Saturday 15 January 2022. PC, TO, PCL, AC, DL
5 men and a dog - or which way did Richard mean us to go? By Pete Cairnes
Following the last minute defection of aRich and Scrumpy due to Man-flu - scientifically proven to be the worst disease on the planet - today’s participants were Pete, Deryck, Adrian, Phil and Trevor with Bill our only canine representative.
Parking in Martin’s Lane in Shelton Mallett our intrepid adventurers set off up the old Roman Fosse Way. Not 400 yards had been travelled when Pete, who had already had to return home after picking up Deryck because he had forgotten his boots, suddenly remembered that he had left his binoculars on the roof of his car and surprised everyone by sprinting back to retrieve them!
Safely retrieved and returning to the group we continued up the south face of Shepton’s version of the Eiger wondering why the Romans built their roads up such steep hills!
Richard’s directions were simple “Go up the Fosse Way until you reach the top then return to the car park in a rectangular route via the lanes”. However this did not stop certain members from asking “should we go that way?” every time a footpath crossed our route.
After a mile or so we reached Bolter’s Lane which we followed for a few hundred yards before turning into Bodden Lane remarking at the spectacular moss-covered ancient hedgerows.
After a pleasant level walk during which we disturbed two very large deer in an adjacent field we reached a farm that incorporated a large number of ammonite fossils in its walls - but we were told, not as big as the ones in the walls of Phil’s house!
Continuing downhill the Lane was crossed by the East Mendip Way where we paused for a selfie (but only after Deryck had mastered the reverse camera on his mobile - two teachers trying to teach an ex-teacher to do what any self respecting 5 year old knows!)
At this point for some reason we all decided “to heck with this easy dry walking! We need some mud and a few stiles!” So we turned off the Lane and on to the footpath alongside an ancient orchard and across a ‘claggy’ field negotiating a couple of stiles especially for Trevor and Adrian.
Meeting up with the Fosse away again we returned to the cars - a walk of about 3 miles.
There followed a totally forgettable chaotic, lukewarm and undercooked breakfast at Dobbies for which they get a generous 3.5 out of ten.