ONE Gulworthy man and his dog recently walked an arduous off-road journey from Exeter to home – carrying a letter from the Dean of Exeter. Drummond Challis and his dog Meg completed the walk from Exeter Cathedral to Gulworthy with a blessing from the Dean, Jonathon Meyrick. St Paul's Church in Gulworthy needs between £40,000 and £50,000 to replace its roof and Mr Challis went to Exeter to accept a blessing from the Dean in order for the work to go ahead. To raise money for the fund, Mr Challis decided to attempt the walk along ancient paths used by monks and priests when they needed to go from Exeter to Tavistock. He spent two nights sleeping in a weatherproof sleeping bag in any place offering shelter but on the second night heavy rain struck so man and dog shared the shelter. The next morning when the pair woke they found the sleeping bag had proved its weight in gold when they saw a moorland stream had risen overnight to within three feet of them. Mr Challis and Meg returned home safe three days later after walking around 80 miles. Gulworthy churchwarden Ted Deacon said: 'Our congratulations and thanks to Drummond Challis for conceiving the idea and putting it into practice, to Liz, as always, for her background support and encouragement and not forgetting the important part played by Meg as his travelling companion.' Mr Challis has currently raised more than £2,000, but more is expected.
