this point) turning a relatively easy 8 mile walk into a 13-14 mile hike for which we were not provisioned or prepared.”
“After tending to my wife’s wounds, we proceeded along the path in the direction of Simonsbath.”
2nd incident – “after approximately 1/2 mile a very similar situation presented itself. The path was blocked by approximately 200 head of mixed cows with calves at foot and another Charolais bull. ( The above photo is of the connecting gateway to the other herd but my priority was to get us to safety not to get a good image) This time the cattle were very belligerent – grouping together, bellowing and agitated. Again there was a potential ‘escape’ gate into another field where we could have diverted (at ringside.passages.briefing) but, unfortunately, this gate was also open and the field to which it led contained the other half of the herd. Thus we were faced with a very large, agitated herd containing cows, calves and a bull, which had been split either side of the path.”
“Even my cow herding skills were no match for this situation. Again there were no warning signs, no mitigation and no diversion offered. We therefore abandoned our walk and headed down the hill to our left which has a 1:1 gradient and drops down to the Two Moors Way which we headed out on.”
“Later the same day I spoke to a local business owner in Lynton about our experience – he knows the area well and has walked the path we were on many times. He has also attended many Exmoor national park meetings and events. He tells me that the farmers in the Simonsbath area are generally very anti-tourism and actively discourage use of the paths wherever possible. The location of the cattle we came across and the lack of mitigation (a short strand of electric fence could have completely solved the first incident and better planned fencing could have solved the second) certainly creates the impression that the cattle are being used to discourage use of PROWs which, of course, is illegal.“
Jerry comments. “Keep cattle and people apart! My wife was quite shaken by this because at one point it felt, to her, as if we were trapped between two herds. She was also scratched and bruised by our forced diversion. It stopped us proceeding with our planned route and made our walk longer than it should have been on a very hot day. “
Cattle Safety 