DH, RW, TO, AC, PC, PCL, Sully, Scrumpy, Bill
Buy one get one free! The breakfast offer at Dobbies cafe following today’s walk.
The old Fosse Way runs into Shepton Mallet under the A37 and then the A361 and continues dead straight up hill in the form of a footpath towards Oakhill. We followed in the footsteps of the Roman legionaries (although missing our own Roman expert Brian) as we made our way out of the town from behind the Thatched Cottage Inn. We gained height rapidly and got great views of the Charlton Viaduct which once carried the railway from Bournemouth to Bath.
We broke off to the right and our path took us over some unusual stiles made of slabbed concrete nearly a metre high – excellent for keeping sheep in check but demonstrating how little regard was paid to accessible footpaths in the past. Indeed the comical memories of this walk involve the struggles to get Adrian over what amounted to an assault course at times. These are the approaches to the Mendips and you have to marvel at the determination of Roman engineers to keep straight on when confronted by steep contours like Ingsdons Hill.
Dry conditions under foot , clear skies overhead and an open landscape to walk through so we made good progress into Chelynch. The local pub here is the Poachers Pocket and I am pretty sure on a previous occasion Dave and I got refreshment there but not today – we pressed on towards Shepton and the smell of bacon.
One of Pete’s ambitions in life is to have a galvanized cattle trough in his garden as a feature – possibly with fish or maybe planted with some interesting alpines. Either way, his eyes light up whenever we see one standing however dilapidated in a hedge row. The group has made it crystal clear that this ludicrous idea lies squarely in the script for Last of the Summer Wine and will not become a reality any time soon. Imagine his delight when we came across this huge example of a tank, covered in rivets measuring fully 4 or 5 metres. It looked vaguely military in origin – half a torpedo perhaps? It remained where it stood.
We came to a very eerie wood of neglected apple trees – laden with abandoned cider apples. Maybe a relic of the Showerings orchards which once dominated the economy of Shepton. Knowing that productive apple trees take 20 to 30 years to mature, this may still be a valuable orchard. For now, it would be a scrumper’s paradise as long as they like their apples bitter-sharp. One final view of the majestic viaduct in the grounds of Kilver Court and then back down to the cars. A swift car journey took us to Dobbies where dogs are welcome in the café area and two for one deals on breakfasts set the pulse racing of at least one Yorkshireman. A great way to celebrate a successful jaunt.
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