Saturday 13th May ‘23.
On call… DL,JB,PC and our newest member Chris Holland
It wasn’t “claggy” and more important it was “Red Leader’s”Birthday so he was unable to be with us - with family from Australia being a reasonable excuse. “Deputy Red Leader” was having a lovely time in Cornwall, too, which would have been a slightly too long a return trip, even for Richard. Our other intrepid walking colleagues were also engaged in other pursuits.
With our natural planners not on parade, JB and myself got together and had a classified “Consultation /careful strategies meeting” which took place in an undisclosed location with all options considered carefully along with the dynamic professionalism necessary for a major expedition in deepest Somerset (better known as a chat at John’s place over coffee). As they say in the famous H G Wells book… “Slowly but surely plans began to emerge”.
We arrived at Yarlington expecting the car park by the Church to be jammed full due the Plant fair, but it was almost empty, with our merry band suddenly becoming very good at directing traffic to such fair and with handy use of the map showing Yarlington House.
Once kitted out we set off up Lodge Hill Road with Enlesby Wood to our right - which we entered via a small field and then edging around Yarlington House whilst steadily climbing to 125 metres, in our expedition south. The vista opened out into lovely vivid green scene. As always comments are along the lines of “I didn’t know this was here so close to home”.
With the only hill climb successfully behind us and navigation by traditional map reading at this point going well (and Pete enjoying the aerial show of birds with his trusty bins and much discussion about them between my fellow walkers which was beyond me), things were going well. Encouraged by all of this, we descended down a traditional dry valley - which wasn’t, due to an overflowing defunct water trough and feeder pipe. With our next way point being Woolston Manor Farm seeming straight forward ( although it wasn’t to be due the footpath disappearing under a myriad of farm buildings and discarded machinery) we went off course for a short distance. However, after navigating wire gates and plenty of cow muck, we picked up the route again on a minor road. After a false start, our next southerly footpath was found, the views once again proved themselves looking towards Cadbury Castle. At this point we stopped for our ‘Swizzler’ stop, which surprised Chris.
At Lower Woolston we picked up a very well maintained Drover’s track and picked up speed considerably. In this 2k stretch Pete’s daughter rang and it was really nice to share pleasantries with her due to John and myself being her outdoor stuff leaders in our distant past. The impressive Vale of Camelot Nurseries came into our view, and we were surprised by the size of it. We believe that this was the dominant family home of the the Montgomery’s which are very well known in South Somerset.
Unfortunately, time was moving quickly against us, so from our furthest point away from Yarlington, we headed North for our return using the minor roads. After reaching Woolston we clearly saw the effects of last Tuesday's (9th) flash storm and floods which could be seen through torn up roads in parts and with surface debris in places, especially in gate ways. West Street going towards Yarlington was particularly affected by the storm which hit the Valley of the River Cam causing major flooding in North Cadbury, Queen Camel and West Camel further down stream and was reported upon by both regional and national news outlets and proved terrible and distressing for all those affected. We saw several rotary action mud slides caused by excessive surface runoff which was, and still is, an major concern along this stretch of the Cam Valley.
We arrived back at the car dead on 11am which proved perfect for our highly anticipated breakfast at Cale Cafe. As expected we were served quickly and it was delicious, with nodded approval of all especially by Pete who now rates it as one of the best.
I’ll sign off now. A good mornings walk for everyone and I hope Chris enjoyed it - including all the variations of chat. Distance covered almost 5km- but I stand to be corrected.
Dereyk - Guest editor
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