Mendip Way 2014 Day 4

Sunday 10^th August 2014

This was not my best day of walking.  I could probably rank up there with getting caught in the mud on the river Avon near Bigbury-on-Sea during next year’s South West Coastal Path walk, or having tendon/shin issues during the Great Glen Way the year before.

My OS map ended just outside of Cheddar.  I had decided that the cost of purchasing the one to cover 80 percent of today's walk was not worth it.  How wrong I would be.  The guidebook had 6+ stages, and my plan was to try and finish each in about an hour.  I left at 3, with the idea of finishing between 3 and 4.  Arriving at Black Gate rock at 9:30 I had 6 full stages left.

Shortly after, I missed a turning and kept on along a broad path (which I took at the correct one), arrived at a road and turned right (as the guidebook said) and kept going.  

About 30 minutes after I missed the turn I checked my compass and realised the road I was walking along was in completely the opposite direction of where I should be heading.  I backtracked the 30 minutes and found the turning I had missed.  I had lost about an hour.

It was into through some mist covered fields that I followed way-markers and past a farm (with buildings) that I believed was one shown on the map in the guidebook, then up onto moorland to a trig point (which was not mentioned in the guidebook).  From the trig point I set off along some random trail, that went in a dead straight line, but felt I was heading in the wrong direction.  I attempted to ask a woman walking dogs for help, but she just yelled at me, something about not having good control of one of the dogs (on a leash) and she took a wide berth around me (I later wondered why she was walking dogs she couldn’t keep under control).  I encountered a couple, who gave me some very vague directions and I carried on.  Eventually I arrived at a T intersection, with no way-markers or signposts telling me which way to go.  I was lost.

I returned to the trig point (yes, it was a fair way), then past it to the last way-marker I had seen.  It did point toward the trig point, so I turned around and went back.  It started raining, so on with the waterproofs, but by now I was feeling a bit emotional and possibly panicking slightly as I was losing precious time and had hardly covered much of the day’s walk.

A group of 5 walkers arrived at the trig point and I asked them if they knew the path.  They were temporarily heading in the direction I should be going in, and suggested I tag along with them until we got to a point where we would part.  They took me along a different path across the moor, eventually arriving at a farmhouse (which was the one mentioned in the guidebook, so I was further back than I had thought).  It was 1 p.m.  I had intended to get at this stage of the walk by about 10:30!

At this point the group gave me a choice; I could either continue the Mendip Way on my own, or I could walk with them for the day and one of them would drive me into Weston-Super-Mare afterward.  As I had already lost so much time, and was afraid of getting lost again and losing more time, I chose to stick with them.

We finished walking at 4:30, and I went for a drink with Tony (my driver to be) and Charlotte(?) a nurse from Bristol (I think).  Neither of them had known each other before today.  During the conversation over drinks I was making a humorous observation about my guidebook and how the writer was writing as if King Arthur was a real person.  I was explaining how he is a myth and there is no evidence he existed.  Somehow that rubbed Charlotte the wrong way and she instantly pretty much ignored me from that point.  But, Tony and her seemed to hit it off, exchanging phone numbers before he and I left.

It seemed a long drive to Weston and, after he had driven off, I realised I had left a walking pole in the boot of Tony’s car.  In chatting with the B&B owner, I discover that he, his wife, and their multitude of children are soon going to be emigrating to New Zealand.  Now, why would anyone want to do that?

I went for a walk to determine where the railway station was as I would be needing that in the morning, then out to the beach, where it was blowing a gale, to buy fish ‘n’ chips from a takeaway place.

I have sometimes wondered whether I would return to do sections of LDWs I never fully completed, today being one of them.  This missed (almost full) day’s walking is added to the list of missed opportunities along with 2 days of the Great Glen Way, 5 days of the South West Coastal Path, some sections of the White Peak Way, and the last 2 days of the Cleveland Way (which I had the opportunity to do in 2019, but chose to take rest days instead).  The Mendip Way is not on my list of walks to return to, but you never know, maybe I will attempt to walk this last day again if I am ever back walking in the U.K.

Due to the inclement weather, and walking with the group, I took few photos today.