Breakfast by the lake

Saturday 30 May ‘26. DH, RW, PCL, JB, CH, Tilly & Scrumpy

it doesn’t seem possible that we are at the end of May and the summer half term bank holiday week as well, but the weather of the recent week has definitely been exactly what we needed, especially for those fortune enough to have been on the Cornish coast. With the prospect of another bright day I opted for staying in the shade of the trees where possible and having been to the Crockerton Garden Centre with my good lady on the BH Monday, I thought it would be good to try out yet another new cafe.

We arrived almost simultaneously in the main car park at Shear Water and having debated paying or not for the car parking, we headed into the top corner of the parking area and took the bridleway climbing up into the woods. Richard decided to keep Scrumpy on the lead as she is often prone to chasing things through the trees and as we crested the hill it was lovely to see masses of lilac rhododendrons occupying the clearings between the trees. This was a repeat of a walk four of the Wincantonians completed last year, although a new one for todays pair of Brutonians. We continued heading north and then dropped and turned eastwards before coming out onto the former main road in the area known as Fox Holes.

A short stretch by the side of the busy A350 and then we turned up along a narrow track heading in a south westerly direction. When we came out of the trees at a T junction, we paused to take in the view up to the high ground be young Longbridge Deverill, known by some as the Warminster Downs. John took this opportunity to whip out his phone and started to play his recently constructed song about keeping the map pointing north, which he had previewed to just a few of us last week. There was, as expected, quite a reaction amongst the group, with Tilly leading it as she glared at John with a most quizzical look, before moving herself away from everyone. others started to 'dance' or play the air guitar.

What the group of walkers who came past us mid song must have thought, i have no idea, but i bet they never expected to see such a site this morning! with the catch ditty now a 'worm ear' for the rest of the walk we set off again, with a spring in our steps. there was some discussion as we moved along about further song titles that could be created and added to Johns repertoire, and during the following 24 hours at least two more we created and shared around.

Tilly, still traumatised, lead the way as we continued heading west along the track. There was a large flock of sheep with many young lambs to the north side, mostly making good use of the shade from the large oak trees in the field. We too managed to find some shade as we continued along by the side of a large hedgerow, although inevitably it eventually finished and we were exposed to the hot sun once more as we closed in on a small farm complex.

The track turned into a metteled road as we worked our way towrads the Maiden Bradley road. As we dropped down I had to make a decision about the route back, as unsurprisingly our many stops had eaten into our time quite a lot. Rather than crossing the road and heading into the Shearwater woods, we opted to walk down the road, therby saving ourselves a good mile, and thirty minutes at least. Alongside the road a very friendly horse wandered across to see us, and by the look of the photo it was a bit of a battle to see who could get a hand on it to give it a stroke.

According to my map there was a track leading back into the woods on the right, but it was clearly a bit overgrown as we passed it, so we took a more substantial stone track a bit further down, which climbed gently, before reaching the cross tracks we had passed earlier, where we turned left back down to the cars. A steady 4 miles excatly in just under two hours and decising against just a bacon roll in the Shearwater Cabin, we jumped back into the cars and headed north up the A350 to the Lakeside Garden Centre at the Crockerton shopping area.

This was a first time at this venue for most of the group, so we found a good table on the raised decking above the lake and dragged a couple of tables together, under the shade of a large willow tree. Thankfully the quese to order inside were not too bad and we were soon getting stuck into a good quality rnge of cooked breakfasts. Tilly had a bit of scrambled egg with her tomato sauce and took a bit of stick for it, but was quite happy to join in the banter around the table. I think we woukd have all been quite happy to sit there for a bit longer, watching the fish in the lake and admiring the plants for sale, including a lovely umbrella wisteria, at a bargain price of just £922 pounds! Shamne there wernt enough for us to have one each!

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