The A386 then heads northeast across the western fringe of Dartmoor past the village of Lydford to the A30 west of Okehampton.

It passes to the west of Okehampton to reach Hatherleigh, where the road joins the valley of the River Torridge.

It follows the valley to, Meeth, Merton, Great Torrington, Bideford and finally Appledore.

It originally ended at Bideford, and was extended north first to Northam and then to Appledore on the former route of the B3236.

In the north of Plymouth, the road was rebuilt in the 1970s to bypass the village of Crownhill.