A FATHER who was paddling in a Dartmoor stream last weekend had the shock of his life when he realised the ‘boulder’ he was carrying was actually an unexploded bomb.

Jez Pilkington was building a dam for his dogs to paddle in when he was forced to tip-toe to the river bank while holding the unexploded bomb ‘as far away from my face’ as he could.

Having parked up at Holming Beam car park last Saturday, Jez and family followed the stream to find a spot for a picnic, with his dogs: ‘Ebb’ and ‘Flow’ – AKA Ebenezer and Florence – leading the way.

Jez said: ‘I’m a bit of a child really and always enjoy making a damn out of rocks and boulders on the river bed.’

While creating a shallow pond for the dogs to play in, Jez picked up a ‘boulder’ only to find it was ‘round rusty and bomb shaped.’

Jez said: ‘As soon as I realised, I tip-toed over to the riverbank holding it as far away from my face as possible.’

‘I know how stupid that sounds’ he added.

Unfortunately, after the 25lb bomb was put down, the family dogs assumed that this was a game of fetch, with the dogs running around the unexploded bomb in the hopes that they would be able play with it.

After realising what he had done, Jez and family picked up their entire pick-nick and headed back up-stream to eat away without the company of an unexploded bomb in their presence.

Jez added: ‘As soon as my wife Karen realised what it was, she screamed a profanity at me and we went on our way. ‘

Without any phone signal on the remote part of Dartmoor, Jez made contact with the police who met him at the spot the next morning.

A spokesman for the Royal Navy bomb disposal team confirmed that the bomb was a high explosive 25lb bomb from the Second World War. It had since been disposed of safely.