Saturday 23rd November’24. DH, DL, JB & CH. RW, PCL & TO Breakfast only
The forecast for this week was absolutely awful with storm Bert bringing in high winds and heavy rain, so an option to skip the walk and just meet for breakfast was floated in the WhatsApp group. Whilst the hardiest that Wincanton has to offer were not put off by the prospect of driving rain and 40mph winds, the same couldn’t be said for the two possible walkers coming from the Bruton area this week. So it was that just the four of us arrived at Gare Hill, with waterproof coats and trousers very much to the fore. To be truthful there was very little debris on the roads to the RV and as we started off this weeks walk the rain was not falling too heavily. We entered the woods by the red metal barrier and turned left almost immediately to walk along the track parallel to the road. At the first Y junction we took the left track as it climbed gently through a wonderful patch of mature British deciduous trees. There were the occasional conifers competing for the light and on some of the steeper banks they had been deliberately planted to hold the steep bank steady.
The autumnal colours contained all the shades of yellow, orange and brown and in places the carpet of fallen leaves totally covered the track. There were areas of damp ground that we had to negotiate but mostly we could stay on the track and certainly were setting a good pace. It was along this section that last time we walked it, a wild boar crossed our path just in front of us, but certainly no such luck this week, although we did have Dereyks tale of those he bumped into, literally, in the Forest of Dean only a few weeks earlier.
We crossed the main track leading down to Witham Park Farm and continued across the higher ground as the wind increased and a bit more rain started to fall. As I had booked a slightly earlier breakfast this week we ‘hung a right’ down a diagonally track and started to loose height and the effect of the wind quickly. There was some discussion about the origins of certain sayings, but my research this week only came up with some American origins of hanging rights, non worth repeating here. Chris came up with a ‘pissed as a newt’ theory he had heard about wartime troops being drunk after R&R visits to neutral countries, although there appears to be lots of alternative ideas about the origins of that one on line. Who knows what to believe sometimes.
At the bottom of the slope we turned right again onto a more major track and worked our way back along the lower level towards the cars. Crossing the farm track again, there was certainly no opportunity to take in the views towards Witham Friary as it was just about possible to see the farm buildings only 200 metres away, but no more today. With no stiles to cross or gates to open and close we continued at a good pace and having only paused briefly by a tall eucalyptus tree for this weeks groupie, made it back to the cars to complete a 2.75 mile walk in just 70 minutes. Thankfully we were not too damp and once trousers, coats and boots were removed we were soon back in the car and heading for the Red Lion for the 10.15 alternative RV.
Arriving at the pub we parked alongside Trevor’s car, who having found he had a bit of spare time this morning, had picked up the Rich and Phil on his way through Bruton. The roaring open fire in the bar area has been replaced by an enclosed wood burner since our last visits, so there was not as much heat being thrown out into the room as we had expected. For some reason the non walkers took the seats by the radiator whilst those who had taken their morning exercise occupied the outside seats. After a bit of musical chairs, to redistribute the numbers to the tables sizes we placed our orders and welcomed the large t-pot that six of us were to share, whilst John enjoyed a pot of coffee to himself.
There was, as expected much ribbing across the tables and even more so when Richard explained that he’d been confined to bed this week, with dishes of hot chicken broth served by his nursing team, and the subsequent threat of ‘withdrawal of privileges’ if he were to join in and make himself ill on the walk today. As usual whilst we waited for our food the talk around the table quickly went off at a tangent and whilst Trevor very kindly enlighten us on the results of recent tests , there was much talk about low yield Romanian water buffaloes at the Newt. But I think the jaw dropping moment this week was Phil’s explanation about one of his favourite sons move to be with his partner in London, whose job entails looking at alternatives to breast milk for babies. As can be expected there were unnamed muttering from some who wanted to hear more and even volunteer for the project (more info here), but before it could get too unrepeatable our large plates of breakfast were delivered.
Yet again another superb plate of breakfast all round, two tasty sausages, 2 rashers of proper bacon and for the first time that I can recall, 2 small pieces of black/hogs pudding. All followed up with toast and marmalade. What more could you ask for after enduring the worst of storm Bert, or not, as the case maybe!!!
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