Wedmore is a lovely, large village situated on raised ground in the middle of the Levels known as the ‘Isle of Wedmore’. It’s sunny and hot here, even early in the morning so we head for the village shop before breakfast, so that we can depart as early as possible. The shop is well supplied with goodies for our packed lunch, so we stock up. As Rich pays, the shopkeeper asks us where we’re going today and we reply that we’re walking to Bridgwater. She looks a bit shocked and says ‘You’ll need more than that then!’ Maybe she knows something we don’t.
We walk out along roads, spotting a yellow wagtail on the outskirts of the village, then turning off up a steep path. We find a seat along the way but it’s not clear if this has been deliberately placed or just fly-tipped.
As we head down the hill towards Tadham and Tealham moors, the paths are often in a parlous state and barely passable, choked with stinging nettles, brambles and thistles and the air thick with insects. A Somerset Wildlife Trust farm directs us to a permissive path rather than a right of way, however, and it yields beautiful views across the Levels.
We head down into the flat land and head towards the crossing of the river Brue. Today our route is dictated by crossings of the rivers and drains, much as it was in the fens on the HoCWalk. This landscape is more like the Broads than the Fens, though, used mainly for cattle and a few sheep rather than intensive arable farming. As we get closer to the river, the path deteriorates markedly. Eventually, we reach a dead end right at the exit from the path where brambles have been dumped, making the way completely impassable. As ever, Rich’s drying socks get caught on the thorns. We have no option but to turn round. We soon spot a way into a field and hop over an electric fence and gain a good track via a farm gate.
The gate leads us to a bridge over the river Brue, complete with lashed on canoe, and find our way onto a quite busy but unclassified road.
We initially turn left rather than right (anything to escape) but soon correct ourselves and start looking for somewhere shaded for a break, rather later than usual. After a while, we find a grassy field. Before we sit down, I spray myself with insect repellent, as I’m fed up with being horsefly food. The cleg flies leave me alone for the rest of the day, thankfully.
After our rest, we start off down the sweltering road again, soon turning off down an initially good path. Inevitably, it degenerates into another English jungle but we manage to keep going through it, passing an abandoned electric wheelchair, to arrive at Gold Corner, where there is a sluice and a pumping station where the Huntspill river meets the South Drain.
The Huntspill river is an artificial waterway that aids drainage of the Brue valley. It was first proposed in 1853 but was not built until 1940 when process water was required for the munitions factory in Bridgwater. Much of the surrounding countryside is designated as a national nature reserve and a cormorant soon flies over to rest on the pumping station roof. It is one of several species we’ve seen on the levels today including herons, mute swans, long-tailed tits, wrens, buzzards and a sole red kite.
We are now following an unclassified road that’s also a cycle way, so there are no navigational or plant-based difficulties for a while. We follow the road up into the Polden Hills, leaving the levels behind and stopping for lunch in the village of Cossington. There is a welcome sign heralding Bridgwater 4 miles.
After lunch, we continue along the road until we reach a path across a field. As ever, this initially starts well, but the kissing gate to exit the path is again dilapidated and overgrown. We’re not turning back though, so we go through it to join the busy A39. We follow this for a mercifully short distance, then drop down onto a decent tarmacked path on the site of a dismantled railway. This was the Bridgwater branch line of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. The S&D was known locally as the ‘Slow and Dirty’ or ‘Slow and Doubtful’. The branch line opened in 1890 and didn’t close until December 1951.
We pass through the hamlet of Bawdrip and cross King’s Sedgemoor drain. This is a much older man-made channel, constructed in the 1790s (though improved many times since) as ever aiming to reduce flooding here.
We follow a road into Bradley, where we aim to take a footpath to Slape Cross. The first path available is clearly blocked so we take the send and final one. Observing a now familiar pattern, the route starts off fine but we end up battling through the edges of a rape field. I spy a footpath gate out of the field that leads us to a grassy area and ultimately some wind turbines. The way out is again hopelessly overgrown (though as always the gate is just about visible) and we take a detour across the field, through a farm gate and back onto the road.
We continue on the Chedzoy Road for a while before we pick up a supposed cycle track to take us across the M5. Needless to say, it leads nowhere and we are left with the options of taking the A39 or trying a longer, footpath route. We both have no hesitation in choosing the A39 - we can’t face any more Somerset footpaths today.
We decide to stay on the A39 as it’s the quickest route into town and has a good pavement. As we walk through the suburbs, it’s obvious that this is not a wealthy area. The neighbourhoods resemble those of King’s Lynn, Sutton Bridge and Boston, all old port towns that now do little trade. The centre is picturesque though and The Old Vicarage Hotel provides a very welcome stop.
Total distance: 328 miles