Saturday 2nd July
DH, RW, TO, PC, PCL, DL, Tilly, Sully, Scrumpy & Bill
After a couple of weeks of other things keeping us all busy, 6 regulars turned out today for a short walk around the Martock area, and we were delighted to be joined by Tilly for her second time of walking with the group. With the RV at the usual 0900hrs, there was a distinct noticeable absence of half the walkers as the Wincanton attendees stood around waiting for the arrival of the Bruton car, which when it did arrive, were full of excuses for the delay, with poor old Bill getting most of the blame for distracting the driver on the journey down.
Once Scrumpy and Sully had calmed down, and the Birthday boy, Trevor had finished drooling over a couple of nice bikes, we headed off down the side of the reclamation yard, on a path we had previously walked before. There was a bit of drizzle in the air but the skies were getting lighter as we headed south east through grassy fields and over towards a small orchard where the rows of trees had plenty of apples growing on their branches. Walking 3 sides of a rectangle we clipped the edge of a housing estate and headed back down hill and south west towards the edges of South Petherton where the community hospital stood out looking like a former workhouse on the edge of the ridge line. Sweeping right we walked alongside a field of young maize, where Tilly took the chance to walk through the tall plants before heading past a young fenced off nursery of recently grafted apple trees, which in a few years time will no doubt themselves be laden with young fruit.
Arriving at the murky River Parrett, we stopped for our weekly confectionery from Dereyk which Tilly very kindly passed around the group. Once over the substantial but narrow bridge we paused for the weekly selfie and with dogs back on their leads, walked alongside the river as we passed through the field of sheep. Heading back north and with the chimney at the Perret works getting closer, we passed a large man made lake and then through an overgrown area before coming out the road. A steady walk against the oncoming traffic and we were soon passing the Martock village sign, then the village Mill before arriving back at the Ranch, with immaculate timing ready for our 1030 booking. Only 2.25 miles walked today but I think it was probably enough for most of us.
It was a good job we had booked in advance as it was surprisingly busy already inside The Ranch, as we took our seats around the reserved table in the corner. With options easy to select this week, 6 large breakfasts and 6 teas were soon ordered, as well as a bacon roll and hot chocolate for Tilly. Slightly slow service was soon forgotten as some of the best plates full of breakfast made their way to the table. Poached, scrambled and fried eggs were served alongside good quality bacon and sausages, and some of the tastiest black pudding we have had for a while. There was some heated discussion about where this ranked in the Saturday top 10, but I think it was pretty unanimous that’s it’s a top 3 contender, especially regarding the very reasonable cost. Certainly another dog friendly one on the list to return to again at some point soon.