Thank you to our friends who send words of encouragement, either through this site, or by personal messages: it is certainly appreciated, and I apologise for not responding. Internet is often limited in more remote places, and I am surprised how time goes so quickly once we reach our lodgings for the night and deal with essentials!

Today has been a glorious day, with bright sunshine but not too warm. We were careful to stock up at the village shop with snacks before we left, to head up away from Exmoor into the Quantock hills. Our walk started with an ascent along narrow lanes, and once we reached footpaths and fields we were glad to find that the dry weather meant very little mud! The views from the Quantocks were magnificent, and our descent was equally easy, through a National Trust area: wooded paths on the Quantock Greenway.

After descending into a landscape of largely arable farmland (a veritable patchwork quilt) we found again that footpaths disappeared where farmers had planted crops, and we needed to walk round field boundaries, or follow tramlines left by tractors between the growing maize, wheat or barley.

We found a lovely pub in Cannington, which was still serving food, and after our late lunch, opted to take the easier route via lanes for our final few miles into Bridgwater for our lodgings and our rest day!

A Backward Glance

As we left Crowcombe village shop where Carol mercilessly piled bananas, canned drinks and chocolate into my already heavy bag, the lady owner there explained that paying by card wasn’t possible because technology hadn’t arrived in their village yet. She pulled an old paper one pound note from her pocket to make her point. We left the past behind under a clear blue sky as I climbed and Carol skipped to the top of the near hills before us. Once over the top a wide path through deer country and dense woodland greeted us. Ironically the deer made their appearance just as we left the area jumping over wire fences parallel with the path we were on. Our walk continued through a stunning parkland arboretum and all the time ‘flat’. Next out into fields and no paths where we met a farmer even grumpier than me. First impressions matter and his was that we weren’t real walkers because we didn’t have an A0 size paper Ordnance Survey map and mine that he was not a real farmer because my boots were muddier than his. He thought we shouldn’t be wandering all over his ‘garden’ and I thought he shouldn’t be sowing stuff all over our footpaths. We shook hands and retired to our corners and decided that one round was enough. I don’t know who won, but to my mind it doesn’t matter, it’s the taking part that counts. Finding gates through fields and piggy backing Carol over barbed wire fences was all getting a bit tedious, so for some light relief we turned off Mr. ‘Komoot’ who was developing a serious bout of Tourette’s shouting “make a ‘U’ turn” all the time (it’s the nearest he’s allowed to get to actual swearing). Then using the next pub for navigation we took the country lanes around fields all the way into Bridgwater.