06 07 2024 RW , TO , PC , JB and DL plus Maisie and Albus
Scrumpy is confined to home on medical advice until her cough is better. The rain was driving down first thing so I consulted the team and agreed a delayed start of 9.30 at Langport. There was flood water on the way into Bruton to pick up Phil so I diverted through Wyke to collect Trevor and then down the A303 for our route to Langport. Somehow this didn’t quite work out but we got there for our RV with the others in the longstay carpark. On the way we had a lengthy debrief from Phil on the change of headteacher at Sexey’s School which all seems rather hurried.
Although we have visited Langport on several walks, it is such a different landscape from our local scenery that it is worth revisiting. We walked along the river Parrett on a section of the Macmillan Way Link. There were people out and about with lively dogs and the skies had lifted with the rain passing away Eastwards. Having crossed the river on the road bridge we then struck off across open fields towards the redundant railway line. To our right were a very relaxed group of cows, enjoying the luxuriant grazing provided by the water meadows.
There is a section of the branch line of the old Bristol and Exeter railway into Yeovil which fell victim to the Beeching cuts in the sixties and this makes an excellent footpath now. We joined it and turned left away from the town until we reached the former bridge over a minor road and now we were facing towards the ancient village of Muchelney. The remains of the abbey, once second only to Glastonbury in size and importance in Somerset, reveals the wealth and power of the church in Medieval times. What has been left behind in this landscape are magnificent churches , their perpendicular towers visible all round us as we recrossed the river. Grade One examples at Huish Episcopi , Langport All Saints and Muchelney St Peter and St Paul.
A recurring theme for discussion was the immediate aftermath of the general election. Noone had much time or regret for the shambolic government of Johnson/Truss/Sunak and there was some celebration of the individual demise of Truss and Rees-Mogg but neither was there a celebratory mood in respect of the new government. Like most of the country, I believe we are all hoping for more competence and less pantomime – certainly it is difficult to imagine Starmer inventing Latin quotes whilst quaffing champagne with his Eton fag in the bowels of Downing Street.
We got slightly misplaced from this point and returned via a road section on the other side of the river Yeo but without mishap.
The breakfast plans went all to pot as we were intending to visit a farm shop/café but missed the entrance so drove on to Somerton. Returning to an old style kaff we enjoyed a basic fry up and John and Phil shared details of the geography of Northwest Spain….to be explained in a future blog.
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