Week 5 - Farewell to the South West

A bit late with the week five update, due to very poor internet connection in Somerset.  It’s easy to be rude about the provision of 4G data access in rural areas so I tend not to be too critical, such things are driven by monetary factors like size of population and return on investment but when a town like Sandford, home of Thatchers Cider, an international company doesn’t have 4G you have to wonder about priorities.

 It wasn’t just Sandford, the whole of Somerset seemed to be a random mix of zero data coverage, a few areas with intermittent 3G and, allegedly, one or two 4G spots.  From the stand point of updating this blog it was annoying, but trying to arrange pickup points with Sandra when one or both of us were in areas of poor/no reception was trying to say the least.  At one point I was sat on the wall outside the Thatchers visitor centre and without moving my phone cycled from intermittent 3G with two phone connection bars to just phone connection then no signal whatsoever.  Fortunately Sandra homed in on the cider and found me.

 The Cheddar campsite was even worse, a dodgy telephone connection and no data; incidentally if anyone is planning a camping/caravan trip to Cheddar check the site details, the Caravan and Motorhome site is right in the middle of Cheddar village, but the Camping and Caravan site, although called ‘Cheddar’ is about 6 miles from the village.

Cheddar village, great cheese, fantastic gorge but there ain’t no way you’ll ever get 4G.

But two out of three ain’t bad!

 Right, that’s enough moaning about Somerset’s erratic relationship with modern telecoms and on with the walking blog.

 However, first, a big thank you to Sandra who organised a surprise visit by Dennis, Wendy, Pete and Joy Ford who drove down from Gloucester to see us on Wednesday evening!  I have no idea how she managed to organise and keep it secret but she managed it and they brought a fantastic picnic for us all; we had a great time, thanks for making the effort guys, it was really appreciated!

Beautiful sunset at the campsite fairly near Cheddar when the Ford’s arrived for a surprise vist.

 The week’s walking fell into four sections, traversing the Mendip Hills, finishing off the Somerset Levels, working around Bristol and crossing the Severn to arrive in Wales.  The Mendips were a joy to walk over, big rolling hills very similar to the Yorkshire Dales and formed from the same rock, carboniferous limestone, this produces high, dry walking on springy green turf.  I went from the village of Cheddar, where I bought some fantastic cheese, to the top of the plateau, then along the edge of the gorge for a couple of miles before descending into the gorge and climbing out to cross the northern side of the Mendips before dropping down to Sandford and the Thatchers Cider Shop.

As a day’s walking it was hard to beat, great hill walking through beautiful terrain to the sound of the larks and finishing at a cider shop.

 After the Mendips came the North Somerset Levels, like the southern levels it has its own beauty, or at least a certain horizontal charm and the walking, particularly when it followed the old “Strawberry Line” was fast and easy and near the village of Yatton I ticked off another significant highlight, the 300 mile mark.

North Somerset Levels, green fields, deep drains and big willows

 All of these hundred mile points are important milestones but I’m finding that each also has its own psychological significance.  The first one hundred mile mark was a huge boost, I’d got to 100 miles and if anything went wrong or I gave up then at least I could say, “well at least I managed a hundred miles”.  The second hundred proved that I could keep walking and would probably have a good chance of finishing.  The third hundred marked a personal best, previously I’d only got up to 270 miles in 1976; 46 years later to surpass that record was very satisfying and there just happened to be a pub, The Market Inn, in which to celebrate!

300 Mile Beer

 Once past the Levels the navigation became increasingly complex, when I was planning the trip I’d spent many happy hours transferring sketch maps and route descriptions onto the Ordnance Survey maps on my phone.  It was always useful to be able to check my location against the plot but when dodging round Clevedon, the M5, the Avonmouth docks, over the M5 Avonmouth Bridge (pedestrian and cycle track included), across the last of the levels to reach the Severn Bridge and walk into Chepstow and Wales it was invaluable.

The M5 Avonmouth Bridge, Wales here we come!

The highlights of the above list were undoubtedly walking over the M5 Avonmouth and M48 Severn bridges.  Of the two I preferred the Severn Bridge, one of my earliest memories is of my father taking me down to the River Severn to see the bridge being built, I’m not sure the actual date but it must have been about 1964, I can remember being impressed by the huge white towers but not much else.  I’d like to claim that dad supplied the concrete for the bridge, and I know he worked for Ready Mix in Bristol at the time but can’t say he definitely worked on that bridge.

The 1960’s technical wonder is now the “old” bridge and a minor motorway route into Wales, the new bridge a couple of miles to the south carries the M4 into South Wales.  However, I prefer the old one, it is finer, more elegant, and prettier than the new bridge and at only 5km much shorter.  As I strolled along I was struck how little it seemed to bow to modern health and safety; the river side of the path was a simple chest high railing and road side the traffic was kept at bay by a three cable crash barrier.  Ah I thought, “real engineering, unfettered by modern namby-pamby Health and Safety”.  I then noticed the various memorials to the men who had died, first in its construction (six) and then in its later strengthening (four).  That’s ten people killed building one bridge, maybe there’s something in Health and Safety after all.

At the end of the bridge I had my last view of the sea, after five weeks fantastic walking from Land’s End along the North Coast of the South West Peninsular now I’m heading towards the Welsh Marches then on the English Midlands.

While I’ve had a most successful and enjoyable week, Sandra and Arthur haven’t been so fortunate.  Arthur split one of the pads on a front paw and got some tiny pieces of gravel in the wound.  Once we’d cleaned it up he had to wear a rubber booty to keep it safe and was limited to very short walks.  Sandra’s support roll expanded to encompass both looking after me and playing nurse to a dog that didn’t want to be cooped up all day.  We were also moving the van on a daily basis so they couldn’t even sit on a nice campsite but were forced to hang around in carparks and laybys when and where they could.  By the end of the week they were both going a little stir crazy so it was with some relief that they dropped me at Chepstow and went home for a few days.

Total for week:-                60 Miles               5302 Feet of Ascent,       135979 Paces,                   26 Hours of Walking.

Walk Total to date:-        346 Miles            40,246 Feet of Ascent,   776846 Paces,                   152.75 Hours of Walking.

Land’s End to John O’Groats walk 27.5% completed.