Day 26 I have company

I ask you, what sort of pub, in a village catering for walkers, doesn’t start breakfast until 9.30? There were several of us waiting outside (the accommodation is in a separate block) from about 9.25, all keen to get on with our walking day. And was the service slow? Yes it was! At least it was a good breakfast.

It was going to be a hot day so we were glad of the shade in the woodland as we left Nether Stowey. We were going to explore footpaths today, so armed with our trusty OS map and compass (oh alright, I’ve also got a trusty GPS as well as a trusty OS map on my phone) we headed down our first footpath. And came to a very overgrown orchard. We negotiated our way round only to be faced with an overgrown field. We headed for the road. The roads around here are quiet, and full of interest, although not much shade.

Despite the road interest we decided to try another footpath. This one was not signposted from the road-a bad sign-and was not passable

We backtracked and carried on along the road to Spaxton and, despite our two previous footpath failures, decided to try again. This time we were lucky. It wasn’t immediately clear that we would be. Yes, it was signposted from the road but there was no path across the ploughed field. Gamely we headed for the stream and eventually found a bridge -not before we had jumped the stream -and a path. The path continued until it became a nicely mown path past a lake, a castle and a ice house. I’ve got a photo of the ice house but not the castle which is really a 19th century house with a tower.

After that we had no more trouble with footpaths which was a good thing as if we had, it would have added several miles to our 12 mile day. Our last footpath lead us into Bridgwater through meadows. It was well way marked, and we could see our way ahead through a gap in the hedge. A gap that was blocked not only by cows and their calves but also a large bull. We skirted round the field hoping they might move. They didn’t. We scrambled through a hole in the hedge only to find more cows. We scrambled back (not that easy with overhanging branches and a backpack) and headed into another cow-free field, skirted round that and eventually ended up back on the path.

Wearily we made our way to our hotel where we had a room service meal as the restaurant was full and neither of us could face walking anywhere. Also my only pair of trousers, having survived a dunking in a stream with no marks, were covered in dirt after walking through this morning’s first field. As a result they are now drip drying in the bathroom and I am wearing my pyjamas.