Saturday 5th November. DH, RW, TO, DL, Scrumpy
With the forecast not looking too good and a couple having not walked for a few weeks, it was decided to opt for a short local walk this week, starting and finishing at a cafe. So we met at 9.00 at Wincanton Rec, and having booked a table for 45 minutes time in the Cale Cafe, we headed north by the semi constructed retirement home, slowly going up again with its 3rd set of builders, past a plethora of new houses and garages and into the urban jungle of the Atkins Hill estate.
Winding our way slowly up the hill, the discussions of the previous week were expanded on and the medical woes and similarities of both Trevor’s Ukrainian guest and yours truly were consolidated. Thankfully the threatening rain was holding off as we made it out onto West Hill and turned down Dancing Lane, giving Dereyk another opportunity to view his former work location.
Passing the sports centre and pool we talked about how long it might be able to remain open for during this ‘cost of living crisis’, and despite the well known health benefits of swimming the fact than none of us choose to use the current facilities. Passing the top of Football Lane and stopping to check on progress of the new development to the rear of the bungalows opposite, we discussed very briefly the possibility of actually getting safely down the lane by Verrington Hospital, and with the wet conditions and almost certainly fallen leaves and mud in the lane, we decided to give it a miss and drop down Springfield Road, past the former Hill & Lemon residencies. Dropping through the footpath into Rodber Gardens we head and by another build of not so high quality flats on Shadwell Lane before coming out at the bottom of north street by a stone arch which houses the pump called Shatterwell shute. Fed by hillside springs, it used to be the main source of water for man and beast, and the place where spun flax was washed. Unfortunately it has been dry for a few years now.
On the other side of the road we paused for this weeks selfie with the wonderful backdrop of the river Cale as it flows down the slopes from the north to enter the town at Shatterwell or Shadwell (the name said to be derived from St Chad, patron saint of wells). It spills over a weir in the grassy grounds of Shatterwell House in a crash of white water, dives under the road and flows on to where it used to drive the mill wheel on the site now occupied by Travis Perkins. Walking through waterside, despite the recent rains the river was just steadily flowing by, as we passed by the rear of the old mill and out at the bottom of Mill Street, early home to another of our group. Mill street , aptly named, climbs from where the mill stood many years ago to the marketplace, and all the way up you can see the wide "loom windows" that maximised daylight working hours for those who worked in some of the towns early cottage industry. From Mill Steet it was across to the pathway by the side of Bridge Motors and along the old route of the S & D line as it headed towards Wincanton Station.
Perfectly timed, as always, we made it back to the rec just on 0945 and were soon settled in at the cafe and placing our orders for breakfast and drinks.
Three hearty full English, and one more modest scrambled egg on toast were quickly served and with decent sized mugs of tea, it was a fine way to finish a short 2 mile walk around the roads and lanes of Wincanton. A brief discussion about our Christmas walk and meal location was had, (more details to follow) and as we headed our separate ways afterwards, we were reminded that with Bonfire Night that evening, and only around 8 remaining Saturdays in the year, that the 2022 walking season was drawing to a very rapid conclusion.
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