Blog

I woke at 5:30,  tent dry, made breakfast and headed off at 6:30 keen to make up time and to recharge my power pack which was very low . The other tasks for the day were to rinse out a couple of pair of socks and dry them and of course to publish my blog which I’d managed to write the previous night in my tent.

Leaving the woods, I soon arrived at Roadwater and headed out immediately along another bridle path to Monksilver. It was a very pretty route lit by the early morning sun. I kept cool as I brushed past foliage still wet from yesterday’s rain. I wondered about the little yellow quills marked on sign posts along the route yesterday. There were both blue and yellow quills. I assumed one represented Coleridge. I’d check and find out who the other poet might be.

After another mile or so, I started up a long and sometimes steep Hill to Sticklepath, mentioned here because I really like the name, and then gradually downhill for 2 miles or so in bluebell woods to the little village of Monksilver.

I walked past the first orchard I’d seen in Somerset followed by a very pretty little farm. After 7 1/2 miles I stopped for a rest and to think about lunch at Bicknoller, a village on the edge of the Quantocks which purportedly had a shop. My concern was the shop’s notoriously erratic opening hours. I passed the pretty village of Sampford Brett and a beautiful old house, the old rectory. Priests certainly lived well back in the day.

Shortly before arriving at Bicknoller, I crossed a railway track. Proceeding up the path beyond, I heard a whistle and ran back just in time to see a beautiful old steam train passing in great Western livery. Sadly, I wasn’t quick enough to take a photo. Arriving at Bicknoller, I spent a little time admiring the lovely old cottages with wisteria and other beautiful flowers that I can’t name hanging everywhere. There was no sign of the shop,however I did find the Bicknoller Inn due to open in 20 minutes time at 12. I also discovered that I had a mobile signal so I caught up with some family chat took my boots off and waited happily. The inn was lovely and had a courtyard and a beautiful garden. The food was very good too, sausage, Yorkshire pudding and bubble and squeak. I published my blog and headed on my way. Leaving Bicknoller I saw the shop, which was shut!

After a pretty stiff uphill climb to Bicknoller Combe I could see for miles around. I walked along the ridge to the top of Black Hill. The day was now very clear and I could see beyond South Wales, the Bristol Channel, the Mendips and right back over Exmoor where I walked the last  couple of days. The blot on the landscape was Hinckley Point, the cranes and industry looking huge even from miles away. As I walked downhill, I could see it raining to the south east of me, huge black clouds with spout of vapour falling in five or six different places accompanied by deep bellows of thunder. I hoped it would stay well clear.

The rain did stay away and I walked along a tree line Avenue called the drove for a couple of miles until ascending again to Wills Neck, the highest point on the Quantocks. The views remained spectacular and I was heartened by the fact that it had to be downhill from here for the rest of the day.

Not long after Will’s neck, I walked around Sidbury Hilland then down through a plantation of trees to the end of the Quantocks. Another couple of hours walking ensued through green fields and farmland. At Enmore the rain finally caught up with me, but I was well prepared for it. I walked an hour more until 8:30  and found a half decent campsite on the edge of a field, well away from the path. I’d have to be up early in the morning though.I didn’t want to be run over by a tractor.

Day Summary

The Quantocks were amazing, all 26 miles of them. I’d sleep well tonight.