Gurney Slade to Bath

What a difference it makes with some nice weather. A really lovely send off for this trip, the countryside looked beautiful - still saturated, but beautiful. the Komoot summary here.

Leaving Gurney Slade  it was crisp with overnight frost and after the wet grey days before it was a joy to turn the corner and see this house lit by the morning sun

I'd revised the route in light of the previous days' experiences and followed the road for much of the morning. If you've read Simon Winchester's book The Map that Changed the World he says "...the roads on this part of Somerset were atrocious, thick with mud and as rough as the surface of the moon" - can't disagree too much with that..

Navigation on this trip has been more of a challenge than the SWCP, not only because of the lack of coast but also the signage on some of the paths is a bit sporadic. Nevertheless I can't blame that for my mis-routing in Midsomer Norton. I was sure I'd thought (incorrectly) that I'd been wrong only to discover I'd been right to start with (!) so had a circuitous route through the town. Consequently I saw nothing of the town centre and my planned coffee stop never happened. 

The name Midsomer refers to the river Somer and has no connection with the TV series, except that the writer thought it sounded quintessentially English. It used to have significant industries of coal mining and packaging (the largest producer of recyclable plastic bags in Europe until 2011). These have largely closed or moved elsewhere and there are business parks now on the outskirts. The town used to have two railway stations, on the GWR line and the Somerset & Dorset line - the latter closed in 1966 but is now being restored by the Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust.

However the best lines to come out of Midsomer are from the Wurzels (a Scrumpy & Western band). Who can forget "The Sheriff of Midsomer Norton", not to mention the chart-topping hit "The Combine Harvester". Sedge Moore, the bass player, was born here. More illustriously, maybe, Midsomer was immortalised in Flanders & Swan in The Slow Train ("No more will I go to Blandford Forum and Mortehoe, on the slow train from Midsomer Norton and Munby Road"). In a literary vein Roald Dahl used to sell kerosene door-to-door from his motor tanker and Evelyn Waugh spent boyhood summers here with his aunts.

Being on the edge of the Levels the town used to flood regularly, until 1977 when a relief tunnel was completed, running under the high street. There is a lovely Riverside Walk with very artistic fencing to celebrate it put up by the local council - I briefly chatted to a local who'd been out gathering wild garlic for his breakfast.The river was regenerated with new plant life during the summer of 2012 in a bid to improve the aesthetics of the town centre

I had a mix of road and paths after that and managed to go completely wrong, despite having a paper map and the OS map on my phone. Attention to detail 'Nul points'. Still the recovery route took me across a field where the sheep mistakenly greeted me as their provider: these pics are for Deb

Also through the village of Tunley and much needed lunch at the King William. 

Somewhat fortuitous since there hadn't been anywhere on my original route. From there I came back onto the Limestone Link, an attractive riverside ramble alongside the Cam Brook and although it was pretty soggy it was a tranquil valley that I'd like to do again. 

I saw some kind of hawk (too large for a kestrel, too small for a buzzard) and listened to woodpeckers, which I guess means the trees have dried out enough for it to be heard.

Leaving it for the climb up in to Combe Hay you get some idea of the valley looking back

 Combe Hay is astonishing coming after some of the run down villages before but I think that's because wealthy Bath is so close. Lovely old manor house, an old rectory whose recent additions must have doubled its size, some very well managed and large houses - all a bit too well maintained for my taste but impressive. Although a smart residential village now, Combe Hay used to be a major supplier of fullers earth from the local mines and one of the few caisson locks ever built was sited here on the Somerset coal canal.

From there up to South Stoke (renamed from Southstoke by the parish council in 2004) which is also on the old Somerset Coal Canal and just over the hill from Bath. Again a well presented collection of old buildings with a splendid view out over the valley

I was keen too make it on to Bath so neglected to call in to the Packhorse Inn. Dating from 1498 it was bought as a resource of community interest, refurbished and reopened in 2018. Definitely one for a visit later...

From there it's just over the hill and down into Bath. I'd been keen to get a photo of Bath from up here but had to do it from the middle of the road and dodge the traffic

You can just make out the Royal Terrace. It was a beautiful end to a challenging walk, with more than a few mis-routings and some cold dank weather to dampen my enthusiasm. I'm really pleased to have done it and linked Minehead to Bath - now I just need to complete the Cotswold Way, the Severn Way, the Staffordshire Way, the Peak District National Park and the Pennine Way and I'll have made it to Scotland. Seemples.

Street to Gurney Slade

Rained overnight and into a good part of the day, so not the most inspiring start. With gaiters you're pretty much secure but not totally:

Lovely somerset clay! I think I would actually have lost the boot if not for the gaiter strapped to it.
Komott summary here, just a solid 15 miles today and close to my planning estimate (tho still longer).


Although the hostel is nominally in Street (and the oldest still in operation) it's actually quite a hike down through the town so I decided to take a shortcut via a footpath across the field. Hence the photo above and the lesson for the day - use the road instead where possible.
Street is named after a 12th century causeway constructed to carry stone to Glastonbury to rebuildthe Abbey. It was famous, and is still the HQ, for Clark's shoes and the Clark family mansion is now owned by Millfield school. The company's sanatorium and convalescent home is now last night's youth hostel.

Didn't take long to see the Glastonbury Tor...

Glastonbury's actually smaller than Street and pretty much in the middle of the Somerset Levels. It's
a weird town and even the locals from nearby towns think it's strange. Of course there's all the stuff about Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail, King Arthur and all that. Everything's branded 'Tor' - even the kebab shop - and more shops of Myth, magic and crystals than you can shake a stick at (and the famous festival's not even particularly close to the town). It seems likely that the monks promoted the Arthurian legends when they claimed to have found the graves of Arthur and Guinevere in 1191. Quite coincidentally they had a financial crisis shortly before this after a large fire.....

There's an air of decrepitude coming in to Glastonbury, not least because of the awful state of the roads after all the rain and infrastructure neglect, but I have to admire its refusal to be like any other town. You won't find the high street chain stores here for example. In the town's marvellous toyshop I found this treehouse - I want one!

and this place looked amazing - The George Hotel and Pilgrims Inn, built in the 15th century and claimed to be the oldest purpose built public house in the South West. The panels above the door carry the arms of the Abbey and King Edward IV.

Feeling slightly delicate for the last couple of days so I elected not to have breakfast and pressed on. Didn't really miss it, actually.

I'd wanted to avoid the main A-roads so took the Long Drove over Queen's Sedge Moor. It's a dead straight 3.5km single track road with nothing happening and seemingly endless. There's a few of those in these parts

it's a mental challenge as much as a physical one - I tried hypnosis of a kind, tapping out a pattern with the poles. Still pretty tedious anyhow.

By this point I'd got fed up of taking pictures in the rain and gave up til quite near the end which was a shame because the villages of Dulcote and Dinder looked worth exploring. In particular Dinder enacts every 50 years the slaying of the Dinder Worm (dragon) which must be done by 'a left handed man of the cloth' or the dragon will return. However I didn't want to linger because it had taken me until 6 pm to get to the hostel the previous night and I didn't want a repeat.

From here on it was mostly road work, easy to keep the pace up but hard pounding on the feet. I had some respite nearing Gurney Slade as the view from Maesbury Castle, an old hill fort, back towards Glastonbury was pretty special - with the light of Avalon behind Glastonbury Tor

and so to Gurney Slade, on the main Weymouth to Bristol road. I'd had little food along the way (basically just nibbled at a flapjack) so the George was a welcome sight.

Gurney Slade gives its name to a TV series of the early 1960s. It's not immediately obvious that the large hill overlooking the town is in fact largely hollowed out - it's a quarry, supplying up to 2 Million Tonnes Per Annum of Limestone aggregate. 

So tomorrow the last leg into Bath. With today's experience I'll try and avoid the worst of the footpaths which means more road walking but I'll certainly try out the Limestone Link which looks interesting.

The forecast's quite promising too....

North Petherton to Street

Well, have I got these distances wrong - my estimated 13 miles turned out to be 18 😱. I have no idea what I did wrong but I'm expecting more of the same for the remaining 2 days. Hey ho, I'm kinda getting used to it. The Komoot summary here: https://www.komoot.com/tour/160159182?ref=wtd

It was a very soggy day with only brief respites from the rain. Slow start, the Thai effect not fully passed yet, but no point waiting so off into the rain. First up, the assault on the senses that's the M5

Don't like it any better than when I'm driving on it....

Still, it soon falls behind and all is squelchy silence.

A long walk through a commercial orchard: nothing much to occupy the mind except estimate the number of trees - typical accountant.

The town used to be pretty much surrounded by cider orchards in the 19th century.



In this one field alone I reckoned there must be upwards of 8-10,000 trees. Still, that's what Somerset's famous for - cider production I suppose

Then a long walk to one of the few crossing points over the Bridgwater and Taunton canal, over the railway and all the way down to the river Parrett.

There aren't many crossings of the river hereabouts so it's a long walk alongside the river which looked pretty high. I learned later that it's tidal (and a favourite place for fishing for elvers) which explains house names like Saltmoor farm.

The river crossing was at Burrowbridge, famous for its "Mump" a Norman motte reputedly used by Alfred now topped by a ruined church dating from the 15th Century. Just down the road, but unfortunately not on my route, is the Isle of Athelney where Alfred hid before gathering his forces to defeat the Danes at the battle of Edington in 878. A commemorative pitstop was required at the King Alfred pub and you can see how high the water is - less than a foot from the top of the arch. 

From there along the drove road but the livestock had got there first and churned it up pretty well so it was slow going. the picture doesn't do it justice. 

I remember at the start of the SWCP back in April 2018 I warbled on about the mud and its various types and consistencies so I guess I should have been prepared.

Although most of the cattle are indoors because of the weather the locals still find ways to celebrate them:

Fresians, I think?

then a 1km or so walk along the busy A361 to a crossing of the Kings Sedgemore Drain. The alternatives were more A-road or a 3km walk along the drain. I opted for the latter although not suprisingly a quagmire. Similar to a long walk on a shingle beach - knackering. But beautiful all the same. It's hard to convey the scale of these levels or the extent of the flooding

Start of the Sedgemore drain

Waterlogged

What wildlife there was had sensibly sheltered from the cold and wet, that is until I came by: various moorhens and mallards, even a snipe took flight. For the most part the fields were impromptu swanneries. The farmer I met said they stayed even after the fields dried out (which some never do) and "just ate a lot". He didn't like them but of course it's illegal to shoot them as the Crown has first dibs on that.

By now the rain had set in and I didn't feel like taking pictures, plus the enormity of the remaining distance had become apparent so I just looked down, got into a walking rhythm and waited for the distance to unravel.

Towards the end I could see the scale of the flood and storm damage. Although nothing like the Severn valley, Wales or Yorkshire it was still extensive, even though storms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge largely missed this area.

The various rivers and drains make travel a little difficult sometimes, with circuitous journeys to use the few crossings, and there's definitely a shortage of taxis so it took some time before I could recover the car and get back to the (youth!) hostel in Street.

Tomorrow I walk through Glastonbury to Gurney Slade, an estimated 14 miles but since that's the same as I estimated for today I'm expecting another long day. Should be a tad less wet though.

Crowcombe to North Petherton

For some reason I'd supposed today was going to be a gentle stroll of only 10 miles, not the 13 it turned out to be. I guess my map measuring skills are not up to much. Also, as they say in racing circles, the going was 'soft'. Narrow lanes previously visited by bikes, horses and cattle made for a good mulch but slowed my progress.

Despite a restorative bath I was still feeling the effects of a long day on Monday after a long time away from walking, so uphill straight away was not the easiest start. Enlivened though by some startled highland cattle ( no idea how they can see anything through that fringe)

and I was soon up onto the top of the Quantocks, with these amazing avenues of ancient trees

This is The Drove Road

I have been very lucky with the weather, though not for tomorrow I fear, and the views are of course stunning. There's no way to do justice to them but I've added one here anyway. this is looking roughly North but it's also possible to see clear to the Blackdown Hills and the Wellington Monument, Butlin's tents at Minehead, Exmoor of course, and Hinkley Point - with the world's biggest crane and lit up all night.

The hilltops here are very popular with walkers, bikers and the hunt so there are numerous tracks and it's very easy to pick the wrong one. I had to use OS maps online and paper plus a bit of compass work and accosting some strangers for information to make sure I stayed on course - I didn't want to make yesterday's mistake and retrace my steps again.

I'm very aware that there has been as much rain here as most places but the infamous Somerset Levels haven't reported any major floods this time around. Part of the answer is in the extensive work that has been done to slow the water run-off and this newly formed pond was an example: very sensible

The route started to get lower and the trees more sparse so although there were still some trails like this:

it became rather gentler and the woods smaller and thinner. So beautiful to walk through I forgot to keep track of the route and had to make a couple of small backtracks

By now I was really in the foothills of the Quantocks and the route was mostly farmland, with a few bits of wood

this particular view revealed a curious secret when I got there: a Country Dog Hotel and Spa

If I'd thought the going was easy from here on I was in for a surprise, with tracks like this

which could have been straight out of Geoffrey Household's Rogue Male (set, interestingly, in Dorset - near Symondsbury) and this

See my opening comments about soft going... It's like walking in snow with ordinary shoes. I was startled out of my musings by a 'hello' behind me. I'd heard nothing approaching so was doubly surprised when I turned to find a horse and rider on my tail! Clearly the going was quiet as well as soft.

The last section leading into North Petherton was down a lovely open (and later wooded) valley. I was adopted for about a mile by a very excitable but slightly camera shy dog

Although this was a straightforward route it had been very popular recently with the local cattle herd so I rather squelched my way into North Petherton reputedly the largest village in England and one of the few to have been lit (until 1931) by acetylene gas. This is the end of the Quantocks and the start of the Somerset Levels.

Tomorrow is across the Levels to Street - they're wet already, rain is forecast all day and I'm expecting it'll not be easy. But at least it isn't hilly...

Minehead to Crowcombe

Way longer than I'd wanted for a first day back on the trail but sooo  good to be walking again. 17 miles today when I'd been planning an average of 12 but I had to change accommodation at the last minute which added a bit and then I went down a dead end which added a bit more.... Komoot summary here: https://www.komoot.com/tour/115602584?ref=wtd
So this is the start of a project to carry on from the SWCP and head towards the
Scottish border (this year) and on to John O'Groats next year. That's a looong way and who knows how far I'll get but I'll give it a go - would be nice to do it before I'm 70 😁.

The weather driving down last night was pretty grim so I was delighted to see Minehead in the sunshine this morning. It was some distraction at least from the after effects of (I think) a Thai curry: all wind and fire, if you get my drift...

Surprisingly, the name Minehead has nothing to do with mining. It comes from the Welsh Mynydd meaning mountain.

There's a new England coastal path that's finished on this part of the coast so I could follow that past a very long line of beach houses

This section also runs close to Dunster Castle, home to the Luttrell family in the 1800s but there's been a castle here since normal times. It's now run by the National Trust 

It doesn't take long before the route starts to climb through waterlogged fields and woods. As Micawber might have said: height of shoe 4 inches, depth of puddle 5 inches, result misery. Well, wet feet anyway. 

The waterlogging has resulted in some landslips, not surprisingly, and I came upon this one suddenly. It was at least a mile from the roadside turn off and there was no way I was going back to get even wetter feet so I didn't have much option but to rather gingerly edge past it and carry on.

The route then comes down into Watchet, which is just a lovely little town, full of local stone-faced houses and small winding streets, and an extraordinary harbour-side mural (or Muriel, as my favourite malapropism would have it):

It was painted by a local amateur to celebrate carnivals and other local events, of which there are apparently quite a lot here. Watchet's particular claim to fame is to have been the inspiration for Coleridge's Ancient Mariner (after a walk with his friends William and Dorothy Wordsworth) and there's a commemorative statue on the harbour side.

The route passes through an old hill fort, used by Alfred the Great for a Burh to defend against viking raids. It developed into a substantial port and coins minted here have been found as far away as Copenhagen and Stockholm.

The harbour here is large and has been modified to create an extensive marina but sadly there's been some dispute over dredging the entrance so they can't now close the inside surge gates to protect against northerly storms

Watchet used to be an important centre for paper making, using wood from the nearby Quantock hills. At one time the local company was the largest manufacturer of paper bags in the UK. Sadly the factory closed in 1995.

There used to be two railway lines here, one from thee iron ore mines in the Brendon hills and the other on the West Somerset railway which was extended to Minehead in 1874. It is this one that remains, as a steam operated heritage tourist attraction - the West Somerset Heritage Railway

Crossing over the tracks, the normal route was again blocked after storm damage and I managed to avoid the proper route along the beach, opting instead for what turned out to be a cliff top cul de sac through a dilapidated and disused caravan park complete with grocers' apostrophe.

Retracing my steps added a good half mile or so as I opted not to tackle the rubble strewn beach but head off up the road. At least that took me past what must be the most creative driftwood house number sign I've seen

Just a guess but I think it's number 2. 

More road work through Doniford which was a wartime site for anti-aircraft practice, past its request-stop railway station, and then up into the Quantocks. I'd no idea what to expect and first impressions were just beautiful:

Too soon for any flowers but I'll bet its amazing when spring gets going.

Plenty more like this:

It's following the Coleridge Way which then links up with the Macmillan Way West - much to Gill's approval I'm sure. This was probably the loveliest section of the day, an enchanting stroll through beech woods alongside a picturesque stream, dappled sunlight and firm underfoot. 

I shared the climb with a very posh-sounding woman who'd been looking for her collie (we found it - hiding among the bracken). By the time we'd reached the top the terrain had changed completely. Now it was open moorland and this is the Quantocks proper

This is Hinckley Point in the distance

I was surprised by frequent encounters with passing 4x4s and quad bikes, obviously going to join in some event on the moor tops and then the reason became apparent:

this was the Quantock hunt, out to follow a trail dragged the previous day. Whatever my thoughts on fox-hunting, this certainly looked a better way to travel than shanks' pony. The Quantock is one of the few remaining stag hunts, although they now only use a dragged scent to follow. Officially, anyhow - there seems to be a loophole that allows a hunt if there are only two hounds.

By this time I was more than ready to stop walking for the day but stopped to admire the few trees that survive up here: quite dramatic

This is a beech but not like any one I'd seen before

Although now quite close to my accommodation for the night (The Craven Arms) the final stretch was down a long and very steep hill into the village. As all walkers know, the downhill is the most knackering but thankfully my room has a bath so an hour's soak later (all right, a nap) I was ready for dinner and a pint. Crowcombe is a small village with an imposing grade 1 listed Crowcombe Court. This has the traditional church at the end of the drive, with a separate side entrance for the lord and family. The pub was founded in 1700, originally the Three Lions, and takes its current name from the Lord of the Manor in the time of Elizabeth 1.

Part of the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night was filmed on the railway at Crowcombe.

Tomorrow's plan is a 16k stroll into North Petherton and the beginnings of the Somerset Levels.