Dave , Richard , Deryck , Scrumpy and Sully
24 09 2022 Somerset
The London Trio reassembled at the Wincanton Sports Centre for a walk round the southern outskirts of the town accompanied by Scrumpy in season and Sully very excited to be in her company despite Dave’s assurances that Sully no longer has the equipment to do anything about it. Blue skies and late September sunshine had persuaded Deryck to wear shorts – a decision which he might regret later in our adventures.
We crossed the empty playing fields with conversation naturally turning to our recent trip to London to observe the funeral cortege and the subsequent State Funeral of Her Majesty which we had all followed throughout the day on Monday 19th. There was general respect for the magnificent spectacle staged in the heart of London and the conduct of our forces...particularly the young bearer party who had so effectively managed the delicate task of moving the coffin under the spotlight of a billion TV viewers. There was less respect for Holly Someone and Philip Who-cares who sneaked round the queue for lying in state unlike the surprisingly modest David Beckham. Mind you, none of us actually watch their show anyway.
As we passed the Wincanton Allotments Deryck explained he had once been involved in their establishment and the great thing is that they all seemed occupied and productive. Here we encountered a few walkers and their dogs but we passed untroubled through to the junction with Moor Lane just beside the A303 underpass. The track crossed the road and took us into a neglected section of woodland and out onto the Monarch’s Way for a few fields of open grassland, no stock and plentiful blackberries in the hedgerow.
Turning onto a metalled track we made our way in the direction of the sewage works…not presumably dating back to that wandering Monarch Charles 2nd. We paused by the bank of the Cale and stared down at the choked up river bed with little sign of flowing waters…maybe some Autumn storms will sweep this section clear.
A solitary willow tree loomed up with a strikingly hollow trunk and yet it seemed to be surviving. Worth a photo we thought.
On many of our walks we have come up against brambles and briars which ancient Britons used as natural defences against would-be attackers…how right they were. We stopped following our retreating Monarch, turned Eastwards across a field until we came to a combination of two gates with a wooden bridge between them absolutely buried in the hedge and pretty much blocked by brambles. Adrian could have wielded his secateurs at long last…except he is on safari abroad. Deryck insisted on leading the way through , thrashing the snags and prickles to either side with his Nordic pole and suppressing any yelps of pain as he was scratched severely on the bare legs below his empire-builder shorts. Dave and I struggled through behind him – I carried Scrumpy as she was not at all keen on jungle warfare.
In the distance now the sunshine revealed the town of Wincanton dominated by the Catholic priory and our conversation ranged over the architectural history of the town and how come Wincanton was full of coaching inns when the much older route to London follows the A30 rather than the 20th century A303. On the architectural theme Deryck admired the work of Frank Lloyd-Wright and expressed a continuing desire to visit the iconic Fallingwater in Pennsylvania . From there we some how reached Flamborough Head in Yorkshire and the chalk-built Tower intended as part of a chain of aids to navigation in the 17th century….and thence to the reappearance of that same chalk strata on the south coast of England on the Isle of Purbeck. We even celebrated William Smith a great pioneer in understanding rocks and landscape who first mapped the geology of England and founded a scientific discipline which transformed mining, mineral extraction and I suppose the oil industry which is now wrecking the environment. Good old Smith!
We passed though the sadly empty shell of Brains Farm and made our way along the ratrun which is Common Road until turning into the playing fields site once again. Finally, we stopped for lollies and posed on the outdoor exercising equipment – no one could be bothered to demonstrate their skills at wobbling around on unstable metal structures. There now seemed to be plenty dogs and strollers as we made our way round the sportsfield to our starting point.
We picked up the cars and drove back into town in search of breakfast at the Cale Café. Last time we were here it was boarded up but now under new ownership it was bustling with families and very welcoming. Deryck and I opted for the traditional full English but Dave felt he only needed a modest portion of scrambled eggs on toast. We sat down, the breakfast arrived and then a small plastic plate appeared with a child’s helping of scrambled egg on toast and infant cutlery! Funniest moment on these walks for a long time….which had to be captured in a photo.
A smaller party and shorter walk but as ever great fun!
Comentarios