| Wednesday 24th January 2007.
Coleridge Country (photos Ken Burgess) |
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| Leaving the library car park the large group of walkers first climbed up The Mount to visit the 11th century motte and bailey Stowey Castle with distant views over Bridgwater Bay and the Severn Estuary. The walk then continued to Walfords Gibbet noted as a hanging place after a matrimonial dispute and murder at the nearby Castle of Comfort Inn. The next section was on a lane and bridleway through Quantock woodland before emerging out on to the open moorland and the final climb up to the oval Iron Age Dowsborough Fort and a stop for refreshment. The descent from the fort took walkers to the wooded Bin Combe where roe deer and a fox were sighted. Continuing into the aptly named Watery Lane walkers were fortunate that only the day before the SCC Rangers been cleared the trees blown down the previous week permitting them to return to Nether Stowey after a short exhilarating walk which gave fine distant views of the region. | ||
| Sunday
21st January 2007. Smiths Combe & Kilve (photos Ken Burgess) |
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| From Bicknoller walkers went along the lower slopes of the Quantocks to Weacombe before climbing up to Staple Plain and on to Beacon Hill for a brief stop to admire the views of Exmoor and West Somerset as well as across the Severn Estuary. A descent of Smith’s Combe led walkers to East Quantoxhead with its duck pond and attractive gardens and the path to the low cliffs on the estuary coast and Kilve Beach. Some road walking with the long steady climb up to Pardlestone made the lunch break a welcome rest. Another short climb brought walkers to The Great Road and the well-known Bicknoller Post. The descent down the combe provided a view a herd of some fifty or sixty red deer, which unusually did not instantly disappear. | ||
| Sunday
14th January 2007. Windmill Hill, Broadway & New Year
Lunch (photos Roger Conway) walk stats 4.4 miles 353ft of climb |
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| Just like the Grand Old Duke of York, "he marched them down to the bottom of the hill and he marched them up again" - and the walk had started with such promise, after the replacement leader had explained the indisposition of the programmed leader and set off with extreme confidence up Windmill Hill, where the group of 32 walkers examined the impressive windmill (see above left), only to be told by a neighbour that it was really a mobile phone tower. Back on the right route the members remarked at the quality of the South Somerset DC's new style 'pinch gates' in place of stiles, although there were a couple of difficult traditional types to deal with before reaching the road to Ashill (and after admiring the Shetland Ponies - above right). We were soon back onto the fields and heading south and after another 'diversion' emerged through Parsonage Farm yard complete with a goodly thickness of slurry. Still going south, the party crossed fields that were quite 'spongy' after the recent rains and took a short break at Broadway Church, where the leader posed the question of why was the church ½ mile from the village? The return route saw us using the road into Broadway Village and then north over the wet and muddy fields to Southtown with the final stretch along the road back to the Square and Compass Inn, where other members joined us for a super carvery meal, finished off with fruit pavlova, banoffee flan, fruit crumble, cheese and biscuits and coffee. (sigh) I'll have to take another 5 miles walk to loose these extra calories. | ||
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| Thursday 11th January 2007. Looking
for Starlings (photos Ken Burgess) |
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| The severe weather warning obviously persuaded walkers that staying at home was a good idea. Starting from the car park at Westhay Moor the walk went via Daggs Lane Drove to climb up to Theale with fine views across to the Mendip Hills. Returning to the levels the walk continued alongside the River Axe before crossing Godney Moor towards Meare before returning in very wet conditions walking into a gale along the flood banks next to the rhynes and drains to Westhay in time to watch the starling roost. Although the weather conditions were not suitable for the birds to produce an aerobatic display the sight of so many birds returning to roost and chatter in the reedbeds is still something to remember. | ||
| Wednesday
10th January 2007. Around Whitestaunton (photos Roger Conway) walk stats 5.9 miles 892ft of climb |
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| clockwise from top left;- blue sky, green grass & mud! ; looking down to Whitestaunton ; Whitestaunton from the North (click on the picture for a larger image) |
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| Wednesday
3rd January 2007. Knightshays Court (photos Gillian Robson & Roger Conway) walk stats 3.8 miles 531ft of climb |
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| (clockwise from top left) Knightshays Stables, an English Oak, the happy band & the remains of Bolham Station |
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| The weather prospects were not good as the 18 members assembled and the leader decided to leave the 'gardens circuit' until later. Up the lane by the old walled vegetable garden and then through the farmyard to the fields, made muddy and slippery over the last few days weather, before returning to the hard surfaces through another farm yard. On the way back we passed the site of the old Bolham Railway Station, with it's precast concrete platform still visible (see above) and then through the grounds of Knightshays Court with its magnificent specimen trees (see above) | ||
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