Down the hill from the hostel we bounced, passed the Butlins Holiday Park toward the waterfront station of the West Somerset Railway to catch the 10.10am steam train to Bishops Lydeard. We put our bikes in the guard's van but then had to do a reshuffle as a number of people with mobility scooters needed to park in there, too. The volunteers train guards that run this tourist line were very friendly, helping us on with our bikes & inquiring as to where we were cycling to. Quite different from regular train services where cyclists are a bit of a nusiance & the area for storing ikes minimal.
Anyway, we settled ouselves into our window seats to watch the countryside pass by slowly - it is an hour & 28 minute journey, stopping at 8 stations before BL. The Butlins Holiday Park normally books out at least one carriage at this time of year as do walking groups & pensioner day out groups. Sitting across from us was a family where the grandad was telling the 6 year old grandson about how he travelled to school daily (".... by yourself Grandad?") in just such a train in a carriage just for the school children. His were stories of an England almost disappeared and he'd be only in his late 60s.
We dropped a large group of people off at Dunster so they could visit the castle & medieval village then an even larger group at Blue Anchor where the beach is reportedly lovely & sandy. A few folk interested in museums and boating history got off at Washford and Watchet; they at least would have respite from the heat inside cool buildings! At Williton we gazed at the folk enjoying cream teas at the station cafe before setting off on a gentle stroll through te forested lanes surrounding the town. Golden fields newly mown of their hay nestled right up to the line as we came through Stogumber then changed to forest again into Crowcombe where one can access the Quantock Hills. At Bishops Lydeard, the last stop, an open top bus (circa 1930s) awaiting a large group off to visit Hestercombe while some of their party chose to cycle the relatively short distance.
We spent some time at the station checking our route onward & refreshing ourselves in the shade of the bus shelter before braving the intense heat to pedal on 5.6 miles to Taunton along the A358.... a pretty speedy ride as it happened with much of it down a gentle slope but far too many cars for my liking.
In Taunton we found the Tourist Information Centre & purchased a cycle map for the Somerset Levels, then sat in the shade outside it enjoying cold smoothies to give us energy for the ride along the Taunton to Bridgwater Canal section of the NCN 3. People were very helpful in directing us to the route within Taunton, passed the Somerset Cricket Grounds, and obviously proud of the route.
Once on it we speed along savouring the car free nature of it as well as its flat gradient. It was like being back in France pedalling alongside a canal; colourful canal boats tied up in various places & picturesque hamlets breaking up the flatness of The Levels. A number of swans had obviously nested along the banks and, at one site, 5 signets were preening - so beautiful & fluffy. All along this route markers for the Somerset Space Walk can be seen at regular intervals but the only time I truly stopped to look was at the Maunsel Locks where we enjoyed cool drinks & delicious homemade cakes, as well as a lovely conversation with the women who run the cafe. Also chatted with a woman from the Canal and River Trust who explained that they get funding from the govt. on a 10 yearly basis but have to get enough signatures to establish their value to present when next applying for funding; if they don't get further funding their objective of enhancing the canal & pathway for tourism will falter. Crazy when one remembers how valued canals & their pathways were in France for bringing tourists money into an area. Just think, if the UK had voted to remain the the EU they could have applied for money to help them improve the cycleway. Presently it is an unpaved route, very dusty with a few potholes, a long narrow section where it is difficult for two bikes to pass each other, and we imagine, could become quite boggy in rain. Considering the number of pamphlets at the cafe there are many groups, such as parknglide with ideas to truly make the best of such a wonderful asset.
We arrived in Bridgwater well guided to the centre by the NCN markers but there it got confusing to find the route out as the numbers circle round the bridges. Two locals helped us find the correct route along the river Parrett following NCN 3 again through Chedzoy & Bawdrip where we stopped to eat our cheese sandwiches & sweet slices in the shade of the community hall. The water bottles we had refilled at the locks were already warm - not nearly as refreshing as when cold! Onward to Cossington where we transfered onto the NCN 33 [Stop Line Way - named after the defense line developed during WWII after the evacuation from Dunkirk] before turning eastward onto an alternative route (rolling countryside) through Mark, Blackford, Wedmore, Cocklake and Clewer into Cheddar where we were to pick up the Strawberry Line into Yatton. Again the route was relatively flat riding and very pleasant, quite country roads. As we passed along a drainage ditch I heard a plaintive 'baaaa!' so stopped to see what was what; there was a lamb stuck in the dtich covered in mud & unable to get purchase up the bank. We managed to flag down a woman & her daughter in a van & she drove up to a farm house bringing back a farmer on his tractor with a rope. Our conscience clear we wished them luck with the mucky wet task and pushed onward as we knew we had several more miles to cover.
We met a bit more traffic than we expected but once someone told us that Glastonbury Festival was starting on Thursday we realised why. At Mark we stopped for a cold drink at the local inn; there we talked with some MAMILs who were meeting at the pub to begin an evening circuit. We saw them a few more times during the evening with them waving & cheering us onward. At Cheddar we stopped for soup at the Bath Arms & discussed options seeing it was already 7pm ...... to go on or stay at the YHA overnight. We opted to push on as Caroline really keen to spend time with David & Joanna with whom she had lived in the 1980s and 1990s. It took us some time to get out of Cheddar as the Strawberry line has a diversion in place just out of town near the Axbridge Reservoir (a popular place for sailing, swimming & just hanging out .... too much rubbish blowing about though!) which brought us to an access that only pedestrians could get through. Thankfully a group of locals offered to help us lift our fully laden bikes over the fence so we could carry onward ..... I may well have had a paddy if we had had to pedal back miles to find another route!!
Axbridge village was a delight once we got to it - narrow streets along which half timbered buildings and thatched cottages tumbled together around a market square. King John had a hunting lodge there. Turning up a steep gradient we finally got onto the old railway line along which the Strawberry cycle path runs. It was again a dusty dirt path lined with trees, hedges and fields. The remains of old station buildings or platforms could be seen at Winscombe and Sandford but then we turned to go through the apple orchards of Thatchers Cider Company before crossing the A370 at Congresbury to head across farmland again to Yatton just as the deep red orb of the sun was dipping below the horizon. There Caroline put David & Jo's address in Google maps and it took us through a churchyard & around blocks of houses until we turned into Claverham Road and finally into their driveway at 9.20pm!
A warm welcome awaited us. We'd last seen David & Jo in 1998 and had never met Dan as he was born just as we left. After a cup of tea & chocolate cake and a bit of a chinwag, I went to shower the dust & grime off me - couldn't believe just how much I coloured the water red as I washed the Devonian dirt from my legs. It had been a long day in the heat but the riding had been really easy and diverse and the train ride an added pleasure. It would have been perfect had the temperature been say 18C rather than 29C! We'd covered 60.09 miles of cycling between 1230 and 9.20pm with only a few refreshment stops .... our stamina had been tested with the support we gave each other helping us to complete our journey in good heart.
The combination of train, canal and other off-road cycle routes were a perfect tourist activity. I do hope this area continues to develop cycle tourism and look at promotion of the possibilities ....... this day's cycling (perhaps not the distance) was something most people could cope with and enjoy.
[Most photos of this day were taken on an ordinary digital camera - will load when back in NZ]
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