Sometime in the night I woke to the sound of rain on the tent. Wet weather continued for much of the day, to be expected in April which "brings the showers". I had been very fortunate having ten days of fine weather since starting my trip. Despite the rain being heavy at times, thankfully my waterproofs held up, my clothes underneath were more or less dry at the end of the day. Owing to the weather, I ate breakfast, cleaned my teeth, dressed and packed my rucksack all inside the restricted space of my tiny tent. The tent was the last thing to be stowed away and as it was very wet, I strapped it onto the outside of my rucksack, hoping it would not fall off or get tangled in or torn by brambles.
Leaving the tall pines among which I spent the night, I was soon in the village of Roadwater, exchanging comments on the weather, for the first of many times today, with a lady walking her inquisitive collie dog. The first third of my walk was to Bicknoller, a village at the base of the Quantock range of hills. My guidebook took me a complex route, keeping to fields as far as possible. Some of the early hills were higher than I expected, I suppose being the last of the hills of Exmoor National Park. Of note was the parkland around Nettlecombe Court, an Elizabethan country mansion with a church beside it.
At Bicknoller I visited the village shop, suitable adorned with a face covering. Unfortunately they were not selling cups of coffee at the moment but helped by the masked lady serving I bought a sausage roll and apple juice for a snack and ate them in the rain at a picnic table outside. As there was only one person allowed in the shop at the time (a Lockdown 3 Covid restriction according to a sign), people waited outside in the wet beside me, prepared with their face masks on.
From there it was a steep climb up a valley onto the Quantock hills. At the top I turned and followed the ridge over a succession of summits in the general grey mistiness. Initially it was moorland, the heather brown and looking dead at this time of year. Views were as if obscured by a wash of grey paint due to the inclement weather.
"The Drove" was a beech tree lined section of the route along the ridge, before another area of heather and gorse around Wills Neck, the highest peak of the Quantocks. Not that there was much of a view.
Coming down from the Quantocks the Guidebook took me a complex route through fields to reach the village of Enmore. This included a walk through a farm where the public footpath sign had been crudely broken off, and other footpath signs were missing although there were plenty of "private property" signs. I had the distinct impression I was not wanted, despite it being a Public Right of Way. (I later raised the issue with the publisher of my guidebook, its author subsequently pursued the matter with the local council). The general lack of footpath signs made me glad for a section of road walking. In general I do not find hiking across farmland that pleasant, especially when it includes walking through farmyards. I can understand why historic rights of way crossed farmyards, they were presumably used by people working at or visiting the farm, however in modern times when walking is a leisure activity it would probably be safer if paths avoided farmyards, where large machinery may be in motion and other hazards may exist.
After a rather muddy track and a some more quiet road, the final path into Bridgewater was beside a steam. Green fields took me almost to the centre of the town. While I was not sure my hotel was strictly following the requirements for "self contained" accommodation, the only type of accommodation permitted for tourists under the latest Covid rules, I was very appreciative of being given a dry room out of the rain.
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