The end of Summer

Sat 29 August DH, RW, DL, CH, JB, JS, Scumpy & Albus

All good thinks come to an end eventually and the hot dry summer of '26 will certainly go down in the record books and memories of those who sweated their way through it. We have been remarkably fortunate in having a summer of dry walks, in fact looking back through the blogs, the last wet walk we did, as far as I can find, was around the roads of Gillingham way back in January. So with a wet forecast for our last walk of August, and with it being a bank holiday weekend, I opted for a new walk around the River Cale/A30 area of the Blackmore Vale. Seven brave souls declared themselves available, although with a late caveat from Pete who would make a final call, if the rain was of biblical proportions.

And so it was that the early morning started damp, with the sound of rain against the windows as I awoke to a message in the group from Pete declaring it was too wet and he'd be giving it a miss. There then followed a few exchanges that it was only water, the dogs had to be walked and it was even wetter in a tent, followed by an amusing paragraph straight out of the English Language teaching manuals of Cambridge University, before the six of us who were up for the challenge, met in the west bound lay by of the A30 near Kington Magna, where not a single drop of rain was falling.

Having being some what over prepared, five of the six of us were wearing full waterproof trousers, whilst JS was bearing his Scottish heritage legs to the elements. Deciding that there was always a chance of rain or long wet grass on route, we stuck with it and once all booted up set off eastbound out of the layby for an anti clockwise loop, and across the road into a large open field which had only recently had its crop of maize cut down. As we made our way over the stumps there was a lot of biblical banter about the lack of rain falling, should we make a mass Exodus?, Good job Adrian and Ruth were not with us, theres bound to be some new Revelations, that will hit the Mark and stop putting on an Act , just to mention a few!

With the evidence of steady overnight rains the soil was exposed and damp as we trod our way carefully over the corn stumps picking up bits of mud onto our boots. Thankfully it was only light dirt (none of that claggy stuff) and by the time we reached the edge and had walked up a short grassy lane, it was all brushed and there was no lasting worries. We briefly clipped the corner of Common Lane then headed north straight towards the main house of Lower Farm. The skies were full of low grey cloud but visibility was good as we passed through the farm and out the back turned left heading in the general direction of a small patch of trees. We walked alongside them and through a couple of stiles before heading for our next crossing point in a hedge about half way up the side of the field. As we got closer, there was no sign of any gap in the hedgerow, (although we had spotted a gate in the bottom corner) but just visible on a post in the hedge was a yellow way marker. Thankfully both JS and myself had put secateurs into our pockets (after the exploits around Buckhorn Weston last summer), and so we set about clearing a route through it.

It only took a few minutes, and once everyone was through the now wide opening, JB decided to get out his folding saw just to clear away a large branch that was too big for the secateurs, before we continued westwards towards the line vegetation that indicated the presence of water. A wooden bridge came into view and as we made our way across we posed for this weeks group photo. Below us, the River Cale as well hidden by reeds and the invasive Himalayan Balsam, but where we could see the water it was a bit deeper than we had expected.

Once over the river and through the adjacent hedge, I offered a route choice to head back early, but as we were still all full of energy and dry, the unanimous decision was to continue as planned, so we followed the hedge-line towards the collection of buildings that form the hamlet of Higher Nyland. Passing through Jubilee Farm we joined the dead end Nyland Lane. By now there was a bit of moisture in the air, but nothing more than the light morning mist you get on Dartmoor most of the year. It was a good mile walk down the round, stopping for a couple of residents vehicles before we cut left and through a field of sheep and back towards the main road. An obvious gate out of the field had loads of rubble on the far side, so with more trimming of brambles before we crossed, we man handled the dogs over the double stile as there was no suitable crossing point in the sheep fence.

Once back at the cars having completed 3.4 miles, we headed on down the A30 and onto Henstridge Airfield for breakfast at the cafe on the edge of the airstrip. The annual Wings and Wheels, air and car show, was setting up as we approached, but once past the marshals we parked outside of the cafe and headed in to order at the counter. Taking a table near the front we didn't have long to wait for some very substantial platefuls of cooked breakfast, scrambled eggs for JB and sausage chips and beans for myself. Not bad food all round but the drinks from the vending machine certainly left a lot to be desired!