Saturday 11 Jun.
DH, RW, AC, NFS, PC, DL, Sully & Scrumpy
With ever increasing fuel prices, and not having been this way for a good year, I decided a short trip down to Weston Bampfylde and breakfast at the Parlour farm shop would be a sensible option this week. Having had my 5th Covid jab earlier in the week and feeling a bit rough, I planned a route with an easy “escape” option should I need to cut it short this week.
Having booked us in for at 11.00 breakfast and checked we were fine to park in the yard whilst we walked, the car of 4 from Wincanton and the duo from Bruton/Cary arrived within 30 seconds of each other. With boots on, and a brief debate about jumpers/jackets, we were just about ready to leave when Adrian grabbed his back pack to discover a steady stream of fluid running out of the bottom. Reaching in to investigate the inevitable, Adrian pulled out his drink bottle minus the cap with just an very small amount left in the bottom. The only solution was to empty out the remaining contents and grab the wallet and then leave the bag and contents to be dealt with later.
The sun was out with a moderate amount of cloud as we headed out of the yard and turned right on the road in front of the cafe, allowing Sully to make good use of the cut verges by the side of the road. The leading group, on reaching a path we had previously taken waited for further instruction before we continued into the southern edges of Sparkford and took a brief stop outside of the church of St Mary of Magdalene for todays selfie. Passing a few new builds we took a narrow footpath, with brambles and nettles encroaching until we arrived at a very picturesque bridge over the local stream. Deryck was the only one to brave shorts this week and must at this time have been wondering if he had made the right decision.
The fields within a couple of miles around North Cadbury are generally used by the Montgomery potato business and so it was no surprise that our route took us around the edges of rows after row of young potato plants. Already furrowed into mounds the very healthy looking plants in the first field were possibly a late variety as there were no flowers on any of them, but as we moved between fields the amount of growth and flowers on the plants certainly changed. Having only recently returned from seeing cemeteries with gravestones in neat rows, the sight of row after row of evenly spaced plants was a very familiar view.
As we stopped briefly to assess our location at an area where recent work to put the stream into a large plastic pipe had been completed, I got slightly confused by how far across we had walked and thought our path should change sides of the stream at this point. So we carried on along the southern side where potentially there should have been a crossing point in the next corner if we were correct. Unfortunately although we appeared to be in the right location there was no sight of anyone having crossed so we continued up the side of the field hoping there might be a chance further up. By the time we reached the top corner we were now only a few metres from the road, but with a property in one corner stopping our exit, we searched a bit further along the top edge in the hope of passing through the small certified caravan site, where early morning campers were up and moving. Thankfully there was no aroma of bacon in the air or else we might have been leaning over the fence with our tongues hanging out. The only option along the top edge was a farm gate into a small field with another gate to the road clearly visible, but with extra fencing on both gates, and alpacas in the field, this option was quickly ruled out. So the only solution to our predicament was to head back down the fourth side of the field, to where we hade been some 15 minutes previously and try along the other side of the stream. Thankfully, although a bit overgrown the style was in the corner, literally just the other side of the hedge from where we were previously. Once across, and due to having taken up more time than plannned to reach this point, I decided to elongate our walk slightly to the east and head towards the small hamlet of Little Weston, so we could then cut it shorter by not heading towards Sutton Montis later as planned initially. On approaching our next stile, we could see a herd of young cows waiting for us, and once in the field with them they were certainly not content to just let us through, but continued to follow us through the field, coming very close at times. Whether it was Brian’s natural attraction they sought or the fact he had a tight hold of Sully at the time, we’ll never know.
Once out onto the road we headed towards the heart of the hamlet, and right past the big CIDER sign, inviting us into collect some farmhouse scrumpy (or organic sparkling presses) from the King Brain Farm. Having opted not to ’Toot our Horns’, we instead took a lean on a solid wall surrounding an old orchard which was also home to a mix of sheep and lambs, ready for our daily sugar fix. Having rested for a good five minutes or more, we headed on through the village and took another brief stop for Scrumpy to dabble her toes in the village pond. Not the most attractive pond to look at although with a bit of TLC it could be, as there were still the odd dragonfly flitting around and a few irises on the fringes.
Although we had only walked just over 2 miles by this point, there was no other option to get back to the cafe in time for breakfast, than to finish the walk along the minor road, as I was certainly feeling it this week. So a steady stroll, across the other side of the caravan park and we were heading close to Weston Bampfylde when we dived to the sides of the road for an oncoming cyclist, who politely thanked us, and I quickly recognised it as being Colin Thomas. He slammed on the brakes and came back to chat. We were near the end but his ride had barely started, a trading ride in preparation for his London to Paris ride later in the year for the RBL. We also spoke about his forthcoming quiz night, which I suggested we might be able to form a team for.
Arriving back at the cafe area, we had completed 3 miles in 1 hr 40 minutes, certainly one of our shorter ones and the first we have had a “loop the loop” in the middle, and we weren’t even lost! We were all already for a drink and some sustenance, so dragging a couple of tables together we sat on the decking area, half in & half out of the sun, and after some delay ordered our breakfasts. It turns out the young lad doing the running around had been roped in to help his wife (whose business it is), but despite some odd see through teapots, there was no short cut on the quality of the food, as yet again good quality ingredients and first class cooking produced another high standard at this underused (by us), off the beaten track, high quality but friendly establishment.
Hopefully we’ll be back again before too long!
Postnote
We did indeed form a team for 2 months worth of quizzes at the Orchard pub Galhampton. Richard, Dereyk and myself won the first one convincingly and with the addition of Phil’s son David for the second one, we retired undefeated. Not bad record for The Walking Dead and pleased to have helped contribute to the almost £2000 Colin raised for the RBL.