DH, RW, TO, AC, DL, Sully, Scrumpy & Bill
A couple of absentees this week saw five of us meet at The White Hart, Trudoxhill for 9.00, although with a severe over estimation of travel time required, the team from Castle Cary were there early enough to watch the sunrise today, almost!
Heading off in a southerly direction, a short 200m stretch on the road before a right turn into open fields and the dogs were off, Sully and Scrumpy quickly making up for not seeing each other last week. A couple of awkward styles, some additional breeze blocks and some nifty little dog flaps, as we climbed gently towards Postlebury Woods. Looking out across the Wiltshire countryside the grounds around Longleat, Cley Hill and even the White Horse at Westbury were visible this morning. A slight navigational error (they are few and far between) saw us turn up a hedgerow too late, and we had to make a left flanking approach to the wood line. We quickly made amends and entered the wood over a low barbed wire section about 100m left of the correct track entrance, and soon made it through the undergrowth and fallen branches to the main east to west route.
A good steady climb of about 40metres overall, only requiring a couple of stops for breath and fluids and we emerged with a glorious view over the East Mendip hills between Frome and Shepton Mallet, with quarries in the mid distance and Canmore tower on the skyline. A further little climb up to the radio mast and then it was all downhill from there. Thankfully with the bulk of the climb done under the canopy of the woods it was great to enjoy the view and soak up the sunshine on the steady decent.
Cutting through a field of wheat we headed to a sunken lane through an area marked on the OS map as Open Access Land, maybe it was once known as Cloford Common, as in the nearby farm, and used as common grazing land or possibly its an area set aside for another reason, but it’s quite unusual to come across open access areas in rural Somerset.
If it is common land, then the track as we turned right is certainly not walked often, waist high nettles and a fallen tree hampered our progress slightly but we made it through and headed east back towards Trudoxhill. The going through some of the meadow was quite difficult, which was soon apparent why, when we saw only 5 cows in the next field whose task it was to keep the grass down over quite an area. More nettles blocked our exit from the fields but we made it out by Richards Christmas tree small holding and out to the road.
A short stretch then by the old chapel with great views across Longleat to Heavens gate and to the rear of some lovely village properties, a brief stop for the dogs to top up from a cow trough and we were back at the pub. 3.3 miles, 100m of climb and 680 calories burnt as we headed up to Nunney for breakfast.
15 minutes later we were settled on a table in the corner of the Moat and Turret cafe ready to place our orders, a cafe we last visited some 18 months ago before the horrors of Covid-19 were even known about. Bacon, sausage and eggs rolls either on sourdough or standard white bread rolls soon arrived and were great fully received alongside the usual teas and coffees. A marked improvement on last weeks offering and great end to the day and certainly a cafe to return to again soon.
Comments